I am very lucky to be one of the few bloggers who were invited to
the Press Conference of Special Forces last June 8, 2012
(Friday), 5:30pm at the IMAX Theatre while the Advanced Screening of Special Forces movie was held at the Cinema 1 of SM Mall of Asia.
I thought I can bring along my sister Catherine because most of the previous advance screenings I have attended usually I get two (2) invites since my sister works in the call center near the Mall of Asia. Its okay because during the event, I met a new friend who's also a blogger and a film buff like me :)
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| Special Forces Advance Screening Invitation |
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| IMAX Theatre |
This is the first time for SM Cinema to welcome a French Director in Manila like
Stephane' Ribojad, the director of
Special Forces movie. He was escorted by Mr.
Macalintal, the Filipino representative for the Audio-Visual from the
French Embassy (as his interpreter) and Mr. Gilles Garachon,
Ambassador of France to the Philippines.
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| Welcome banner |
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| Pizza Hut Bistro as caterer of the event |
During the press conference, Stephane' Ribojad felt so special because of the warm welcome and hospitality of the Filipinos. Stephane' Ribojad said that, "I like the Philippines because the people seemed to be always happy and smiling."
Stephane' Ribojad has made more than 150 documentary films so his film Special Forces is not the first one. I can conclude that its one of the best films he has ever made and with a great cast of stars and cinematography.
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| Rep. Macalintal (right) and Stephane' Ribojad (left) |
He expressed that, "There
are no magic tricks in this film. Actors were trained by real Special
Forces. They went through temperature changes (extremely hot to
extremely cold), sleeping in tents, etc. Everything is real. It was shot
in the Himalayas."
Stephane' Ribojad also mentioned that, "Philippines is a good location for film making. It is wild and rich in diversity, an archipelago that is fit for shooting a film which we don't have in France. I am attracted by Asia and I want to come back in the Philippines."
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| Rep. Macalintal (right) and Stephane' Ribojad (left) |
Special Forces is an English documentary-film which stars Diane Kruger as Elsa Casanova together with other French and Afghan actors.
The movie is about the fate of a war correspondent Elsa Casanova, that lies in the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan who held her hostage and the Special Forces unit dispatched to rescue her.
The
movie has been dedicated to the fallen French soldiers and war
reporters from other countries who have risked their lives during the
Afghanistan war a few years ago.
Mr. Stephane' Ribojad, director of the movie and Mr. Gilles Garachon,
Ambassador of France to the Philippines joined in this
special screening to share more insights about the film as well as the
France and Philippines intercultural enrichment that sprouts from
various activities including film screenings like this. Thanks to Ferds Bondoy of Tatak Digista, who has invited me to this event and last but not the least, many thanks to SM Cinema, Pioneer Films and Philippine Star whom are the major sponsors for this successful event.
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| Sophia with Stephane' Ribojad (director) |
This is exclusively shown in SM cinemas, right? So how was the movie itself?
ReplyDeleteIts showing now since June 13 in SM Cinemas. It doesn't seem to be a documentary film. Its like so perfect.
ReplyDeleteIts an excellent action/suspense movie, a must-see movie.
A friend (and fellow reviewer) of mine has already seen it and says the same thing-- he really enjoyed the movie. This I gotta see some time. :)
ReplyDelete