Some people create videos as epic “save the date” wedding announcements. Some people create movies or slide shows at their wedding telling about how the couple met. Patricio Ginelsa created the above movie as a gift to his wife and those attending his wedding. This wasn’t just any movie, just as Patricio Ginelsa just isn’t any guy with a camera. As the associate producer of the movie The Debut and as the director of music videos such as the Black Eye Peas’ Apl Song and Bebot Bep, he was able to do something special. He reunited the stars of The Debut, Dante Basco and Joy Bisco, and had them play him and his wife Melanie in a retelling of the story of how they met and got together. Dante Basco has been in many feature films, from Hook to Take the Lead, and he played Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender (in the good Animated version, not the evil racebended version). Joy Bisco has been in a movies and television shows ranging from Ghost World to CSI. Having real working Hollywood actors play you in a film – how cool is that!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with “The Debut” (here’s a trailer), it is the first movie released in theaters that I have ever seen that deals with Filipino American issues. In an incredible grassroots effort, the makers of “The Debut” rented theaters throughout the country to show this movie and eventually got a DVD video distribution deal. Melanie got to know Patricio when she worked as the grassroots coordinator for the movie. I may even have seen her, as she says in “The Journey” that she volunteered at the Milpitas Great Mall showing of “The Debut” where The Wife and I saw the movie. This movie really speaks to my life experiences and remains as one of my favorite Asian American movies, even 10 years after first seeing it.
Even you aren’t familiar with “The Debut,” “The Journey” is a sweet little gift. But it’s better if you are. Check out both these films.
