After getting the big praises for her Bridgette role in Camp Sawi, Bela will now hit again the cinemas in a wave of her latest movie entitled I AMERICA, a film about a half-Filipino, half-American woman whose challenging life gets more complicated by a surprising revelation about her identity.

Bela plays the title role of Erica, an aspiring model/actress from Olongapo who finally finds her long lost father John Berry through the internet. John proves to be very welcoming, even coming to town to personally meet her, and inviting her to live with him in America. In the process of applying for a passport and the much coveted US visa, Erica discovers her registered name is not Erica Berry, but “Perry”. Demanding an explanation from her estranged mother (Elizabeth Oropesa) about her real last name, she gets an unsatisfactory response from her and is left with the mystery of her real origin. Still, she continues to let John Berry believe that she is his daughter. But how long will her American Dream get the better of her?

In an *interview, Bela says that although she and her character both have parents from different nationalities (her mother is Filipino, while her father is British), their differences are greater than their similarities. For one, she describes Erica as “very outspoken” and “malakas magmura” (big on profanities), while she is not. But she is happy about the challenge of portraying this character that is very different from her personality.

The actress also shares that she has learned to empathize more with the characters she plays because of this movie. She says that viewers may readily perceive Erica’s excuses as not valid, but if you get into her head, you’ll see why her issues are real.

Director Ivan Andrew Payawal believes that everyone can relate with stories about self-discovery, which is what this movie is about. “It's an everyday struggle to know who we really are, but a fulfilling journey nonetheless. In I AMERICA, it definitely explores the lives of our Amerasian brothers and sisters and how they cope living without knowing who their fathers are. I arrived with a realization that somehow, regardless of gender, race, skin color...as long as you know who you are and learn to accept yourself, then life would be so much easier to endure,” he expounds. He also wrote the screenplay.

I AMERICA is the first movie by Payawal to have been featured in Cinemalaya Film Festival last August. It was also Bela’s first time to be part of the said prestigious independent film festival. Aside from Bela and Ms. Oropesa, the cast includes Rob Rownd as John Berry, Matt Evans, Thou Reyes, Sheena Ramos, Joe Vargas, Raflesia Bravo, with Lui Manansala, and introducing Kate Bautista and Rhyzza Kafilas.

I AMERICA opens in cinemas on September 21, 2016. Produced by The Ideafirst Company and Eight Films, and distributed by VIVA Films.

Esoterika:Maynila will have a limited screening at the Shang Cineplex, EDSA Shangri La Mall. Produced by T.rex Productions in cooperation with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, ESOTERIKA:MAYNILA (global title: ESOTERICA:MANILA) stars Ronnie Liang and a muti-lingual cast of cross-cultural persuasions. Multi awarded Elwood Perez directs the screenplay by awardee, eminent critic and book author, Jessica Zafra. Rex A. Tiri is the Executive Producer.

The limited screening marks the firs time Esoterika:Maynila will viewed by the public following its successful premiere in Hong Kong. In August this year, Esoterika: Maynila held a successful gala screening at the 11th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Esoterika, described by a reviewer as a wild, fascinatingly profound joy ride around Manila, has fetched glowing reviews form critics everywhere.
Joel David, professor at Inha University and founding director of UP Film Institutes, writes: "First with Otso and now with Esoterika: Maynila, Elwood Perez has demonstrated what was previously considered impossible: That a Filipino filmmaker can become even more creative and vital as an elderly citizen. Finally, a model of reflexive audience-friendly productivity that an entire generation of indi-digital practitioners can aspire toward."

Nicola B. Pichay, top playwright, Palanca Hall of Fame and National Book Awardee, says: "In Esoterika: Maynila, Elwood Perez continues the cinematic tradition of paying homage to a city. Part diary, part fantasy, the movie evokes campy-kitschy-surreal Manila. Briny and existential, this movie shares a cinematic place alongside Bernal's Manila By Night and Brocka's Maynila: Sa Kuko ng Liwanag.

Raya Martin, filmmaker of global renown, writes: A hedonistic adventure in the rollercoater that is our society, Esoterika is the poignant journal of a master in Philippine cinema.
In his own words, film maker Elwood Perez says: In a voyage of self discovery, the protagonist---alternately ingenious and ingenuous--plunges into the territory of the exalted, the charmed and the bizarre, swimming through the uncharted waters of the unique Filipino experience, emerging from it all as an authentic Manileno, imbued with the thought that tolerance is sophistication.

Esoterika: Maynila has been picked by the ilipino Academy of Movie Arts and sciences to receive the 62th FAMAS Film Critics' Choice Award in ceremonies to be hel at Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila.

The film has also been invited to open the 22nd Filipino Arts and Cinema International Film Festival (FACINE) in San Francisco, California in October. Its director Elwood Perez will also be presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the growth and development of the FIlipino motion picture industry.

Screeenings of Esoterka: Maynila at the Shang Cineplex are scheduled daily from September 23 to 29, 2:20pm, 4:40pm, 7:00pm and 9:20pm.

Star Cinema joins forces with Reyna Films, Inc and Central Digital Lab for the upcoming mainstream theatrical release of Hari Ng Tondo.
Hari Ng Tondo was the official entry of APT Productions, Inc. MZET TV and Reyna Films Inc in the Director's Showcase category of the tenth installment of Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival (Cinemalaya X) that ran last August in Manila. Directed by internationally acclaimed director Carlos Siguion-Reyna and with a script written by Bibeth Orteza, Hari Ng Tondo is a gripping  black comedy centered on Ricardo Villena, a grandfather on the verge of bankruptcy who brings his grandchildren Anna and Ricky with him back to Tondo Manila - the community that made and shaped him to be that man that he is. Ricardo discovers that the place is no longer the same while his grandchildren Anna and Ricky will meet new friends, learn new things, and earn a deeper understanding about the world around them through the wisdom and guidance of their grandfather.
The film assembles and ensemble cat of the country's finest actors as led by iconic and legendary dramatic  actor Robert Arevalo as the film's patriarch and central character Ricardo Villena portraying his grandchildren in the film are real-life cousins Cris Villonco who plays the role of Anna and Carlos and Bibeth's son, Rafa Siguion-Reyna who plays the role of Ricky.
It should be noted that Hari Ng Tondo is the long overdue, grand comeback of Carlos Siguion-Reyna who took a hiatus from full-length feature films. The last commecial released directed by Siguion-Reyna was 2000's family drama Azucena that starred Glydel Mercado, Alessandra De Rossi and Dante Rivero. With the current partnership of Star Cinema with Reyna Films Inc. and Central Digital LAb, Carlos also makes his much awaited homecoming to Star Cinema that released two of his most commercially successful and criticallly acclaimed films Ligaya ang Itawag mo sa akin (1997) and Ang Lalake sa Buhay ni Selya (1998). Prior to Hari Ng Tondo, Siguion Reyna directed Choices, a short film on reproductive health and women's right to choose, which aired on ABS-CBN's cable news channel ANC in line with its 15th Anniversary in 2011.
Hari Ng Tondo is a heartwarming family movie that earned the elusive nod of approval of the Cinemalaya crowd. It is one of the films in Cinemalaya X that earned sustained positive reviews and impressive returns from the festival's box office. The edgy appeal of Hari Ng Tondo is anchored on the collective and individual experiences of its characters Ricardo, Anna and Ricky as set against the contemporary back drop of historic Tondo as juxtposed with the Tondo of Ricardo's youth.
Hari NG Tondo also stars Rez Cortez, Lorenz Martinez, LIza Lorena, Lui Manansala, Aiza Seguerra, Carlos Canlas, Mark Tayag, Ciara Sotto, Gian Magdangal, Ali Sotto, Audie Gemora, Hans Eckstein, Raul Montesa, Jelson Bay, Gino Ramirez, Mengie Cobarrubias and Eric Quizon.

Hari Ng Tondo is showing in mainstream cinemas nationwide starting October 1