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joey albert returns to manila

hours back, i attended joey albert's homecoming concert with louie ocampo at the music museum in greenhills. as usual, many people flocked to greenhills to listen to joey's music. she sang her hits (e.g., collaborations with louie ocampo: tell me, iisa pa lamang, yakapin mo ako, it's over now, ikaw lang ang mamahalin, and without you; gerry paraiso's over and over; robert more's a million miles away; danny tan's iisa pa lamang; and jose mari chan's i remember the boy). she also sang louie ocampo's other hits (e.g., ewan, shadow of time, you are my song, say that you love me), burt bacharach, henry mancini, other standards, samba and bossa nova classics. as expected, joey's concert was magical. her musical collaboration with louie ocampo remains a formidable force within the local music industry.

but it wasn't easy getting tickets to joey's concert. tickets were sold out days before the concert date. not wanting to disturb joey, i ran to carla (a good friend and joey's sister-in-law) yesterday morning. though joey was very busy preparing for her gig, she was able to text back and secure close-to-the-stage orchestra seats for me at the very last minute.

i've been an avid follower of joey's music for ages now. joey and i also exchanged emails quite frequently when i lived in australia as a phd student. i am just so thrilled to see her with her family in manila.

with vancouver-based filipina singer and composer joey albert

joey albert sings tell me with louie ocampo on the keyboard

***

The latest on Jeffrey Jeturian's KUBRADOR

GFI Announces Global Lens 2008 Film Lineup New Crowned Hope, FIPRESCI and Un Certain Regard selections lead series in its 5th year San Francisco, CA - August 7, 2007 - The Global Film Initiative announced today ten award-winning narrative, feature films from Argentina, China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Philippines and South Africa that will headline the Global Lens 2008 film series. "The films selected for Global Lens 2008 are beautiful, powerful stories that represent the best of cinema from around the world-they must be seen and experienced," says Susan Weeks Coulter, Board Chair of The Global Film Initiative. Leading the list are critical favorites Opera Jawa (New Crowned Hope), The Bet Collector (FIPRESCI) and Luxury Car (Un Certain Regard). Also included is Sundance/NHK award-winner, The Custodian (Golden Berlin Bear nomination), and South African comedic hit, Bunny Chow (Official Selection, Toronto IFF). Global Lens 2008, now in its fifth year, will premiere at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in January, before embarking on year-long tour of over thirty cities across the United States. For screening-dates and locations, please visit: http://www.globalfilm.org/calendar.php Global Lens 2008 films: · ALL FOR FREE (SVE DZABA), dir. Antonio Nuić, Croatia, 2006 Personal tragedy leads a young man to buy a mobile refreshment truck and embark on a darkly humorous and quixotic journey across post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. · THE BET COLLECTOR (KUBRADOR), dir. Jeffrey Jeturian, Philippines, 2006 A resilient housewife's job of collecting cash bets on the local numbers-game takes a psychological toll on her in the days before All Saint's Day. · BUNNY CHOW, dir. John Barker, South Africa, 2006 Three up-and-coming comedians head out on a road trip, abandoning rules, reason and girlfriends to find music and the meaning of life in the "new" South Africa. · THE CUSTODIAN (EL CUSTODIO), dir. Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina, 2006 A man's threshold for the mundane is chronicled by the uneventful days of his life as a bodyguard for a high profile politician. · THE FISH FALL IN LOVE (MAHIHA ASHEGH MISHAVAND), dir. Ali Raffi, Iran, 2005 A group of resourceful women use food to convince a stubborn businessman to allow them to continue operating a restaurant in a building he owns. · KEPT & DREAMLESS (LAS MANTENIDAS SIN SUEÑOS), dir. Vera Fogwill and Martín Desalvo, Argentina, 2005 Set during Argentina's economic crisis of the nineties, a drug-addicted mother struggles to keep her life afloat with the aid of her fiercely affectionate nine year-old daughter. · THE KITE (LE CERF-VOLANT), dir. Randa Chahal Sabbag, Lebanon, 2003 On the eve of her marriage, a Lebanese girl realizes she is in love with the Israeli solider guarding the border checkpoint that separates her from her fiancé. · LET THE WIND BLOW (HAVA ANEY DEY) dir. Partho Sen Gupta, India, 2004 At the height of nuclear-tensions between India and Pakistan, a restless group of friends weigh the bitter reality of their lives against fate and the philosophy of a nation. · LUXURY CAR (JIANG CHENG XIA RI), dir. Wang Chao, China, 2006 A man travels to the city to visit his daughter-a karaoke bar escort-hoping to fulfill his wife's last wish of finding their missing son. · OPERA JAWA, dir. Garin Nugroho, Indonesia, 2006 In the lush interior of Java, a potter's wife is seduced into a tragic love triangle in this stylish adaptation of the Hindu epic, The Ramayana.

The Global Film Initiative is a U.S.-based, 501(c)3 organization specializing in the acquisition, distribution and support of independent film from the developing world. Founded in 2002 with the mission of promoting cross-cultural understanding through cinema, each year the Initiative awards numerous grants to deserving filmmakers from emerging nations, and supports a touring film series entitled Global Lens. For more information about the Global Lens film series and The Global Film Initiative programs, please visit: http://www.globalfilm.org.

***

from atty. joji alonso antonio:
armando lao, mlr rilms launch screenwriting workshop

In its continuing advocacy for the creation of alternative films, MLR Films wishes to invite all interested writers who have written a script for television, stage plays, short films, full length feature films, and similar materials, to a SCRIPT WRITING workshop. The workshop will be held at a venue, to be announced later, inside the UP Diliman campus. It is sponsored in part by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). The workshop will be held every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 1-7pm on the following dates: Sept 15/16, Sept 22/23, Sept 29/30, Oct 6/7, Oct 13/14, Oct 21/22 and Oct 27/28. The actual scriptwriting and consultation stage will be held in the months of November and December this year.

The workshop will be conducted by no less than Armando "Bing" Lao. For those who still don't know Bing, he grew up in General Santos, South Cotabato where he attended his primary and secondary education. In college, he took up Commerce at the University of the East, Manila. For the next eight years or so, Lao worked for various business companies in the accounting department. But in 1980, he decided he wanted to become a scriptwriter. He has never regretted that decision.

He initially wrote for television drama programs and anthologies, notable of which were VIVA’S SPOTLIGHT, RPN 9’s DAVAO and GMA’s docu-drama WALANG BAKAS.

To date, Bing has written over twenty produced screenplays, majority of them critically acclaimed.

He has received six Manunuri awards for Best Screenplay for the following films—Takaw-Tukso, Itanong Mo Sa Buwan, Pila-Balde, Tuhog and La Vida Rosa. His latest written work, Minsan Pa was adjudged the 2005 Best Picture by the Young Critics Circle. Internationally, Pila-Balde won the NETPAC Jury Award in the first CineManila International Film Festival and likewise won the Gold Award in the 2000 Worldfest Film Festival, Houston, Texas, U.S.A. It has since been exhibited in various film festivals abroad. Tuhog qualified as the Philippine official entry to the Cinema Present section in the 2000 Venice Film Festival.

Bing, who teaches film writing to both graduate and undergradute students at the University of the Philippines Film Institute, has mentored new writers whose films help propagate what he considers a narrative paradigm which favors strong cultural content and authentic representation, properties that make a film distinctly Filipino and globally competitive as well. Films like Masahista, Manoro, Kubrador, and Foster Child have validated this paradigm, the films having won acceptance and critical acclaim from prestigious film festivals abroad. The CineMalaya best picture Tribu is the latest product of Lao’s realist manual. The still unreleased Tirador, another realist film, has been accepted in the Toronto Film festival this year. The scripts of the two films were also written under Bing's supervision.

Bing has been asked a number of times to sit as juror to scriptwriting contests and to facilitate scriptwriting workshops. He was a member of the 2005 CineMalaya screening committee. When asked what advice he can give to new filmmakers, he quipped: “Be culturally correct”.

The workshop can only accomodate 30 people. Because of this limitation, we invite interested participants to email us as soon as possible your filmography so we can begin the selection process for the 1st batch of workshoppers. You may send your filmographies to jojialonso@mlrfilms.com or to armando_lao@yahoo.com or preferably to both. You may also contact our workshop director, Seymour "Meyor" Sanchez at 0918 3384771. The workshop will begin as soon as Bing arrives from the Toronto International Film Festival.

The workshop fee is P5,000. FDCP's has generously agreed to cover P3,000 of this fee. The actual cost to the participant has thus been reduced to P2,000 only. A word of caution to food seekers, there will be no lavish food served during the workshop. But there will be coffee with biscuits/cookies.

The scripts/products of the workshop will continue to be owned by the writer-participant. MLR Films and the FDCP will assist in finding potential producers for the finished products.

Thank you and kindly spread the word. We are looking forward to another batch of great scripts!

CALL FOR PAPERS: 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PHILIPPINE STUDIES 23-26 July 2008, Manila, Philippines

Theme: Philippine Studies for the 21st Century, New Meanings, Critiques and Trajectories

The 8^th International Conference on Philippine Studies (ICOPHIL) aims to provide a forum for scholars engaged in research on the general field of Philippine Studies. Reflecting on developments and discourses that shed light on Philippine realities in a global era, this International Conference hopes to reconceptualize Philippine Studies and chart new directions for the 21^st century.

The Program Committee invites conference presentations from Philippine Studies Association members, affiliated societies, and local and foreign scholars in all disciplines. The Committee encourages creativity and innovation with regard to both intellectual content and presentation. In addition to panels, formats including poster sessions, thematic workshops, roundtable discussions, and other departures from traditional formal paper presentations are encouraged. The Committee particularly welcomes interdisciplinary or border-crossing proposals that complement or depart from conventional historical, chronological, geographic and disciplinary boundaries. Younger scholars are especially encouraged to participate.

Proposals should be submitted to the 8^th ICOPHIL Secretariat at the Philippine Social Science Council via email (icophil@pssc.org.ph) orfax (632-924-4178 or 632-922-9621) by 15 November 2007. Proposals must include a 150-word abstract of the panel/paper as well as the name, affiliation and contact details of the proponent. Complete panels by potential chairs will be given priority but individual proposals will also be considered.

Since 1989, the ICOPHIL conference series has been held every 4 years at an international hosting institution. The 2008 ICOPHIL is hosted by the Philippine Studies Association in conjunction with the International Philippine Studies Conferences Board based at the University of Hawaii’s Center for Philippine Studies. The 2012 ICOPHIL will be hosted by Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.

KEY DATES

15 November 2007	Submission of panel/paper/ presentation ABSTRACT
15 January 2008	Notification of acceptance
30 April 2008	Submission of full papers
23-26 July 2008	Philippine Social Science Center, Quezon City

REGISTRATION FEES

	Onsite	Early bird rate (until 30 June 2008)*
Local Participants	PhP5,000	PhP4,000

*No Refund After JULY 1, 2008

The Philippine Studies Association (PSA), convener of the 8^th ICOPHIL in Manila, was established in 1984 to promote multidisciplinary research and broader understanding of Philippine society and culture. Since 1984, it has sponsored national and regional Philippine studies conferences. The PSA has also coordinated with the ICOPHIL Board, formally established in 1996, in the planning of the International Philippine Studies Conferences. The 7^th ICOPHIL was hosted by Leiden University in The Netherlands.

SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR PROPOSALS/PANELS

· Theories and Dimensions of Analysis in
Philippine Studies

· Changing Philippine Institutions, Ideologies, Practices, and Technologies

· Problematizing the Nation and the State

· Globalization Issues

· Histories, Cultures, Identities

· Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Studies

· The Philippine Diaspora

· Gender Studies

· Human and Ecosystem well-being

· Education for the 21^st Century

· Population Studies

· Philippine Media

· Similar topics may be proposed.

INQUIRIES

Bernardita R. Churchill - nitachurchill@hotmail.com

Belinda A. Aquino - lyndy@hawaii.edu

ICOPHIL Secretariat - icophil@pssc.org.ph

Tel. no. (+63)(2) 929-2671 / 456-1930

***

‘PISAY’: SUPERIOR LOCAL FILM by Mario E. Bautista


AN entry in the Cinemalaya filmfest that is destined to be a classic is “Pisay,” a contraction of Philippine Science High School. Extremely well written by Henry Grageda and brilliantly directed by Aureus Solito (who easily tops his earlier award-winning films, “Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” and “Tuli”), the film follows the stories of several students who qualify as scholars in Pisay, from the time they enter the school in 1982 until they graduate in 1986. These are volatile times in contemporary history, so the film is not just their story but also that of the nation, chronicling the assassination of Ninoy Aquino and the EDSA People Power revolution that ousted Marcos.

The film is divided into four distinct episodes, with each episode concentrating on different students. “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 the balikbayan mestiza, Annicka Dolonious. In the process, his grades suffer. Their concerned teacher (Eugene Domingo, who’s so great she should win a best supporting actress award for her performance here) knows he can do better and convinces him to forget about his infatuation with Annicka and to focus more on his studies.

“Sophomore” is about a fat boy from Cebu, 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 lost his scholarship and was subsequently ousted from the school. “Junior” is about a girl, Shayne Fajutana, whose parents are both political activists. To complete an experiment in class, she is paired with a budding cadet, Jonathan Neri. Together, they also get engrossed in the story of Macliing Dulag and the Chico River project. They do get attracted to each other, but Shayne’s parents are being persecuted by the government so they quietly leave for abroad, with Shayne leaving the school without even telling anyone where they are going.

“Senior” is about an effeminate boy, Euripedes (EJ Jallorina), who discovers while he’s in Pisay that he’s more inclined to the arts. Pisay scholars are required to major in science courses when they go to college.

If they enrol in other courses, then they would have to pay back the government for the years they spent as a Pisay scholar. 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 theatre 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.

The graduation sequence where the students are shown going up onstage to get their diplomas and citations moved us to tears. It brought back bittersweet memories of our own high school years. Uniformly well acted by a fine ensemble cast, Solito truly excels in this one as he has already mastered polishing the technical requirements of making a digital film, compared to “Maximo” and “Tuli” that are so crudely made.

The audience applauded in unison right after the screening of this film at the Cultural Center of the Philippines main theatre.

Also deserving acclaim are the cinemato-graphy of Charlie Peralta, the music of Vince de Jesus and Jobin Ballesteros, and the production design by Martin Masadao, Regie Regalado, Dante Garcia, and Endi Balbuena.

We pray a big film company will get distribution rights for this movie. Given the right push, we have no doubt this will be a big hit with the general public who will surely appreciate its merits as a superior local film.

***

Cinemalaya 2007 at the UP Film Institute

Tuesday, July 31
5 pm | PISAY by Aureus Solito
7 pm | TUKSO by Dennis Marasigan

Wednesday, August 1
5 pm | STILL LIFE by Katrina Flores
7 pm | KADIN (the Goat) by Adolfo Alix, Jr.

Thursday, August 2
5 pm | ENDO by Jade Castro
7 pm | LIGAW LIHAM by Emilio “Jay” Abello

Friday, August 3
5 pm | TRIBU by Jim Libiran
7 pm | SINUNGALING NA BUWAN by Ed Lejano

Saturday, August 4
5 pm | GULONG by Romualdo Fajardo
7 pm | BEST PICTURE WINNER REPEAT SCREENING

tickets available at the Cine Adarna Box Office @ P70 each
for inquiries, contact 09274520710

milenyo destroys philippine high school for the arts

i gathered from my friend trina pineda-tinio and her aunt irene that the philippine high school for the arts (phsa) on mt. makiling (in los banos, laguna) had been devastated by typhoon milenyo. i was shocked to hear horror stories of phsa students holding on to their precious instruments as they escaped the school site at the height of the devastation. many of these students were unable to bring with them their other precious belongings--photographs of family members and friends, books, clothes, and other basic necessities. these students were also unable to eat properly until days after the typhoon. they simply held on to their instruments as they ran away. and yet, the incident was left nearly unreported in the papers and on television.

though i am here in canberra, i am urging friends and acquaintances in manila to attend a free concert entitled mt. makiling musicians stage benefit reunion concert for milenyo-hit phsa. the event is being organized by the philippine high school for the arts parent-teacher-staff council, inc. and musika ibarang - phsa music alumni association on friday, 1 december 2006, 7:30 p.m, at the francisco santiago hall, of equitable pci bank tower 1 (makati avenue corner horacio de la costa street, makati city) through a venue grant from the manila chamber orchestra (mco) foundation and equitable pci bank.

the concert will be hosted by phsa visual arts alumna and bb. pilipinas universe 2000 nina ricci alagao. musika ibarang will highlight the homecoming of the following artists: austria-based pianist aries caces, belgium-based soprano fiona de ocampo and italy-based pianist jourdann petalver.

philippine-based performers for the benefit reunion concert include: my cousins jay (flutist german jay gomez), gigi (pianist virginia gomez-arambulo) and veron (pianist veronica gomez-tan); violinist-conductor jeffrey solares; violinists lorenzo raval, isidora miranda and ralph taylan; cellist nino llorin; banduria player rowena bicaldo; pianists katherine fernandez-asis, miguel castro and milkos zalameda; pianists jonathan arevalo coo and melissa geronimo; pianists marianna fajardo, reubel rodriguez-uy and harold galang; sopranos karlene denolo and ethel alon; counter tenor chris borela, assistant choirmaster of the philippine madrigal singers.

entrance to the concert is free but donations are sincerely requested.

kindly write check donations to PHSA-PTSC, INC. there are also other options for donations.

for more information, contact musika ibarang (phsa music alumni association) through katherine fernandez-asis +639209102920 or jonathan arevalo coo +639212172617 or the phsa-ptsc through joe datuin +639176157302, issa calinawan +639209216872, fe ferriols +639178001811 or rey wong +639175456653. email queries may be sent to fe.ferriols@beacon-frontline.com or khakibirdinus@yahoo.com.

for almost 30 years, the philippine high school for the arts (phsa) on mt. makiling has served as a haven for aspiring young artists who would be future leaders in the socio-cultural transformation of our country. it has prepared and graduated hundreds of scholars who have taken leads in their respective fields of arts. after super typhoon milenyo destroyed phsa's facilities last september 2006, phsa students and teachers are still holding classes with no electricity and water supply. 1970s phsa buildings designed by philippine national artist leandro locsin were damaged heavily. phsa alumni, students, parents, teachers and staff, are now being compelled to raise funds to help the government in the rehabilitation of phsa.

it would be a total waste for filipinos to allow phsa to lose its steam and deteriorate. please spread the good word about phsa's fundraising and free concert.

bb. pilipinas universe 2000 and phsa visual arts alumna nina ricci alagao





the philippine high school for the arts after the storm