Miss World Megan Young Plays A Criminal In Ely Buendia's Directorial Debut In Bang Bang Alley

BEFORE HE HIT it big as leader of the Eraserheads, Ely Buendia’s original dream is to be a filmmaker. “It’s my lifelong dream,” he says at the presscon of his directorial debut “Bang Bang Alley”. “I grew up loving movies and I wanted to be George Lucas before. I love the movies of Peque Gallaga and Mike de Leon and I want film to be my career, so in college, I took up filmmaking. But then, napunta ako sa music so nawala muna yung first dream ko. But the digital age of filmmaking came about and it became easier to make a film so I felt it’s right to pursue my original dream now.”

“Bang Bang Alley” is a trilogy with three different stories that Ely says concern the culture of Philippine violence. He directs “Pusakal (Stray Cat)” starring current Miss World Megan Young as a young woman who accidentally kills her sister’s boyfriend so she hides in the mountains of Benguet where she meets Manang Rosa (Perla Bautista), a former rebel during the Marcos Regime who has secrets of her own. A law enforcer comes to investigate them. Will they both find redemption or will their dark pasts collide to destroy them both?

Ely himself plays a supporting role in the movie as Martin. They shot this before Megan won as Miss World. Ely also directs the movie’s prologue that sets the tone for the three stories about to unfold. The prologue stars Jimmy Santos as an aging bodyguard who goes berserk while someone is singing “My Way” in a karaoke bar.

The other two debuting directors in “Bang Bang Alley” are Yan Yuzon (brother of Sponge Cola’s Yael) and King Palisoc. Both of them have directed music videos. Yan directs “Aso’t Pusa’t Daga” and King helms “Makina”.

Yan’s episode stars Bela Padilla as Jing Ricafort, a TV journalist who survives a political massacre in the countryside and becomes a witness against the mastermind, Gov. Fabella (Joel Torre). She then becomes the target of hitmen. Also in the cast is Art Acuna and Yan himself plays an important role. He says his role was originally meant for Enzo Pineda, his student in the acting workshops he conducted for GMA-7, but Enzo backed out at the last minute so he himself replaced Enzo.

King’s episode is “Makina”, starring Gabe Mercado as a driver who discovers that his wife is cheating on him. Also in the cast are Kalila Aguilos, Althea Vega, Alex Vincent Medina and Bombi Plata. He got Gabe to play the lead role as he wants an ordinary every man who looks meek and mild but eventually commits a crime. “Bang Bang Alley” is produced by Curve Entertainment and Nimbus Film Production of Ciso Chan, Vic Valenciano and Rudy Tee, distributed by Wilson Tieng of Solar Entertainment and opens nationwide on April 9.