Vilma Santos uplifts morale of movie workers

Despite Vilma Santos’ admission that she plans to stop making movies, she still has the time and energy to grace public appearances.

Vilma was last seen in person during the screening at the Metropolitan Theater last week of a retrospective of her film “Ekstra,” a collaboration between Quantum Films and Cinemalaya in 2013.

“Ekstra,” directed by maverick filmmaker Jeffrey Jeturian forays into the exploits of bit players in the movies and television.

It examines the plight of the menial workers, their little triumphs, elusive dreams, frustrations, struggles etc. just to stay afloat and work within the system of the local entertainment industry.

Santos is able to empathize with the extras because she has closely worked with them on the set and finds them nice and easy to get along with even if she hasn’t experienced being in the lowly shoes of the walk-on or cameo performers as she was launched along the lines of the solo leads or top starrers.

“Mabuti na nga ngayon at batas na ang Eddie Garcia Bill kung saan pantay na ang tingin sa mga extra at malalaking artista (It’s better now because the Eddie Garcia Bill is already a law when extras have equal footing with big stars).

“Ngayon, hindi na ekstra ang tawag sa kanila. Talents na ang tawag sa kanila. Malaki na ang ipinagbago (Now, extras are addressed differently. They are now called talents. So much has changed),” explained vi at the talkback sessiin after the showing of “Ekstra” as part of the Cine Filipina program of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP)’s celebration of International Women’s Month this March. (Boy Villasanta)