Star For All Seasons Vilma Santos Donates P1 Million To Directors With Entries To Cannes Filmfest

GOV. VILMA SANTOS shows how generous she is by donating P1 million to the three directors whose works have been accepted as entries in the Cannes Filmfest: Erik Matti for “On the Job” in the Directors Fortnight section, Adolf Alix for “Death March” and Lav Diaz for “Norte: Hangganan ng Kasaysayan” in Un Certain Regards section. Our government doesn’t have the funds to help them in their trip to Frances to represent our country, so Gov. Vi dipped from her own pocket to help our filmmakers. This is really so noble of her, isn’t it?

We’ve been told that Star Cinema officials and personnel have watched a copy of Gov. Vi’s recently completed indie film, “Ekstra, The Bit Player”, and they’re all impressed by the Cinemalaya entry directed by Jeffrey Jeturian. They’re willing to release it in local theatres nationwide right after its official screening in Cinemalaya come July. A Star Cinema insider told us they “laughed and cry alternately” because of the sad plight of the maltreated extras portrayed in the film, as told from the point of view of Loida, the character Gov. Vi plays.