September 12, 2024 | 12:00am
From “John Denver Trending” (2019) to “Love Child” and “Tumandok” (2024), the production outfit Southern Lantern Studios took pride in making films from the regions and sharing them with a broader audience, as well as setting the scene for regional filmmaking to thrive in the entertainment industry.
The company was founded years ago by Sheron Dayoc (“The Gospel of the Beast”) when he debuted his movie “Halaw” at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in 2010. Southern Lantern Studios managing and creative head Sonny Calvento (“Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss” and “The Decaying”) and Arden Rod Condez (“John Denver Trending” and “Dandansoy”) later joined the fold.
Dayoc told The STAR in a chat during the Sinag Maynila 2024 awarding night on Sunday at the Metropolitan Theater in Ermita, Manila that Southern Lantern Studios officially became a company when they filmed the award-winning indie “John Denver Trending.”
“It was called Southern Lantern because during that time I really had no money. Ang meron lang ako is ilaw, lantern, the Petromax lamp. That was my light. Southern is out of Manila, in the South (Mindanao) and lantern because lantern has played a big part in my journey,” Dayoc explained, whose hometown is Zamboanga.
Condez, on the other hand, got attracted to the indie outfit because of its focus on regional films and “its commitment to providing opportunities for emerging regional filmmakers.”
‘The Gospel of the Beast’
“Most of our co-workers from ‘John Denver Trending’ to this day are from the regions, and I am proud to say that they are the most hardworking film workers I have ever worked with,” he told this paper in a separate interview.
“Since then, the company has expanded into making campaign videos and TV and digital ads. We are now further expanding into producing commercial-friendly films and series to cater to the demands of streaming platforms and mainstream theater audiences. This expansion aims to make the company more sustainable for us and our co-workers,” he added.
‘Bisan abo, Wala Bilin’
“Currently, we are developing comedy, horror, and action films. However, this doesn’t mean we are moving away from indie films from the regions. In fact, we want to create more mainstream content to generate revenue to fund our indie projects.”
Condez, Calvento, and Dayoc are products of Armando “Bing” Lao’s Found Story school of filmmaking. Condez hails from Antique and Calvento from Laguna.
Since launching the production company, the team has produced critically-acclaimed films such as Cinemalaya’s 2019 Best Film “John Denver Trending;” Cinemalaya’s 2024 Best Film “Tumandok” by Richard Jeroui Salvadico and Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay; Best Feature Film “The Gospel of the Beast” at the 2024 Bali International Film Festival and Best Film at the Ho Chi Minh Film Festival 2024 in Vietnam, among others.
The online bullying-themed “John Denver Trending,” starring then acting newcomer Jansen Magpusao of Antique, competed at the 24th Busan International Film Festival and was the first Filipino film to be widely screened in South Korea.
The social drama “The Gospel of the Beast” recently won the Best Actor trophy for Ronnie Lazaro and Best Supporting Actor for Magpusao, while Kyd Torato’s “Bisan Abo Wala Bilin” (Even Ashes, Nothing Remains) bagged second Best Short Film at the recently-concluded Sinag Maynila 2024.
They also co-produced the Cinemalaya film “Love Child” by Jonathan Jurilla with Regal Entertainment. The family drama tackling autism starred RK Bagatsing, Jane Oineza, and John Tyrron Ramos.
Moreover, Condez stated that they never intended to focus exclusively on Western Visayas for their films. “It just so happens that most of our co-workers are from there, especially the filmmakers of our recent films ‘Tumandok’ and ‘Love Child.’ Jonathan Jurilla of ‘Love Child’ was my college professor at UP Iloilo, and I met Kat Sumagaysay and Richard Salvadico of ‘Tumandok’ through ‘John Denver Trending.’ Sheron is from Zamboanga, so we hope to produce films from Mindanao as well,” he said.
Dayoc shared that they plan to expand and produce more mainstream projects in the next few years but the “regional independent spirit in telling stories” will still be there.
The Southern Lantern Studios is currently gearing up for Calvento’s full-length film “Mother Maybe,” which is a co-production between the Philippines, Taiwan, and Singapore. They are also co-producing a film by a Vietnamese filmmaker who plans to film in Zamboanga.
On the appeal of regional films to national and global audiences, Condez offered his two cents: “In my opinion, Metro Manila has become a saturated source of stories. The regions still offer novel narratives and exciting storytelling forms, which may explain why national and international audiences are increasingly interested in regional stories. Language barriers are not an issue as long as the film is subtitled.”
“Currently, some audiences are also intrigued by seeing non-professional actors on screen. Perhaps it empowers them to see ordinary people acting on the big screen. As long as the emotions in the film are universally human, films from the regions can still resonate on a global scale,” he added.
Dayoc believed it boils down to good storytelling. “I mean, regardless if it’s regional or not, at the end of the day, it’s still the storytelling. The sense of purpose is always important. And I think may pinanggagalingan lagi ang regional filmmakers because there’s a thirst to represent something na hindi masyadong napapansin.”
“The major factor is the sense of purpose that’s why it resonates with a lot of people,” he concluded.
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