right after his homecoming at the u.p. college of arts and letters (cal) last tuesday, prizewinning film director auraeus solito (ang huling el bimbo music video, ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros, tuli, pisay) talked about three possible film projects he is developing currently.
one film project is about to take off this week. over the weekend, auraeus and his creative team announced that auditions will be held on friday, 7 march 2008, at the u.p. cal AVR (room 2104), 2nd floor, bulwagang rizal (between vargas museum and palma hall, at the corner roxas avenue and roces street; parking is located at the back gate, at the corner of quirino and roces streets), from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
applicants must bring a photograph.
at the moment, the creative team is looking for male actors between 18 and 23 years old.
auraeus solito during his homecoming at the u.p. college of arts and letters, 26 february 2008 u.p. diliman map
prizewinning film director and u.p. cal alumnus auraeus solito in u.p. diliman
HOMECOMING: a conversation with auraeus solito on PISAY, U.P., MAXIMO OLIVEROS and beyond
tuesday, 26 february 2008
2:30-4 pm
UP CAL AVR (Room 2104) 2nd floor, bulwagang rizal college of arts and letters university of the philippines diliman, quezon city.
open to the public
*** Auraeus Solito (Palaw'an) studied theater arts at the College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines, where he directed for the stage and wrote screenplays. Later, he studied filmmaking at the Mowelfund Film Institute. His thesis dramatic production at the University of the Phillipines was about the stories of the Palawanon, and after graduating Solito spent seven years living on the island of South Palawan, Phillipines. Solito's documentary, Basil Banar/The Scared Ritual of Truth about the Palawan Islands won Best Feature Documentary at the Montreal First Peoples' Festival. His first narrative feature, The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, won the Golden Zenith Award at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Kinderfest International Jury's Grand Prize at the Berlinale in Germany. The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros was the opening film of the 2006 New Directors/New Films series presented by The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Solito filmed The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros in Sampaloc, the neighborhood where he grew up in Manila, Phillipines As an Asian Public Intellectual Fellow of the Nippon Foundation, Japan, Solito made a documentary on island rituals in Okinawa and Borneo.
"Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros" won 15 international awards including 3 awards at the Berlinale (The Teddy award, International Jury Prize at the Kinderfest and Special Mention from the Children's Jury of the Kinderfest). It is also the first Philippine film nominated for Best Foreign film at the Independents' Spirit Awards in the US. It has been shown in more than 50 film festivals around the world.
“Tuli” , his second feature film, won Best Picture and Best Director at the Digital Competition at the 2005 CineManila Film Festival and recently won the NETPAC Jury Prize at the the Berlinale, International Forum for New Cinema; 2nd Prize for Best Feature Film at the Montreal Film Festival. It is at present making the rounds in film festivals in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
He is the first Filipino to make it to the premiere independent film festival in the world, the SUNDANCE Film Festival in Park City, Utah, USA; two years in a row for both “The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros” and “Tuli”.
“PISAY (Philippine Science)” is his 3rd dramatic feature film. It is a story about eight students who makes it to the premier science high school during the politically volatile 80’s in the Philippines. These students find the world outside, with the chaos of the end of the Marcos dictatorship erupting into the People Power revolution in 1986, being replicated within the school as they struggle to graduate, contend with teachers, classmates, family, school officials, and a new classification system to segregate students into two groups based on their academic ranking. It chronicles their journey of self discovery as they go through the joys and pains of adolescence. PISAY is the winner of the Best Director, Best Production Design and the Audience Choice Awards at the 2007 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. More recently, the film bagged Grand Jury and Audience Choice Prizes at the 14th Vesoul International Film Festival for Asian Films in France.
ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros (the blossoming of maximo oliveros)
save philippine cinema 2: watch auraeus solito's pisay
"Pisayis a beautiful film, simple and sophisticated, direct and campy, one that gets better and better as it goes along. From the evidence gathered, the praise is valid for Filipino cinema as a whole, which is undergoing something of a renaissance.”
by Emmanuel Burdeau, Cahiers Du Cinema, France
Cahiers du Cinema is the most prestigious critics' group in the world. They have declared that Filipino cinema is on the verge of a renaissance. But in order to reach this renaissance, Philippine independent cinema needs an audience.
"Pisay" s the latest film by Auraeus Solito who also directed internationally awardwinning films "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros" and "Tuli".
" Pisay”, with international title “Philippine Science", recently won two awards at the 14th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in France: The Grand Prix du Jury (Grand Prize of the International Jury) and the Prix du Public (Audience Prize) for “its very high positive energy level, confirming the authenticity of Filipino cinema style and for the remarkable performance of its young actors” .
Help us reach the Renaissance of Philippine Cinema.
Please require your students to watch “Pisay” the movie.
Pisay will be shown February 20 –27 exclusively at the following SM theaters:
An indie film about eight exceptionally gifted high school students set in the politically volatile ‘80s has been honored in the 14th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema.
Directed by Auraeus Solito, Pisay was cited for "good spirit, acting, scenario and direction" by jurors of the film festival considered as one of the oldest and largest Asian in Europe. Pisay won the Grand Prix du Jury (Grand Prize of the International Jury) and the Prix du Public (Audience Prize) during the film festival that took place in France from January 29 to February 5.
Auraeus went to France along with young actors EJ Jallorina, Carl Barrameda, Claudine Najera who played the students of Pisay, which is short for Philippine Science High School. The noted director is actually an alumnus of Pisay; he collated real stories from his classmates who were part of Batch ‘86. Production designer Endi Balbuena also joined the delegation for Pisay.
The film won the Best Director, Best Production Design, and Audience Choice awards in the third Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in July 2007.
Pisay will be shown from February 20 - 27 exclusively at the following SM theaters: SM North Edsa Cinema 8, SM Megamall Cinema 9, SM Manila Cinema 4, SM Southmall, SM Fairview Cinema 6 and SM San Lazaro Cinema 6.
Pisay (2007)
Director: Auraeus Solito
Writer: Henry Grageda
Cast:
Gamy Lopez as Rom Meneses
Annicka Dolonius as Wena Ledesma
Carl John Barrameda as Mateo Markado
Elijah Castillo as Minggoy Lamasan
Shayne Fajutagana as Liway Claver
Jonathan Neri as Andy Gallardo
Alfred Alain Labatos as Daki Lim
EJ Jallorina as Euri Calo
Eugene Domingo as Ms. Casas, the Physics teacher
Arnold Reyes as Mr. G, the Biology teacher
SYNOPSIS.Pisay is written by Henry Grageda and directed by Aureus Solito of Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros fame. The filmis about eight students who qualify as scholars in the government-run school in Quezon City, spanning the time they enter the school in 1982 until they graduate in 1986. These are turbulent times in contemporary history so the film is not just their story but also that of the nation. Filipinos were outraged by the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in August 1983, spurring them to stage the first EDSA People Power revolution leading to the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos.
The film is divided into four episodes, each correspoding to a specific year of schooling. "Freshman" is about young love. Gammy Lopez (twin brother of Nathan Lopez who played Maximo Oliveros), an intelligent teener whose mom is a market vendor, falls in love with a balikbayan mestiza. In the process, his grades suffer. Their concerned teacher (played by Eugene Domingo) wants him to enter an Ivy League school in abroad and convinces him to forget about his infatuation with Annicka Dolonious.
"Sophomore" is about an overweight boy from Cebu played by Carl John Barrameda who graduated valedictorian in their hometown and is now bullied by bigger boys in their dorm. He gets so terribly homesick and this affects his performance in class so badly that he is danger of flunking geometry.
"Junior" is about a girl, played by Shayne Fajutana, whose parents are both political activists. To complete an experiment in class, she is paired with a budding cadet played by Jonathan Neri. They develop feelings for each other while working on the story of Macliing Dulag and the Chico River project. However, Shayne's parents are being persecuted by the government so they are forced to leave quietly for abroad. Shayne drops out from Pisay without even saying goodbye to her friends.
"Senior" is about Euripedes (EJ Jallorina), an effeminate boy with artistic flair who discovers that he is more inclined to the arts. Pisay scholars are required to major in science courses when they go to college. If they enroll in other courses, then they would have to pay back the government for the years they spent as Pisay scholars.
This episode opens with a play being performed on stage, with Euri playing the role of Sisa. Euri has a hard time filling up his application form for entrance exams in college because he cannot decide on whether he should take up a science course or the theater arts.
In the end, the tragedy that befalls his classmate and best friend, Elijah Castillo (the child actor who played the title role in Pepot Artista) helps him make a final decision.
These young students find the world outside—erupting into the People Power Revolution in 1986—being replicated within the school as they struggle to graduate, contend with teachers, classmates, family, school officials and a new classification to segregate students into two groups based on their academic ranking.
auraeus was my student in communication classes at the university of the philippines from 1989 to 1991. i have nothing to do with his success. but I can vouch for his integrity as a person and as an artist. his sister arlene was my seatmate in college. the solito siblings grew up near the slums of sampaloc (manila) where i was also born and raised. auraeus worked very hard to qualify as a student at the philippine science high school and the university of the philippines. he took up creative writing and theater in college. prior to maximo, auraeus received acclaim for directing the music video of the eraserheads' "ang huling el bimbo." the video paired band members ely buendia, marcus adoro, raimund marasigan and buddy zabala (my student in humanities 1, 1990) with actress wena basco (another former student). the video bagged prizes at the n.u. 107 rock awards locally and the mtv international music awards at the radio city music hall in new york. i caught the music video for the first time on cable tv when i was studying at cambridge in 1996. tired and homesick, i cried buckets of tears being haunted by the video's replications of sampaloc under marcos and martial law.
by late 2005, robert redford's team had selected maximo to land in competition for this year’s sundance film festival (america’s most prestigious film festival). maximo's selection turns out to be a first for the philippines. the film has also received many best picture prizes and citations from berlin (germany), montreal (canada), rotterdam (netherlands), las palmas de gran canarias (spain), turin (italy), imagineNative (international film festival of indigenous films, toronto, ontario, canada), asian festival of 1st films (singapore) and cinemalaya (manila) film festivals.
maximo was also selected as the opening film at the 35th new directors/new films series, presented jointly by the film society of lincoln center and the museum of modern art's film and media department. maximo had its new york premiere at the walter reade theater in lincoln center and at the titus theater at MoMa.
"kubrador" revolves around “jueteng,” the game of numbers dating back to the country's spanish colonial period (1521-1898). to this day, jueteng lords and operators are sprawling all over the country. though illegal, jueteng affects the lives of individuals and institutions back home. former philippine president joseph estrada was thrown to face an impeachment trial allegedly because of his involvement with jueteng.
the last filipino films selected for competition at moscow were gil portes’ "saranggola" (the kite) in 1999 and "mga munting tinig" (small voices) in 2003. the kite, starring lester llansang and ricky davao, was scripted by the multi-awarded butch dalisay. small voices, featuring alessandra de rossi, was written by senedy que, adolf alix jr. and gil portes.
jeffrey took up broadcast communication at the college of mass communication, university of the philippines. immediately after college, he moved up the professional ladder, from being production assistant (e.g. marilou diaz-abaya's "alyas baby tsina" starring vilma santos), script supervisor (e.g. maning borlaza and leroy salvador’s "bituing walang ningning" starring sharon cuneta; eddie garcia's"saan nagtatago ang pag-ibig" starring vilma santos and "huwag mo itanong kung bakit" starring dina bonnevie; leroy salvador's "sa hirap o ginhawa" starring sharon cuneta), art director/production designer (e.g. chito rono’s "eskapo," "dahas" and "davao" tv series on rpn 9; national artist ishmael bernal’s "dear teacher" tv series on ibc 13; abs-cbn's "maala-ala mo kaya,"; gma 7's "gma telesine," "anna karenina" and "villa quintana"), assistant director and television director (e.g. "legal forum," "maala-ala mo kaya," "kirara," and "pira-pirasong pangarap") over a 15-year period before finally fulfilling his dream of becoming a full-fledged film director in 1998.
jeffrey’s debut film "enter love" (sana pag-ibig na,1998), is a moving narrative about a mistress and her deceased lover's son. shot on a measly budget of US$50,000, the film bombed at the box-office. however, “enter love” received glowing reviews from the local critics. it also received numerous citations and awards especially best actress prizes for 1950s superstar nida blanca. "enter love" turned out to be blanca's last great film role before she was murdered in 2001.
in venezia, larger than life was shown alongside alfonso cuaron's "y tu mama tambien", antoine fuqua's "training day" (denzel washington's oscar-winning film with ethan hawke), clare peploe's "the triumph of love" (starring mira sorvino and ben kingsley), alejandro amenabar's "the others" (starring nicole kidman), the curse of the jade scorpion (starring, written and directed by woody allen), fruit chan's "hollywood hong kong", david mamet's "heist" (starring danny de vito and gene hackman), albert and allen hughes' "from hell" (starring johnny depp), milcho manchevski's "dust" (starring joseph fiennes and australia's david wenham), steven spielberg's "a.i., artificial intelligence" (starring haley joel osment, jude law and william hurt), jill sprecher's "13 conversation about one thing" (starring matthew mcconaughey) and mira nair's "monsoon wedding" (that year's golden lion winner for best picture). larger than life also received best picture awards from the 2001 star awards for the movies and the 2001 urian awards while garnering another gold award from the 2002 worldfest international film festival in houston, texas (u.s.a.).
i remember working on the lyrics of larger than life's incidental music (by south border's jay durias). jessica zafra did the other lyrics. afterwards, i helped around with the film's english subtitles. unfortunately, the subtitles in italian were hurriedly done by another filipino academic. at venice, they appeared notoriously medicore. fortunately, larger than life's strong visuals overwhelmed the awkward translations.
on the way to the venice red carpet, jeffrey gamely posed for the press from gondola to gondola. later, he sought the assistance of a regal-looking bystander to have his grand arrival photographs recorded for posterity. the "photographer" turned out to be the legendary jeanne moreau. though a bit shaken by his sudden discovery, jeffrey persisted a la margie moran: serene and unruffled.
kubrador was completed only weeks ago. cineastes are already anticipating the arrival of the film with so much excitement and eagerness. kubrador's lead actress is the hugely talented gina pareno (previous remarkable performances: "magnificent bakya, " 1965, "let's dance the soul," 1967; mar s. torres' "dalawang mukha ng anghel," 1968; jun raquiza's "krimen: kayo ang humatol," 1974; maning borlaza's "bukas, luluhod ang mga tala,"1984; ishmael bernal's "working girls," 1984; and jeffrey's own "bridal shower," 2004). she is ably supported by thespians nanding josef (as father buboy), fonz besa (as eli) and maximo's soliman cruz ( as the policeman). jeffrey's production team is composed of joel jover (screenplay), armando lao (script supervision), boy yñiguez (direction of photography) and another good friend, leo abaya (production design). visual artist/television director/network executive johnny manahan turns in quite a performance by portraying a very special role: that of a jueteng master.
jay lozada now reports from manila that boy yniguez (director of photography for "larger than life" and "kubrador") has meticulously compiled highlights as well as behind-the-scenes from jeffrey's latest movie.
thinking filipinos should embrace alternative spaces offered by maximo and kubrador. in spite of processes that frequently undermine broadening cultural identities, auraeus solito and jeffrey jeturian have situated uniquely philippine expressions within pictures marked by brocolage, intertextuality and the blurring of genres.
auraeus solito
nathan lopez in the blossoming of maximo oliveros (2005)
nathan lopez and j.r. valentin in the blossoming of maximo oliveros
jeffrey jeturian (2nd from left) with friends including 2000 bb. pilipinas-universe nina ricci alagao onstage at the araneta coliseum
jeffrey jeturian (left, standing) with several writer-friends at prizewinning screenwriter armando lao's sikatuna pad in quezon city
jeffrey jeturian disembarks at lido for the 2001 venice film festival
jeffrey jeturian with venice film festival director fausto pizzi
at the sydney opera house, venue of maximo's australian premiere next week
