TORONTO ? Oprah Winfrey, in town as one of the executive producers of a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) entry, talked movingly about her desire to help young girls around the world in an interview last Sunday morning at the Four Seasons Hotel here.
O?s mission tied in with her involvement as a producer of the film ?Precious: Based on the Novel ?Push? by Sapphire? ? a harrowing tale of a girl horribly abused by her parents until one teacher made a difference in the girl?s life.
We asked the award-winning TV host, actress and producer about her nurturing of talented girls like Charice Pempengco. Dressed in a purple blouse and black pants, her hair in a ponytail, diamond hoop earrings aglitter, Oprah was modest about her contribution to the young Filipina singer?s career. She said in that familiar, calming, yet firm and booming voice: ?I would have to say that my staff is responsible for that because I said to them, ?Look, I?m not in the record business.? And they said, ?This girl has something.? From the beginning, I brought Charice into a room and sat her down with some people whom I thought could help her. They were asking me, did I want to manage her? I don?t. I don?t want to make any money from her. I just want her to be as successful as she can.?
Oprah added: ?That?s the same thing Tyler [Perry, her co-executive producer] and I have done with this film. I?m just here to try to use my voice to bring in as many people, put them in the seats. I did that for Charice and we?re doing this for the movie. We hope it works.?
We also asked about her nurturing the comeback of Whitney Houston. Oprah told us about her interview with the singer which was aired in the US last Monday: ?That interview I had with her was bone chilling ? you know, the little-hairs-raised-on-your-arms moment. I guarantee you that interview will affect millions of women. For the first time, millions of women are going to understand that she really is Everywoman because what was going on there is the same thing that every woman I know has experienced at some point in her life ? being with a man and trying to make yourself smaller in order to be with a man. Most of us go through that in our 20s and we said we?re not doing that anymore.
Light too bright.?
?But Whitney came to it a little later in her life. The bottom line is, she was with a man and her light was too bright. In order to stay in that relationship, she needed to dim her own light and that is what happened.?
Oprah went on: ?I watched the audience see the show the other day. I showed it to an audience and women were literally holding their chest like this [she demonstrated with hands crossed on her chest] when Whitney said some of the things that happened to her. Whitney has been in an environment where she didn?t feel she could stand up for herself and she managed through her faith in God and her family and support to be able to do it. It makes you know you can, too. She is going to save a lot of people. It makes me want to weep because of her living testimony ? the fact that she survived it. We want her to have the big comeback and her record to do well... But what she?s going to be able to do for so many millions of others is even more important.?
We?ll have the full report of our interview with Oprah in a future column.
Toronto hit
A sold-out crowd heartily applauded director Mike Sandejas? ?Dinig Sana Kita (If I Knew What You Said)? on its second screening at the AMC 2 last Sunday. The female moviegoers beside us wept, touched by the story of a deaf dancer (Romalito ?Rome? Mallari) and a girl rocker (Zoe Sandejas) who find love amid their personal and family struggles. Rome and musical director Francis Reyes were able to join Mike and Zoe as they were introduced before the audience by TIFF programmer Raymond Phathanavirangoon. They came back after the film ended to answer questions from the visibly captivated crowd.
The audience even clapped after hearing the answers of the ?Dinig? delegation. A white female prefaced her question by telling Mike and company (which included his wife, producer May Sandejas, and his sister, costume designer Nina Sandejas), ?Thank you so much for a wonderful, brilliant and heartwarming movie.? Rome answered questions through a sign language interpreter.
When the ?Dinig? troupe came out of the theater, they were surrounded by throngs of moviegoers who expressed their admiration of the film which won the Audience Award in Cinemalaya 2009. They signed autographs and posed for pictures.
Phathanavirangoon, who chose ?Dinig?? and Raya Martin?s ?Independencia? as RP?s entries, was beaming since both films sold out during their respective screenings last Sunday. Raymond had to turn over his ?Dinig?? Q&A moderating duties to his colleague since he had to introduce ?Independencia? in the next theater.
We attended the premiere of ?Independencia? last Saturday at the Scotiabank Theater. Raymond dedicated all screenings of ?Independencia? to slain film critics Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc, who championed Raya?s film. The film was to have its third and final screening on Sept. 17, 7 p.m. at the Varsity 2.
?Dinig?? will have its last screening on September 19, 11 a.m. at the AMC 10.
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/ nepalesreport.
