'SHADOW TRANSIT' DIRECTOR PEDRING LOPEZ PUSHES FOR MORE 'FILIPINO FILMS FOR THE WORLD'

Director Pedring Lopez shared that the international success of his action movie “Maria” became his unexpected passport to the global filmmaking scene.

- By NATHALIE TOMADA

“Maria’ — actually that was my calling card abroad,” Lopez told The STAR during an intimate interview for “Shadow Transit,” his new film that’s making its Asian premiere at QCinema. “I met a lot of producers. That’s how I funded most of my projects.”

Released in 2019, “Maria” didn’t just click locally, it also performed well overseas.

“'Maria' is a Filipino film but the sensibilities — like, a lot of Americans like it. I have more bashers in the Philippines than in the US. The film had more fans abroad.”

Besides the US, he said when it was streamed abroad, “We were No. 4 for three weeks in the UK and Ireland, the first non-English film.”

He recalled how international producers directly reached out after seeing “Maria.”

“That's the reason why I got my next (international) film, which is with American actors, English actors, all English crew,” he shared.

“I’m shooting in the UK because they saw ‘Maria’ and they contacted me here,” he said.

“So that’s also ‘Ascendance.’ I’m shooting that in Wales next year, next March.”

Despite the scale and foreign setting, Lopez made sure Filipino talent would be part of his upcoming project.