John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo’s Instagram Live Was, In Fact, An Art Piece

Where were you when Bea Alonzo went live on Instagram last Monday?

She brought on her perennial costar and loveteam partner, John Lloyd Cruz, in an unprecedented livestream, where the two talked about the ongoing crisis, mental health issues, and even John Lloyd’s future as a father. They eventually steered the conversation towards something sweeter, when they quoted lines from their past shows and movies together and said that they miss each other. 

The internet—JLC and Bea fan or otherwise—loved it, of course.

But a few days later, filmmaker Dan Villegas revealed that the livestream was part of The Unconfined Cinema, an initiative and art piece founded on the idea of exploring what else could be, “freeing our stories to be told outside of the traditional spaces and conceptual boundaries set by the last century of the medium.” 

This particular livestream, entitled “Love Team,” was written and directed by film hitmaker Antoinette Jadaone, responsible for movies like Alone/Together, Never Not Love You, Love You To The Stars and Back, and of course, That Thing Called Tadhana.

“’Love Team,’ says Dan, “is a love story—whether romantic or in its other forms—told entirely within Instagram. It is a story of our times.”

“Love stories have always had their place in Filipino cinema, and we wanted to bring the feelings that those movies inspire to a platform that has become more relevant and utilised in this time of quarantine—social media, specifically Instagram. The use of social media creates all sorts of new possibilities for storytelling. This was a story told over two weeks, adapting and evolving to real-life events, integrating our genuine sentiments over the state that we’re in.”

“We are in a culture where the usually distinct line between reality and make-believe blur,” he adds. “We started this story by stating that ‘any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is intentional.’ And that remains true. It was the only way this was possible.”

You may remember John Lloyd and Bea in a surprise reading of That Thing Called Tadhana early this year at the Ayala Triangle Gardens, as part of Art Fair 2020.    

“The Unconfined Cinema,” he ends, “invites filmmakers and artists to join us in exploring the possibilities of our cinema. Not just on Instagram, but on every stage imaginable.”

Lead photo from Star Magic