By ABS-CBNnews.com and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The upcoming comedy film featuring an ensemble cast including Kapamilya leading lady Angelica Panganiban has been rated R-16 by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), the movie’s director said Tuesday.

In a post on micro-blogging site Twitter, the writer and director of “#MadalingArawMahabangGabi”, Dante Nico Garcia, said the film has been “approved [for screening] without cuts,” but was given an R-16 rating by the MTRCB.

Relating the review process held Tuesday, Garcia shared on the social networking site, “The panel was composed of 3 people. One of them is Ms. Leah Navarro.”

“She immediately asked me, ‘What rating do you want?’ I replied, ‘I’m hoping for PG-13.’ She replied, ‘Not that that we are underestimating the audience, but the language of your film is too smart for a 13-year-old. We can only give you R-16. Is that ok?’ ‘I’m good with that,’” he added.

“#MadalingArawMahabangGabi” is among the first few films to be given the rating, which was only recently implemented in September this year.

“The Animals”, an entry to the 2012 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, was the first film to be classified R-16.

In an earlier interview, former MTRCB chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares explained the additional rating as a means to address a “gap” in the film classification system: “While some R-18 films may be too mature for teenagers ages 13 to 15, 16-year-olds may be ready to watch them.”

“#MadalingArawMahabangGabi” tells the story of a group of strangers whose lives intertwine at a bar in Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

As the eve of All Souls’ Day approaches, “[the viewers] become complicit as each of the characters takes the challenge of the Pangangaluluwa, a seemingly innocent Palawan tradition of honoring the dead by stealing something from the living.”

Panganiban is joined in the film by Rocco Nacino, Tutti Caringal, Kean Cipriano, Edgar Allan Guzman, Buboy Garovillo, Alchris Galura, Callum David, Dominic Roco, Karel Marquez, Lou Veloso, Eric Tai and Cherie Gil.

Before “MadalingAraw”, Garcia wrote and directed the internationally acclaimed film “Ploning,” which starred Judy Ann Santos.Produced by Panoramanila Pictures, “#MadalingArawMahabangGabi” will hit theaters nationwide on November 7.