CJ Santos’s The Next 12 Days is not just a digital film that aims to entertain viewers whose day-to-day lives are affected by the Enhanced Community Quarantine, it also serves as a vehicle to raise funds to help medical frontline workers who risk their lives while trying to contain the infectious COVID-19.
Produced by Blade Auto Center, the country’s largest automotive accessories and parts retail chain who’s also behind the film Dito Lang Ako (starring Jon Lucas and Michelle Vito), The Next 12 Days is topbilled Mary Joy Apostol and Akihiro Blanco.
The film follows the story of Camille (Apostol) and Daniel (Blanco) as they face new challenges and fight for the destiny that is keeping them apart.
Shot in multiple locations including Quezon City, Pasig, Marikina, Pililia Rizal and Cebu City, the digital film, which starts streaming on Youtube today, is a two-part sequel to the hit digital movie 12 Days to Destiny that has over 2.6 million views on the popular video-sharing site.
“Taping in various locations is one of the challenges that we encountered making the film. We had to squeeze a multi-location script in a seven-day shooting schedule, not to mention the equipment used that are not theatrical standards,” Santos told Manila Standard in a video interview.
Talking about the film’s premise Santos further said that The Next 12 days is all about acceptance.
“This movie will teach us how to accept things that are really not meant for us. It’s about how we are going to accept that life, whether we like it or not, will move on without us,” Santos carried on.
The filmmaker had nothing but good words for the principal cast. Being a relatively new in this field, Santos admitted that Akihiro and Mary Joy made his job a lot easier.
“They’re easy to work with. Even from the start, during our storycon, they already knew the kind of journey their characters are going to take,” Santos pointed out.
“The shooting itself is merely focused on the details and yung execution sobrang dali na dahil bago pa ako magrolyo ng camera, buo na ang character. There were times that sequences were long and never sila nag break ng character kahit nag-cut na kami. I really loved working with them and they exceeded my expectations,” the filmmaker shared.
For Mary Joy Apostol, her character is relatable in many ways. It’s also a role close to her heart.
“My character is a simple and happy girl. She’s very content. But when it comes to love, she’s very all out. That makes her relatable. At one point, a lot of us have experienced giving our all to the person we love,” Mary Joy said.
Akihiro Blanco, on the other hand, talks about how all sorts of the audience will like the film.
“For me the film is for everybody not just for the millennial audience. While the characters are very young, they can appeal to many people. My character, for instance, he is a guy who never gives up on his dream. He’s a happy go lucky person. But he’s very serious when it comes to dealing with his romantic relationship,” Akihito pointed out.
The Next 12 Days is a two-part movie. It also stars Xander Pineda, Carissa Viaje, Jansen Altamirano, Bridge Martin, Stacey Balagtas, Ella Calderon, and May May Jackson. It premieres today on Blade Auto Center’s YouTube channel, second part will be available for streaming on May 15.
Presented by Blade.Asia, the film promotes the fundraising efforts of the Iisang Pangarap Project which will provide face shields for our frontliners. You can make your donations by clicking on this link https://bit.ly/2z0RuMn
