Six meters of separation from the Lilia Cuntapay

If you’ve seen a Filipino movie featuring an old witch, the face below should be very familiar to you.

Lilia Cuntapay has become a nameless figure in Philippine show business. I would identify her if I saw her on pictures and films as “that old lady”. However, in the film “Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay”, the face which has terrified thousands of children and adults shines as herself.

The concept of six degrees of separation is that every person on earth is related to one another by at most six other people. For example (I am not using Kevin Beacon), Person A and Person B. Person A is a friend of Person 1, the queen of Scotland, who bought jewelry from Person 2. Person 2 was dating Person 3 who works under Person 4. Person 4 makes donuts at Person’s 5 coffee shop while Person 6 cuts the cheese. Person 6 is also the stylist of Person B. Its a beautiful concept that between every two people are only a maximum of six other connections.

In this film, Lilia Cuntapay becomes the Philippine Kevin Beacon (commonly used example as he has worked with everyone in Hollywood by at most six degrees far). Clever concept. It is a “mockumentary” so most of it is not true (but, according to the filmmakers, the character was deeply rooted on the true-to-life Lilia Cuntapay. I am guessing it was to suit attention-deficit viewers).

The film is fun and quirky. The documentary-style approach was called for because this woman is definitely an icon despite being technically unknown. There are interviews with big stars that don't even remember her name but could remember working with her if shown photos.

As the Loyola Film Circle is cool (I am an inactive part of the org; I will try better next semester!), they were able to schedule a visit from Ms. Lilia herself. She came in late from a taping for TV5 and when she finally walked in the venue, everyone rose from their chairs and clapped their hands, a standing ovation, for an awesome show of character on the film.

Sorry about the audio! Couldn't fix it.

I was clapping my hands too and was hoping she would be really pleased because at 76 years old, she should be really tired from the day’s activities. She was so overwhelmed to see everyone that she stopped a couple of times on her way to her chair and she even cried a little! Of course, I was starstruck! The woman whose face scared the pee back up my bladder in the dark of night is right in front of me.

Adorable grandmama!

When she got into her chair, she would sat down ready for questions and every time she answers she would stand up so that everyone could see her! So adorable! And she is really nice. There is excessive misunderstanding as she is often only seen upside-down with mouth wide open or hair standing on ends.

When asked if she gets annoyed by people telling her that her appearance strikes fear, she quickly replied:

“Pagnatakot ka, hindi ko kasalanan ‘yon!”

The film is a must watch and soon you will be able to! The assistant director shared with us that the film will be enjoying a commercial release. If it hits the mainstream theaters, WATCH IT!


I really wanted to have my picture taken with her, upload it on Facebook and gloat about it but I didn't have time. =((