By Lydia V. Solis
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – With the help of some 50,000 Manny Pacquiao fans, Marc Jonathan De Jesus’ short film Fool Circle won the Canon/Vimeo “Beyond the Still” film making contest, earning him a chance at getting exposure in prestigious festivals like Sundance and the Oscars.
The 33-year-old De Jesus, in a furious four nights of filming and editing, delivered a four-minute movie knocking out hundreds of competitors. He was one of five finalists in the contest.
De Jesus says he is grateful to Filipino-American newspapers and websites that carried his “Rocky”-like story, and appreciated everyone who watched his film and voted for it.
“I’d like to thank everyone, everywhere, for their support, prayers, votes, efforts, time, and most importantly, patience,” he says. “And thank you, Dong Secuya of mannypacquiao.ph and PACLANDERS all over the world, for your tremendous endorsement of my film.”
Others in the entertainment industry also sent congratulatory messages.
“Congrats, Marc,” wrote producer Raven Rubottom in De Jesus’ blog. Rubottom won the 2008 Angel Award for the Christian music video “All the Way to Heaven”.
She added: “A big part of film making is finding an audience. Finding votes on Pacland Boxing (PhilBoxing Forum, Pacland’s Philippine Boxing Forum) and the Asian Online Mag feature were nothing short of brilliant on your part. You are talented and a fierce competitor.”
“I literally cried tears of happiness, frustration and triumph,” recalls De Jesus, after hearing he won the contest. “It’s been a long, long time since I’ve cried like that.”
The young filmmaker reveals he’d gone through a low point in his life.
“You could say I hit rock bottom,” he says. “For two years, my character and will to succeed underwent the biggest tests. I had untold trials, arrived at crossroads where I had to choose which path my life would take, and realized I wasn’t getting any younger.”
But his faith guided him through, saying he knew his God-given talents would lead to great things, so he made a conscious decision to fight his way out.
De Jesus, who is single, says he changed his partying lifestyle.
“For over a year, I hadn’t even gone on a single date,” he says. “Every distraction cut, aside from the occasional Pacquiao fight or Lakers game. All I did was work.”
“All the emotions, the depths of my low points, the hard work, the multiple Friday and Saturday nights spent at home alone in my editing suite, all of that just caught up with me the moment I found out I won, and I cried. It was a pretty good cry, too.”
While his competitors had big sets with airplanes, machine guns, motorcycles and unmarked police cars, a crew of actors and production people, De Jesus only had himself and his film making style. There were no production assistants, what he had was a simple set.
He wrote, directed, produced, edited, shot and marketed “Fool Circle” all by himself.
“It is is a real solid story with a nice twist,” he says, referring to his work. “I think people appreciated and were entertained by that and sort of shook up the contest.”
“It definitely made the win that much sweeter,” he adds, citing his win against a field of more veteran filmmakers with bigger budgets.
“To top it all off, the judges that voted me in the finals were made up of Hollywood legends, so right then and there, I was immediately qualified as critically acclaimed, which is really cool.”
The prestigious panel of judges included “Titanic” cinematographer Russell Carpenter, “Star Wars” producer Rick McCallum and Rodney Charters, director of photography for the television show “24.”
When told that he can relax now, he shakes his head and says, “No time to relax. I have written two scripts with crazy twists of their own: one of them about a dark hero that could be a huge franchise.”
After the contest, the winning chapters will be edited into the “largest collaborative film effort in history,” according to sponsors Canon and Vimeo, and entered into film festivals including Sundance and submitted to the Academy Awards.
“I may have a great opportunity to blaze a trail for Fil-Ams in Hollywood. Our films will be sown together into a final movie, which will then be submitted to film festivals. From there, anything can happen.”
De Jesus says he is creating a film that would pay tribute to Filipino-Americans who have succeeded through hard work and perseverance. He hopes this will inspire and motivate people and also serve as means to discover more Filipino-American talent, similar to the TV show “Pilipinas Got Talent”.
“I am looking for any talented unsigned artists, whether you are a singer, rapper, instrumentalist or dancer. If selected, this is an opportunity for you to have massive exposure, a chance at recording in a real studio and being featured in this film which will be seen all over the world.”
De Jesus is encouraging those interested to send their bio and sample video to FilAmTribute@gmail.com.
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