Romeo Candido's Inheritance

Fresh off his stint at the HK Filmart our good friend Jiangtou has headed off to the Philipines to visit the set of Filipino-Canadian Romeo Candido's new horror film The Inheritance. A good while back while visiting the Casa Del Kung Fu Fridays I had the chance to meet Candido. At the time he was prepping to head off to shoot those big ads Jiangtou mentions and if the images from this one are any indication - check out a larger version of the one to the left here to fully appreciate the cinematography - this thing is going to be flat out gorgeous.

In 2002, Romeo directed LOLO'S CHILD, the very first feature in Canada by a CDN-Filipino. It opened the Toronto Reel Asian Festival in 2002 and has toured the world, winning the prestigious Ishmael Bernal Award for Young Cinema in the 2002 Cinemanila International Film Festival. He became the first Filipino based abroad to win this award

After going on a trip to meet family in the Philippines, he decided to meet with people in the local film industry, and only a few weeks after returning to Toronto, flew back to Manila where he was offered a job to direct a 3 part commercial, shot on 35mm, with one sequence of a dance number involving 400 extras (the most extras that he dealt with in Toronto was 30), for the country's biggest cell phone company. The first ad, when done, was attached to all release prints of the last STAR WARS film. Since then he has become sought after ad director, competing for gigs with local name feature film directors. Now, after proving himself in the industry, he has gotten funding for his first Filipino feature film, a horror film called THE INHERITANCE, and I will be visiting him on set.

The story involves a young Filipino Canadian who returns to the home country to inherit a piece of land in the country from a relative who has recently passed away. After the culture shock of Manila fades as he goes into the countryside, new shocks and secrets await him....

How is it for a director, who when in Canada, must submit grant proposals with hopes of getting direction work, battle Actra to cast his films, and have to fall back on what he calls "booty/hoochie hip hop videos" to pay rent, to suddenly have all the pieces fall in place so far away from home....

Lolo's Child Interview
The Inheritance Production Blog (run by Candido's wife / make up artist)
Monster Concept Sketch
Romeo Candido's Blog
Abante.com Article on The Inheritance