MANILA – Fans of Cinemalaya 2012 Audience Choice Award and Best Original Score winner Ang Nawawala are in for a Christmas treat as director Marie Jamora and producers Bernard Dacanay and John Sy prepare to release the film on DVD on November 30.
Playfully dubbed a “twin-disc set” in reference to the lead character and his twin, the DVD includes a second disc containing deleted and extended scenes, featurettes, photo galleries, cast auditions, music videos, and other bonus material. According to Jamora, it is a reward for those who support the film by buying an original copy.
“I know that our country is infamous for piracy and torrenting,” she added. “That is why we have spent the last three months here in Los Angeles creating over four hours of bonus material on disc two, so that the people who support the film by buying the DVD will be rewarded with everything that they would normally not get online.”
The film’s cinematographer, New York-based Ming Kai Leung, spent months re-color correcting the film. “Kai could not sit in with us during our color grading sessions before we premiered at the Cinemalaya Film Festival as he was shooting another film abroad, so he was never truly satisfied with the look of the film. I’m happy that we can finally show his vision for the film’s lighting and color on the DVD. We also chose a dual-layer DVD for Disc 1 so that we could get the best possible image for the film,” Jamora shared.
The director’s cut with remastered color correction, commentary tracks, and English subtitles will be on Disc One.
“It was fun coordinating with the crew and actors in Manila for the commentary tracks,” shared Jamora. “For them to reminisce about the film two years later was cool because it brought a certain objectivity to their experiences. It also helped that I was half a world away so that they would say stuff that they probably would normally not say if I was in the room.”
The DVD set also comes with a reversible cover created by illustrator and TBWA\SMP art director Tof Zapanta.
“I absolutely adore what Tof has created for the Art Cover,” Jamora said. “My dream is to make it a huge poster and hang it up on my wall.”
“I’d just like to say that this is the most feature-laden DVD in all of Philippine cinema history,” added co-writer Ramon De Veyra. “I’m not sure if that’s actually true… but I’d just like to say it. I can’t think of any other Pinoy film’s DVD that had this much bonus stuff. Which we did because we love bonus stuff.”
The DVD production team is led by Jamora’s creative partner, Jason McLagan, who co-edited the special features and headed up producing the DVD in the United States. “Jason was a jack of all trades – designing the outside cover for the DVD, finding our amazing manufacturer in Redondo Beach, doing all the sound mixing for the special features, even directing the stop motion parts of the DVD Teaser Video,” said Jamora. “We are so lucky to have him.”
The DVD costs P899 and is now available for pre-order. For more information on how to pre-order visit the Ang Nawawala DVD Facebook page. Those who do not want to pre-order can purchase copies at the Brainchild Creative Solutions Corp. office in Pasig starting November 30.
“We have only produced a limited run of DVDs made in the USA, so I highly recommend that people pre-order so you can reserve yourself a DVD,” suggested Jamora. “We are currently working out our deal with retailers, so the only way you can get the DVD is through us.”
A DVD release party will be held on December 21.
For more information, visit Ang Nawawala on Twitter and Tumblr.
