“Manny”, the Manny Pacquiao story, Makes World Premiere at SXSW 2014

Interviewer: Emily Reas
Interviewees: Ryan Moore and Lenny Mesina

Eight Division World Championships. Congressman. Singer. Actor. Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao’s talents span all across the board; however, how did this man come to such extraordinary lengths? Manny chronicles his life from destitute poverty to international stardom, making the epitome of a rags to riches story. All the fame and fortune though starts to take a toll as Manny strives to balance his boxing career, politics, and his personal life. How far, though, is too far? I got to sit down with Director and Producer Ryan Moore as well as the editor of the film Lenny Mesina to discuss Manny. With the premier the previous night, Ryan Moore and Lenny Mesina reminisce yesterdays festivities and how they felt:

Ryan:

Why did you choose to premier at SXSW instead of the Philippines?

Ryan:

How did you even come up with the idea, “I wanna make a documentary about Manny”?

Ryan:

How did Manny react to the cameras following him everywhere?

Ryan:

What was it like going through hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage and deciding what goes in the film?

Lenny:

Overall, Manny was proven to be a knockout at SXSW (boxing pun intended). For someone who knows very little about Manny Pacquiao, this film made me want to go home and Google him all night long. And to add a cherry on top of this interview, I got Ryan to do a shout out to KTSW 89.9!