AMIGO has a billboard on 5th Avenue

Last Thursday Consul General Mario de Leon hosted a forum with us and UniPro www.facebook.com/unipronow a great group of young Filipino professionals.
(Does anybody have photos from this event?)
We showed the AMIGO trailer and John answered  really good questions about AMIGO and the history between the U.S and the Philippines. The site was the Philippines Center at its posh address, 5th Avenue between 45th and 46th. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Centeren.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Center.
When Ms. Elena Maningat of the Consul asked if perhaps they could move the monitor to the window and show the trailer in a loop to passersby, I gasped and said YES.

Can you see the bus passing by, in the reflection? Tricky photos to take and we have U.S. Background Soldier Kenny Guay to thank for these. Just as Ms. Maningat reported to me yesterday, lots of people are stopping by to check out the trailer, the poster, and a card listing the show times at AMC Empire 25 where we open this Friday August 19.

Go see for yourself.
Thank you, NY Consulate. Your support means a lot to us.

That's the way it's supposed to be

Here's an anecdote from Dylan Marchetti, head of VAriance Films which is doing such a good job releasing AMIGO in the U.S.

"The night security guard in our office stopped me and asked me if we were doing Amigo.  He said he'd seen the ads popping up on TFC and his grandmother said she wanted the family to go on opening weekend."

One month later...

Time passes!
It's been a month since my last post, urging you to see AMIGO in the Philippines.  We did just fine there, stayed in the theaters for 10 days, against TRANSFORMERS, and started a positive buzz for the provincial and scholastic release of the film in the upcoming month.

WE ARE ABOUT TO OPEN IN THE US! I think we have a really good strategy, opening August 19 in cities with large Filipino populations, and expanding during the following weeks to more cities where lots of Filipinos live. Our outreach to the FilAm community has been so rewarding, resulting in more openings than we had originally planned, and- thanks so many times to Dylan Marchetti and his team at Variance Films- we are in all the right theaters. We'll be playing in mainstream theaters in cities like Milpitas and Tukwila and also in art cinemas, where we hope the non-FilAm Sayles fans will find us easily.

NEW YORK AMC Empire 25! Little AMIGO in a great 42nd St theater. How cool is that? Come for the 7pm show on August 19 and 20 and you'll see John Sayles answering questions at the end of the show.


Here's the line-up for August 19 openings around the country. Spread the word to your friends and family.


19-Aug        New York, NY    AMC Empire 25
19-Aug        Los Angeles, CA    Laemmle's Monica 4
19-Aug         Los Angeles, CA (Cerritos)    Edwards Cerritos Stadium 10
19-Aug        Los Angeles, CA (West Covina)    AMC Puente Hills 20
19-Aug        San Diego, CA    UA Horton Plaza 14
19-Aug        Tukwila, WA (Seattle)    AMC Southcenter 16
19-Aug        San Jose, CA (Milpitas)    Century 20 Great Mall 20 + XD
19-Aug        Stockton, CA    Regal Stockton City Center Stadium 16
19-Aug        San Fran (Daly City)    UA Stonestown Twin
19-Aug        San Fran (Union City)    Cinemark Union Landing 25 + XD



26-Sep        San Jose, CA (Santa Clara)    AMC Mercardo 20
26-Aug        Honolulu, HI    Regal Dole Cannery
26-Aug        Guam    Micronesia Mall 10



2-Sep        Virginia Beach, VA (Norfolk)    AMC Lynnhaven 18
2-Sep         DC    West End Cinema
2-Sep        DC (Gaithesburg, MD)    AMC Rio 18
2-Sep        Las Vegas, NV    Regal Village Square 18
2-Sep        Seattle, WA    Northwest Film Forum
2-Sep        Portland, OR    Hollywood Theater
8-Sep         Albuquerque, NM    Guild Cinema
16-Sep         Dallas, TX    Texas Theater
16-Sep         Minneapolis, MN    St. Anthony Main Theater
16-Sep   
Chicago, IL    Gene Siskel Film Center
23-Sep        Denver, CO    Denver FilmCenter/Colfax

If you don't see your city here and you think you can help us bring out an audience for AMIGO, go onto our website www.amigomovie.com and let us know.

This is it.

This is your moment, like voting for the candidate you really want to win. Go tonight to a theater near you to see AMIGO. Small movies don't stand a chance if YOU don't support them. Don't wait till your whole crowd wants to go. Be the first.
This movie will not be out on DVD for at least two years.
See it now.

PHILIPPINES
06 July 2011
Selected Theaters

Selected Theaters

QUEZON CITY

Ayala Cinemas
TriNoma*

SM Cinemas
SM North Edsa*

Others
Gateway Cinemas*
MAKATI
Ayala Cinemas
Glorietta 4**

MANDALUYONG
SM Cinemas
SM Megamall*

Robinsons' Cinemas
Robinsons' Galleria*

MANILA
SM Cinemas
SM Manila*

Robinson's Cinemas
Robinson's Ermita*

PASAY CITY
SM Cinema
SM Mall of Asia**

OTHER AREAS
CAVITE
SM Bacoor*

CEBU CITY
SM Cebu**

DAVAO CITY
SM Davao*

* Only Spanish and Cantonese dialogues have English subtitles
** All non-English dialogues (Filipino, Spanish, Cantonese) have English subtitles

Have a look at some of the recent AMIGO press:

An interview on The Bottomline with Boy Abunda: http://www.flipbooth.com/video/2feb5278841e43e/The-Bottomline-02-July-2011-courtesy-of-ABS-CBN-FlipBooth

The Philippine Star, by Wilson Lee Flores: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=702095&publicationSubCategoryId=86

The Philippine Star, by Bibsy Carballo: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=702211

Pep Takip Silip coverage: http://www.pep.ph/photos/2379/%22Amigo%22_reveals_the_truths_untold/num/0

Good Bye, Manila

On our last day Joel and John and I visit Bee and the Rottweiler at the Veterinary Hospital in Mandaluyong.  We were hoping to see Bee at Fully Booked and the AMIGO premiere, but flooding stranded her in the hospital (Manila, get it together!) and she needed to be with Leo.

Good bye, Bee. See you next time. Good luck, Leo.

Goodbye, the Pasig River. Be cleaner next time?

Goodbye, Joel. See you in New YOrk. Goodbye Tess and Sharon. Thanks for taking care of us.

Goodbye Bobby and Olivia. Thanks for making us part of your family.

AMIGO Premiers in Manila

Trinoma Mall, opposite SM North EDSA. Origin8 has organized a very nice reception around the beautiful show of Gino Gonzales' costumes for AMIGO.

Here is Joel doing an interview-one of many since we had a lot of press there-in front of a selection of the costumes. Each was "hero" costume, worn by one of the principles, and each came with a caption that named the actor and described the character. Very elegant and subtle, very Gino. Of course he and Grace weren't able to attend the opening of the exhibition because they had been up all night setting it up! Gino is designing the TV series "Amara" with Rodell Cruz as Production Designer. Thank you for a beautiful job, Gino.

Re-enactors from Buhay na  Kasaysayan attended in force and their presence added to the festive atmosphere. Everybody wanted a picture with them. Including Beth Day Romulo. Learn more about this wonderful group at www.pinoyhistory.proboards.com

We were happy to see Beth and our hostess Olivia Romulo and our pal Salito Malca from HIT Productions, here in the pink.

HIT is a top-notch sound studio and I know Salito and his business partner Dennis Cham are thrilled with the new sound mix on AMIGO.
Lots of last minute drama as Katski Flores from Origin8 flew in from Hong Kong with the newly subtitled print, just in time for DP Lee Meily to check it out projected in the cinema. LOUD AC, but Lee had the projectionist boost the sound, and we had no complaints. Whew!

 Yours truly looking hefty with Loy Arcenas, director of NINO (featuring Arthur Acuña). Loy is a good friend of my NY pal Jean Passanate and I hope she sees this photo!

Here are some new friends. From the right Fiona Malca looking glamourous in her new scarf from Legazpi Market, Ray Potter and his wife Joy Yamamoto whom we met at Fully Booked reading, Mrs. Isabel Caro Wilson, ex-Ambassador from the Philippines to Spain, and our new Consul General from the US in Manila, Michael Schimmel. I have already hit up Michael for help expediting Joel Torre's visa for his trip to the US in August. Thank you in advance, Con Gen Schimmel.

Two stars meet at last.
It was wonderful to see so many of the AMIGO cast and crew here. You  know who you are.

To the rest of you, we missed you. I hope you will rush to see AMIGO in the theaters when it opens July 6. For ongoing listings of the theaters where it is playing, go to amigomoviephil.com
AMIGO is small but important, TRANSFORMERS is big. Go see AMIGO first.