LOVI Poe and Janine Gutierrez will impart eye-opening lessons as interabled lovers out to break free from the constraints of society in iWantTFC’s newest original offering, “Sleep with Me.”

A six-part series, Sleep with Me held its world premiere on July 19 during the 40th Outfest LGBTQ+ Film Festival in Los Angeles, where it was selected for the Episodes Section. A queer female love story between two of the Philippines’ most beautiful and talented actresses of the day, Poe and Gutierrez persuasively tugged at the viewers’ heartstrings and won the Audience Award in its category at the end of the festival.

According to series director Samantha Lee, who attended the premiere with Poe in LA, the award was icing on the cake. It added the perfect touch to a highly successful screening of the proudly Filipino movie, whose tickets they repeatedly witnessed sold out.

Sleep with Me revolves around the story of Harry (Gutierrez), a late-night radio DJ who gives relationship advice from her wheelchair, and Luna (Poe), a girl who suffers from a sleep disorder that keeps her up all night, every night.

It is amid the quiet night, when everyone’s fast asleep, that Harry and Luna meet, talk, listen to one another and cross over the DJ-fan relationship.

In the course of telling a tender love story between the two female leads, this unexpected Girl Love (GL) series also sheds light on social injustices still experienced by those who are not able-bodied and heteronormative like the pair of heroines.

“I think Janine and Lovi’s characters both have their own set of issues that they deal with, and that’s what makes them excluded from society at large,” explained Lee, the director, who is also known FOR HER QUEER fiLMS “Baka Bukas” and “Billie and Emma.”

“So, in other words, this series is about people’s stories that don’t get told a lot as they should.”

Weighing in the global issue of inclusivity, Gutierrez stepped in to say, “The story is really something that I don’t think has been shown in the Filipino setting. I’m so excited for people to learn more about this topic and alam kong madaming makakarelate. And at the core, it’s a love story na talagang you’ll get attached to and will make you feel things.”

At a media conference mounted by ABS-CBN to announce the series’ much-awaited run in the Philippines, both actresses revealed they weren’t at all surprised about the project’s theme and had no hesitation accepting their roles all the same.

“I was excited from the very start, kasi this is something I’ve never done before. It wasn’t easy to do, especially the intimate scenes between Harry and Luna but I’m happy that Janine and I GET TO USE OUR INflUENCES AS ACtors in this project,” Poe noted. “We really should have more of these stories come out to help bring in a better understanding to both sides of the issue.”

Stream all six “Sleep with Me” episodes for free on the iWantTFC app (iOs and Android) or the iwanttfc.com website.