Erasto Films’ latest film, Lakbay2Love (Journey to Love), on biking culture and climate change, will be screening at the 4th Rahway International Film Festival asOfficial Selection on October 22, 2016 to be held at Rahway, New Jersey. It will compete with other full-length features in this three-day film festival.
The ride continues to UP Los Baños, November 3, organized by UP Road Trip and then to the island of Palawan for the 19th Cine Europa Film Festival onNovember 26 which will include a bike ride with European Union ambassadors participating.
Director Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil says, “The Lakbay2Love team feels most happy to be part of the Rahway International Film Festival that is committed to showcasing films which educate and inspire empathy and open-mindedness. Even more so, a festival that promotes equality and gives lifetime achievement awards for women in film.” Last year’s awardee at the Rahway International Filmfest was renowned actress Susan Sarandon, while for this year it will recognise Dena Seidel, an award-winning documentarist, who tackled the issue of Climate Change in her full-length Antarctic Edge: 70° South.
In Lakbay2Love, coming from fears brought on by Typhoons Ondoy and Yolanda, Director Ellen Marfil’s intention was to capture the exhilaration she felt when she accompanied her son as he learned biking in La Mesa Eco Park with the realization that sustained action addressing climate change can only be brought about when people can go back to basics and fall in love with nature once again. Direk Ellen says, “I chose to do a romantic-coming-of-age story to appeal to the young, sans the usual complexities of the genre so as not to deviate from the film’s focus.”
Ellen Marfil’s vision and intention was perfectly captured in the words of renaissance-man Lutgardo Labad, theater-director, musical director and cultural organizer. Labad said, “(The film) is a romantic story couched in an environmental advocacy context, the movie abandons any form of melodrama and excessive romanticism…what is left is but pure simplicity of storytelling, deeply felt and subtly revealed emotions, and breathtaking nature…with (the characters portrayed by Dennis Trillo and Solenn Heussaff) quietly struggling with their destinies as the story of Mother Nature unfolds itself through the biking advocacy.”
Lakbay2Love premiered last January 29, 2016 at the University of the Philippines Diliman with an outdoor bike ride-concert-and-movie and had its theatrical release last February 3, 2016. Recently, the film was shown in Miriam College, Greenpeace Philippine’s AdvocaSine, and in Cagayan at an event for students on climate change and sustainability organized by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.
For more details, visit: fb.com/lakbay2love and lakbay2love.com.ph