Rap Fernandez converts dad’s films to HD
Actor-director Rap Fernandez has preserved the legacy of his father, the late actor Rudy Fernandez, by converting his films in HD format.
“There are some reels that are in 35 millimeter format. Some of them got damaged so they were splicing it all together. It took two months to work on it, but Central Digital Lab Inc. in Makati is doing that for us. I submit the reels and it comes back na naka-hard drive na,” Rap told Yahoo! Philippines OMG and some members of the press in an interview.
Among the films Rap converted to HD are “Sandakot na Bala, Operation: Get Victor Corpuz,” “Kahit Buhay Ko” and “Kaaway ng Batas.”
Rap has his mother, Lorna Tolentino’s full support.
“It’s his (Rudy’s) legacy. It’s important. It’s for us and it’s for the Filipino people, for Filipino culture. This might be shown probably on television (but) I can’t talk about that yet. But we’re just fixing it, we’re in the middle of negotiations.”
Treasure hunting
Rap admits not everything is smooth-sailing. He explains that some films only have VCD, VHS or Betamax copies. Despite that, Rap is confident he can pull out 60 percent of his father’s filmography.
“Hindi lahat kasi puwede. Yung puwede mo lang i-HD yung may print or may negatibo. Yung iba kasi, yung only surviving copies nasa Betacam or Pneumatic tape or VHS or Betamax or VCD which is worst. So it’s like treasure hunting in a way. There’s still a chance we might find some of those which are missing.”
The proud father shares that his baby daughter, Lyla Victoria, has made him more “grounded and in touch with reality.”
“Being a father is a revelation for a first-timer like me. It feels like it’s possible pala to have automatic love, yung parang sobrang unconditional love automatically pagkakita mo pa lang sa tao, doon sa anak mo. Parang mahal na mahal mo na to the point na ibibigay mo na yung sarili mo para doon. So it’s humbling, it’s God’s gift. She’s great.”
