At their core, actors are storytellers, and taking on diverse roles is their legacy—a legacy that aims to deliver a truthful message to their audience.
Actor Donny Pangilinan takes on his breakthrough role in the independent realm of filmmaking amidst his high-reaching achievements in mainstream media. The film is called Graduation, and it is about the journey that comes about after rescuing human trafficking victims.
While at the height of his stardom, Donny is known for his active participation in the talks on social issues in the Philippines, and this might be the reason why he specifically chose to take on the role, bridging the gap between mainstream media and independent films to give Graduation the attention it needs to successfully deliver its message to more people.
Along with Donny coming on board as Topher is Nour Hooshmand, a mainstay in the world of independent movie creation, to portray the role of Kika, a human trafficking survivor and younger sister of Topher.
According to the film’s lead, she is proud to have been part of Graduation. From her own perspective, the creative process of the project was successfully rooted in everyone’s clear and open communication, an outcome of trust expressed by the teams behind and in front of the camera.
This is more of a passion project than a job for Nour. In her Instagram post promoting the release of the film, she said that healing from human trafficking trauma is an advocacy very close to her heart.
Graduation is the firstborn movie collaboration of a non-profit organization Called To Rescue Philippines and Media Works.APG, and is directed by international filmmaker Dean Colin Marcial, who believes that these kinds of stories are a powerful way to deliver the message of healing across.
Featured Image from CALLED TO RESCUE PHILIPPINES (via Youtube)
