Elijah Canlas and Kakie Pangilinan on the Making of Edjop

As the film opens this week, the actors discuss their respective roles and bringing the late activist’s story to a new generation.

After five years of development and production, Edjop finally hits cinemas. Directed by Katski Flores, Edjop is a film based on the life of Edgar Jopson, a student turned revolutionary during the martial law era in the Philippines. The cast is led by Elijah Canlas, supported by Jodi Sta. Maria, Cedrick Juan, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, Kakie Pangilinan, Nour Hooshmand, Teroy Guzman, Issa Litton, Gab Pangilinan, Stefanie Akashi, and Jerome Davis.

Before getting involved with the film, both Canlas and Pangilinan were already familiar with Jopson’s life. “My dad’s 16th birthday gift to me was U.G. by Benjamin Pimentel, which is the biography of Edjop. And at that point, I’d already read it two or three times,” Pangilinan says. “And Edjop was one of the martial law activists who actually was the idol of my dad’s generation of activists.”

Canlas, on the other hand, learned a little bit about Edjop during his own time as a student activist.

Initially, Canlas was slated to only play the young version of Jopson, but eventually campaigned to play Jopson throughout the different stages of his life. “It’s always been a dream to portray a student leader or an activist, especially from that period, for me as an actor,” he says. “I wanted to play Edjop himself. So, I was like, ‘Guys, I’m right here.’” At the time, Canlas was 23, which seemed too young for Flores. But after seeing the actor in prosthetics and makeup, she was convinced.

Canlas was offered the project a year after the last presidential election, which elected Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the late Marcos Sr., who declared martial law. “It was a very conflicting time, and around that time I felt like I needed to do something either with my craft or in the streets, or whatever I can do to really help the cause, and this felt like a perfect project to do,” he says.

Meanwhile, the film marks Pangilinan’s silver-screen debut. While she does not have prior film experience, her familiarity with the material encouraged her to take on the role of young Joy Jopson-Kintanar. “I knew that I cared so hard enough that I would do whatever it took to make sure that my performance was good,” she says.

To prepare for her role, Pangilinan got to talk to Jopson-Kintanar herself. While Jopson-Kintanar is living with dementia, Pangilinan notes that her warmth is what she tried to bring out in her portrayal. “She carries herself with this kind of softness all the time,” she says. “She’s genuinely listening and engaging with me. I think that was something I really wanted to bring here in terms of that kind of strength, that there are many different kinds of strength.”

The challenge for Canlas was different. Jopson is the second real-life figure he has portrayed on screen; the first time was Paciano Rizal in GomBurZa (2023). He says that with Paciano, he felt a bit more freedom with his portrayal, but with Jopson, he used Pimentel’s biography and recordings to help him build the character.

“I was trying to generate his stance, trying to do everything that I saw from those sources,” he says. “And then eventually, direk Katski had to pull me to the side and tell me that, ‘Hey, I don’t want you to impersonate him. I want you to capture his essence as a person, his character.’ And that was a big wake-up call for me.”

The film faced challenges in funding, taking years before finally premiering on the big screen. And when the film was finished, it wasn’t a guarantee that the film would make it to cinemas. “I think any fear that we had was definitely in the post-production process in terms of not even yet necessarily how we will be received, but also how we will make sure that this movie gets to come out,” Pangilinan says. “It says something about what it takes, I guess, to have a film about an activist killed by Ferdinand Marcos in a time of the administration by Ferdinand Marcos Jr.”

Now, the film is screening nationwide, with the film team organizing block screenings and campus tours. “We’re not backed by a big studio or anything like that, so we hope that people who get to watch it help us spread the word,” Canlas says. “We hope that our generation that is going to watch the film gets inspired and wakes up and realizes that it’s our time. The torch is being passed to us, and we have to do something about it.”

“I think that it’s important to remember that activism and the fight, it’s supposed to be difficult, because doing what’s right is difficult in a world that is unfair and unjust,” Pangilinan adds. “It’s what makes the fight important, and the fight is a never-ending one.”

Edjop is currently screening in cinemas nationwide.