Familia Arkeo
| August 5, 2010
Familia Arkeo
Salamat!
After ten years, weâre still wide-eyed and smiling. Still loving the job we started. Still excited over the next work, next movie, next thing to do. Â To our clients, thanks for giving us work. To the public, thanks for watching our movies and giving us a healthy number of hits on this site. Cheers!
Pinoy Movies showing in New York
| June 8, 2010
Katherine Luna in Baby Angelo
Arkeofilmsâ Baby Angelo screens on June 14 at 5:15pm and June 15 at 5pm. Starring Katherine Luna, Archie Alemania, Jojit Lorenzo, Ces Quesada, Alchris Galura and Diana Malahay.
From June 11 to 20, both recent Filipino movies like Arkeofilmsâ âBaby Angeloâ and classics like Mario O Haraâs âTatlong Taong Walang Diyosâ (Three Years without God) will be screening at the Indiehouse Cinema at 358 West 44 St., between 8th and 9th Avenue, New York.
For more information, leave a message on 347-730-4281 or visit www.producersclub.com.
A busy busy Saturday
| May 25, 2010
Last Saturday (May 22), the Arkeo office was about to burst. There were so many people we ran out of chairs.
It just occurred to me that on that day, Arkeo was producing three products simultaneouslyâcommercial, tv and film! You can also blame it on poor scheduling.
In the receiving area, people snaked around to form a queue. Precocious boys and girls with their parents, sweet-looking young teenage girls, and silver-haired lolos and lolas patiently waited to be called. Casting is a bitch. I laud people who make a career of it. They deserve to be paid for all the waiting.
In the editing room upstairs, there was a group of eager La Salle students trying to produce a TV show with us for Knowledge Channel (funded by DLSU). Iâve never done a show with students before, and sometimes eagerness can more than make up for experience. I hate working with jaded people.
The partnersâ room was converted to a meeting room, as the real meeting room became the audition room. In the temp meeting room, US-based filmmakers were finalizing requirements for a short film they want Arkeo to line produce. The most fun task of allâmaking a movie!
Maybe itâs a sign to move to a bigger office. Or maybe just buy more chairs.
Michael meets John
| April 21, 2010
(Films Division staffer Michael Cardoz shares his experiences as a production coordinator for Hollywood indie director John Saylesâ latest movie, âBaryoâ.)
âMaybe weâll meet again at the airport.â
This is how John Sayles said goodbye to me before I left the set of âBaryoâ in Bohol. It was 5 a.m. and they were on their way to look for somewhere to stay in the beautiful province of Bohol to do the rough cut. I, on the other hand, was getting ready for my trip to Cebu for another assignment. John Sayles is the director of âBaryo,â a full-length film set during the Philippine-American war.
Michael with âBaryoâ actor Academy award-winner Chris Cooper.
My work for this project was mainly in Manila, assisting American cast and crew at the airport. And I was very lucky to be invited to visit the set in Bohol before the production ended. I stayed there for three days and devoted one whole day to observe in the set. The film may be about the Philippine-American war but the mood on the set was far from being chaotic. Everybody knows what theyâre doing. I believe the producers were very lucky to have found very competent Filipino and American staff to work on the project.
Johnâs Set
The day began early. People started coming in at around 6 a.m. to take their breakfast. At 8 oâclock Johnâs vehicle arrived. I waited for him to join us in our breakfast table but our Producer Maggie Renzi told me that he doesnât eat breakfast and goes directly to the set. Since I have no business on the set I just stand in one spot and watch everyone do their job- especially John. Iâm very curious as to how he manages the whole production team. I noticed that he comes on the set well prepared; he keeps with him a folder where he places his notes and script. The whole time I never heard him yell orders to anyone, usually I see him calmly instructing our Assistant Director (Cocoy Jimenez) and Cinematographer (Lee Meilly). And by five in the afternoon, we were done for the day.
It wasnât just meeting John again that made my visit to Bohol memorable. Itâs also meeting everyone in the production team. Iâve worked for the project for three months, and communicated with the other staff only though phone calls and emails. Some of them I havenât even seen personally, which is why going to the set in Bohol was like homecoming for me. It made me feel more involved with âBaryoâ.
âIâll be waiting at the airportâ that was what I wanted to tell John when we were saying our goodbyes but instead I just smiled. I am very lucky to have spent even just one day in the set watching him. More so, I am blessed to have been part of his film and get to work with many wonderful people.
Michael with DJ Qualls