For the very first time in my life, I plan to see one of the cinematic offerings of the Metro Manila Film Festival this year. The movie is a full-length animation called Dayo, and the reason I want to watch it is to give support towards this unique Filipino enterprise.

Last 4 October, a group of bloggers was given a sneak peek into the movie, as well as the chance to interact with the producers. Also, we were able to witness the actual processes involved in creating Dayo.

I’ve seen — and been fascinated by — several documentaries shown on TV about the making of animated films, especially those by Pixar and Disney. This time, I was right there interacting with the artists, and having conversations with the producers, directors and writers!  The tour of Dayo’s impressive production outfit in Makati is something I will never forget.

I’m pretty sure what we saw and heard that wonderful Saturday barely scratched the surface of the whole production effort. But it was enough to give us an appreciation of the level of talent, creativity and professionalism that has gone into the movie’s creation.

The tour of the animation studios of Cutting Edge Productions, the creator of Dayo, was an eye-popping experience for all of us. Everyone was ooh’ing and aah’ing while the animators did their magic on their high-tech workstations. They were doing actual work while we stood there watching wide-eyed. Of course, fellow Dabawenyo and blogger Jehz just had to have a first-hand feel of the digital animation process, so he unabashedly asked one of the animators to show him how. Some of us were lucky to follow suit. There’s this studio with about 15 artists, and each of them has a high-powered Mac computer equipped with a Wacom Cintiq monitor/tablet. You could see they’ve really invested a lot in this movie.

Beyond the obvious monetary input, the passion for this momentous undertaking was also palpable. During the presentation by Dayo executive producer and Cutting Edge CEO, Jessie Lasaten, I could feel how passionate he and his colleagues are about the movie. And I am certain this dedication to producing a quality film will translate to a movie that’s going to be worth watching and cherishing.

Dayo is all about a young boy, Bubuy, who encounters the world of the enchanted. The movie is populated by Philippine mythical creatures like the manananggal, tikbalang, siyokoy. While these creatures from folklore are based on what’s been handed down through the generations, the Cutting Edge team has taken some artistic license in creating the characters. For example, you’ll see one of the lead characters, Anna, who’s a manananggal, will have two sets of wings. Tito Romero, the creative director, explained that they decided to give their manananggals an extra pair of wings to justify their ability to hover. Neat huh?

Dayo will be launched to the viewing public at the Metro Manila Film Festival on Christmas Day 2008. This is a major feat for a new production outfit. In my opinion, the inclusion of Dayo in the annual filmfest raises the bar for all filmmakers, animation or otherwise.

But much more than that, Dayo is a shining showcase of Filipino ingenuity and creativity. It is an adventurous and inspiring undertaking. It is, in fact, brave of the producers to have delved into this project — but it’s high time that Filipinos took it upon themselves to prove that it can be done.

Have I mentioned that the movie’s theme and musical score are performed by professionals? The theme, which has a new and upbeat sound, is rendered by Leah Salonga, as well as by a SonyBMG up-and-coming band that proves to have a bright future ahead. The musical score will be performed by no less than the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Other heavyweights in the music industry have also been tapped to contribute to the soundtrack, including Joey Ayala. And, everything will be recorded on Dolby Digital.

Director Robert Quilao and Lasaten (who is also the musical director) proudly pointed out that Dayo is 100% Filipino-made. For several years already, Filipino artists have been receiving outsourced work for Japanese anime projects; however, these were partial components of larger projects. Now, thanks to Cutting Edge, Filipinos have embarked on a higher plane by producing animated movies locally. (Dayo, by the way, is planned to become a trilogy!) What does this mean?

Well, this means more jobs and we’ll get to keep our talent once we start producing more of such movies. It also means we produce value locally. And who knows, we might even be exporting our films in the foreseeable future.

There’s so much more that I’d like to tell you about the movie… but I’ll just spoil it for you. So this December, I invite you to go to your theaters and watch Dayo.

The bloggers’ Dayo tour was organized by Dave Quitoriano & Mike Abasolo of RedMedia and yours truly, through Cutting Edge’s marketing officer, Jinky Salvador.

Kudos to Cutting Edge and break a leg!!