Cabrera with some of the scholars of HERO Foundation Inc.
AFTER waving the Philippine flag in several international film festivals, the full-length feature film “Ang Araw Sa Likod Mo (The Sun Behind You)” will now be shown in cinemas nationwide starting today, March 24.
The highly-acclaimed independent film written and directed by Dominic Carlo Nuesa tells the stories of the Scout Rangers, known officially as the First Scout Ranger Regiment, as a tribute to Filipino soldiers who are on the front line risking their lives to preserve national security.
“Ang Araw Sa Likod Mo” features 39-year-old Bong Cabrera, a native of Leyte and a mass communication graduate of the University of the Philippines Cebu, playing the role of Jamiluddin, along with Mike Liwag as Omar, and Ping Medina as Sgt. Benjie Calayan.
The film probes the relationship between two Muslim brothers reunited unexpectedly in a terrorist-infested island
in Southern Philippines.
Bong Cabrera
Confict arises when Jamiluddin (Cabrera), a military informant who’s just about to quit, learns that his brother Omar (Liwag) has joined the armed group Mujahideen, which is the target of Sgt. Calayan’s team.
“Pinapakita dito ang totoong mukha ng mga taong involved sa four-decade long na conflict sa Mindanao. There’s the side of the military, civilians and the Muslims,” he said during the press conference yesterday at The Social in Ayala Center Cebu.
The film won Best Editing for Javier Abola in this year’s Nice International Film Festival in France held last May 20. Currently, both Nuesa and Medina are in France as part of the Philippine delegation to the Cannes International Film Festival.
“Ang Araw Sa Likod Mo” has already won five other internationalawards—Best Film in Auckland International Film Festival, Global Award Winner at the Europe-based ARFF (Around the Films International Film Festival), and Awards and Recognition for Feature Length, Best Actor for Bong Cabrera and Best Supporting Actor for Mike Liwag at the Accolade Global Film Competition in the United States.
“This movie aims to spread awareness about the Mindanao conflict for a better perspective, especially among millennials, on this decades-long war,” said Cabrera. “If there’s one thing I learned about this, it’s that in war no one actually wins.”
Most of this advocacy film’s proceeds will go to the HERO (Help Educate and Rear Orphans) Foundation, that aims to take care of the fallen heroes’ children.
Nuesa got the inspiration for the film after making acorporate video for HERO Foundation and meeting some of its scholars, the children of the soldiers killed in action or in duty.
According to Janice Tuballes, scholar management and media relations officer of HERO Foundation Inc., there are around 2,700 scholars being supported by the foundation.
