Why Janella Salvador wants to do more 'sapphic' stories after 'Open Endings'

Janella Salvador has been receiving more offers to do sapphic stories after filming the Cinemalaya 2025 entry "Open Endings."

- By NATHALIE TOMADA

"Actually, I haven't been offered sapphic projects before 'Open Endings.' This was my first, that's why I'm very happy because prior to the offer, I met up with Tita Gidget (dela Cuesta), my handler at Star Magic, and I was telling her that I wanna penetrate the film industry a bit more," she told The STAR in a Zoom interview.

"I wanna do indie films. I wanna do Cinemalaya and at the same time, I was telling her I wanna do a queer film. I wanna do a sapphic film. Hindi ko pa yun nagagawa. Then the offer came — I got both (dreams) in one project so sobrang, wow ang galing that it happened."

Once news was out about the Cinemalaya project, she said more offers followed.

"But I'm very, very careful. I don't just say yes because of course, with a topic like this or like a queer film, I wanna make sure that the community is gonna be represented in the right way, in a way that is appropriate. So pinipili ko pa rin."

According to the synopsis of the movie directed by Nigel Santos, "Open Endings" follows four queer women in their early 30s who "share a deeply entangled history: first girl crush, first girlfriend, first kiss, first love, great love, heartbreaks, one-night stands, even ghosting. The romance may have ended, but the friendship held strong.

"Through breakups, family drama and personal struggles, they keep choosing one another. Just when life starts to feel stable, one of them is faced with a decision that changes everything without warning. Can their friendship carry the weight of what's next? Will old feelings resurface?"

"Open Endings," one of the 10 official full-length entries in Cinemalaya's 21st edition, also stars Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Klea Pineda and Leanne Mamonong.

Asked why it was very important for her to take on the project, Janella said, "I always say na dream project ko siya pero hindi ko rin pala minsan na e-explain why I'm very vocal about it.