QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA— Are you one of the world’s next best storytellers?

This is the challenge posed to every young Filipino filmmaker and content creator by a new video contest dubbed “Your Film Festival” launched by YouTube and Emirates, in partnership with La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Film Festival) and Scott Free.

Filmmakers can explore any style or genre to shoot a story-driven film or documentary that is 15 minutes long.

“Through this program, YouTube will give filmmakers the opportunity to reach a vast audience, screen their work during the Venice Film Festival and potentially be rewarded in a career-changing way,” said Robert Kyncl, global head of content at YouTube.

Kyncl added that the program will usher the “creation of entertaining, original content to viewers worldwide”.

The top 50 films will be chosen based on the number of votes by the YouTube community. The top ten finalists will be invited to Italy for their work’s to be screened at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in August.

The grand prize winner, to be chosen by a special jury, will get a $500,000 YouTube original production and receive a development deal with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions.

For its part, Emirates will help sponsor the travel of the top ten filmmakers to attend the Venice Film Festival, said Boutros Boutros, divisional senior vice president, corporate communications, Emirates.

For more information, visit http://youtube.com/yourfilmfestival

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Email address: virtuosi.mac@gmail.com

Short description of business: VMAC is a center for the Music and the Arts where an individual’s talent and skills are being discovered, honed… We develop & pioneer individuals with potentials…We provide masterly skills & techniques in the field of Music & the Cultural Arts… We let the Virtuoso out in you…

Short description of products and services: We offer individual and group lessons for violin, cello, piano/keyboard, guitar,flute,voice, dance & other related music and art courses. We also offer and conduct music transcription, music arrangements, event and artist management. We also provide music entertainment for fund raising projects/concerts,product launching,wedding and funeral ceremonies, and other government and corporate functions. Practice Venue Rental and Selling of Music Instruments.

QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – Having one’s film screened in international festivals might be a milestone for most filmmakers but for Jet Leyco, these opportunities are mere beginnings of recognitions long overdue.

“It says a lot about how Filipino filmmakers must persevere. The opportunity is just out there,” says Leyco, who is one of four Filipino filmmakers whose works will be screened in the 41st Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands starting January 25.

The 25-year-old Mass Communications graduate, the youngest in this year’s roster of Filipino participants, will showcase “Ex Press”, his thesis film at the Asia Pacific Film Institute.

His film tackles the life of Colonel Paliparan, a train officer for the Philippine National Railways express route in Bicol, his two sons and how his unprecedented disappearance subtly unfolds subliminal truths about the Philippines, its leaders and its people, in general.

Leyco is known for his heavy use of  metaphors – a personal fascination and his way of delivering socio-political undertones in a somewhat idiosyncratic manner.

“It’s very hard to tell a story with a subtext and execute it carefully so it becomes clear and coherent, especially if you have limited resources. However, I’ve learned that in the end, it all boils down to executing it no matter what.”

Ex Press, he explains, was shot within three days and in between long trips he made for a stint in TV. At the time, he needed material for his thesis  so with a personal camera on hand, he shot continuous footage, including the time when he got stuck in the PNR train that went kaput on his way to Bicol.

“I just shot more scenes in Manila, worked on editing for at a little over a month and then asked people to help me screen it,” he recalls.

“Ex Press” was also chosen for screening at the Jeonju International Film Festival International Competition in South Korea this April.

Getting independently produced films an audience may sound so much a feat but for this young filmmaker, all it takes is a clear motivation and acquainting oneself with the right people.

“There are smaller avenues where you can have your films screened. You just really have to keep yourself aware and in the circulation. Eventually, people will watch your film- hopefully appreciation comes next,” he adds.

Leyco’s Ex Press will be screened alongside those by three other Filipino filmmakers: Khavn dela Cruz (Mondomanila), Lav Diaz (“Florentina Hubaldo,” CTE and “Century of Birthing”) and Raya Martin (“Buenas Noches, España.”)

For more information, visit the International Film Festival Rotterdam website. Watch the  “Ex Press” trailer here.

(Photo courtesy of Jet Leyco)

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MANILA CITY, METRO MANILA – Whether or not you’re a fan of classical guitar, this year’s Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition will surely be something that you will enjoy watching.

Founded by the Guitar Friends and Cultural Center of the Philippines, the 2012 Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition was formed to promote classical music and foster bigger opportunities for Filipino guitarists by engaging them-through annual competitions and master classes-with fellow musicians of the same discipline from other countries.

Last year, Filipino guitarist Ramoncito Carpio bested seven other participants from Japan, Thailand and the Philippines.

This year’s festival will again be held at the Little Theatre of the Cultural Center of the Philippine (CCP) and will feature more interaction with renowned guitarists from Asia and some parts of Europe.

Renowned Spanish guitarists Dani de Morón and Rafael Rodríguez of Spain are among those who will grace the four-day event from January 26 to 29. Both will showcase a performance using a Spanish flamenco guitar to give the Filipino audience a glimpse of Southern Spain’s classical music.

The Spanish duo will feature some of their finest works through a selection of their personal compositions.

De Morón is already a household name for flamenco guitarists and guitar fans all over the world.  A winner of the Hospitalet Calasparra award in Murcia and the Federation of Flamenco Clubs (Federación de Peñas Flamencas) in Seville, de Morón popularized a combined technique of playing flamenco by integrating improvisation with traditional Spanish techniques.

Rodriguez on the other hand, learned from a guitar master from Seville although he is largely self-trained. Though autodidactic, his knowledge and precision in both composing and playing made him Best Guitar Player in the XV Biennial of Flamenco of Seville in 2008.

Ultimately, this fest should inspire those who want to seek formal training in music, but don’t have the means to do so, to persist and keep on performing for the love of it, nothing else more.  The good news it, the concert is absolutely free.

Admission to the concert will be on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please contact The Guitar Friends at 09273447712 or visit www.philippineguitarfestival.com

(Photo courtesy of Instituto Cervantes Manila)

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QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – For the first time, one of William Shakespeare’s greatest masterpieces will be staged in Filipino language.

Set in a post-nuclear world that is strangely contemporary and familiar, Shakespeare’s King Lear receives a fitting, royal makeover, fashioned by a pool of Filipino theater giants, according to Leloi Arceta, public relations supervisor at Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).

National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera translated the text into prose while retaining the rhythm, texture and elegant brutality of Shakespeare’s tragedy.

The classic is turned into  modern-day contemporary family drama by acclaimed theater director, Nonon Padilla while World Stage Design awardee Gino Gonzales established the dark aesthetic styles of the play.

“Exciting, suspenseful and virtually violent” is how Arcete reffered to PETA’s “Haring Lear”. The masterpiece focuses on the “beautiful and devastating themes of the disintegration of family solidarity, running the gamut of love, madness, death and sacrifice.”

In brief, the story focuses about King Lear who divides his kingdom among his two older daughters, and disowning her youngest and favorite daughter, who was unable to put into words his love for his father. The two older daughters, with the help of other characters, trick the King and conspires to use the situation of the impending French invasion to push forth with their real intentions, which ends in a tragedy.

The play follows the success of the musical “William” that used rap to deliver the evocative lines from Shakespeare’s plays and how it is relevant until today—by encouraging students to read more and understand lessons at school.

‘Haring Lear’ features a traditional Shakespeare all-male cast helmed by theater stalwart Teroy Guzman who plays the title role of the aging monarch, Haring Lear. Theater actors Gary Lim, Nor Domingo and Abner Delina will perform the roles of the king’s three daughters, namely Regan, Goneril and Cordelia.

The rest of the case are Jay Gonzaga (Edmundo), Myke Salomon (Edgardo), Jack Yabut (Gloster), Josel Reyes (Earl of Kent), George De Jesus (Oswaldo), Jeff Hernandez (Duke of Cornualles), Renante Bustamante (Duke of Albanya), Fredyl Hernandez (Duke of Burgundy), Angel Moratilla (King of France) and Ernie Cloma (Old Man).

‘Haring Lear’ runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from January 27 to March 4, 2012 at The PETA Theater Center. For tickets, contact PETA at (02) 7256244, 4100821-22, 0917-5765400 or email petatheater@gmail.com.

(Photo by PETA)

Get more information on the Philippine Educational Theater Association

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MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA-  As the title implies, the musical is supposed to highlight the long-standing rivalry between the Ateneo De Manila University and the De La Salle University.

The crux of the musical is how the competitive nature of both top-level schools eventually created some of the most unique events, such as the UAAP, the NCAA, politics, and in business.

But it also delves into the creation of unique partnerships between both schools, which has propagated the idea that both schools are just friendly competitors.

The musical’s setting is in the 1968 when the rivalry between two schools was already at its peak. It revolves around the lives of two families, the Valencias from Ateneo and the Basilios from De La Salle, whose sons are Paco and Tommy, respectively, are part of each school’s basketball teams.

The two have a common love interest in Reena, who hails from Maryknoll (now Miriam College).

The musical was created, incidentally by the partnership of famed composer Ed Gatchalian, an Atenean, and director Jaime del Mundo, a La Sallalite. With them is Joel Trinidad who wrote the lyrics.

The cast includes Felix Rivera, Red Concepcion, Jeremy Aguado, Mako Alonzo, Raymund Concepcion, Juliene Mendoza, OJ Mariano, Sheila Francisco, Jenny Nuida-Tatlonghari, Raul Montesa, Chino Veguillas, Meynard Peñalosa, Athena Tibi, Ashley Immler, and veteran actor Noel Trinidad.

After almost a year of planning, preparation, and rehearsals, the upcoming “Rivalry: The Musical” is about to take center stage.

The group recently completed the final stages of their rehearsals, with the first show scheduled to be on January 27 at the Meralco Theater.

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MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA— French-Filipino artist Victoria Abad Kerblat is featuring the scenic sites of Batanes in her upcoming exhibit dubbed “Echoes of the Past.”

The display is part of her advocacy to preserve the heritage and the many traditions of her hometown as well as introduce the younger generation of artists to the use of recycled materials for their art pieces.

A biologist by profession, Kerblat served refugee camps in Asia, Africa, and Europe since the 1980s before coming back to Manila to establish the art projects of Fundacion Pacita in memory of her late sister and well-known international artist Pacita Abad.

Her paintings are often recognized for their constant evolution in styles and patterns as well as the use of different art techniques including indigenous materials and natural pigment on oil.

The Alliance Francaise de Manille’s (AFM) Total Gallery will feature all 15 art pieces of Kerblat from January 17 to February 7.

Besides the exhibit, she will also be launching her book entitled “Javid sawen nu Vatan!” / “How beautiful is Batanes!” which compiles her early watercolor paintings that illustrates her childhood life in the island.

Get more information on Alliance Francaise de Manille

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MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA— French-Filipino artist Victoria Abad Kerblat is featuring the scenic sites of Batanes in her upcoming exhibit dubbed “Echoes of the Past.”

The display is part of her advocacy to preserve the heritage and the many traditions of her hometown as well as introduce the younger generation of artists to the use of recycled materials for their art pieces.

A biologist by profession, Kerblat served refugee camps in Asia, Africa, and Europe since the 1980s before coming back to Manila to establish the art projects of Fundacion Pacita in memory of her late sister and well-known international artist Pacita Abad.

Her paintings are often recognized for their constant evolution in styles and patterns as well as the use of different art techniques including indigenous materials and natural pigment on oil.

The Alliance Francaise de Manille’s (AFM) Total Gallery will feature all 15 art pieces of Kerblat from January 17 to February 7.

Besides the exhibit, she will also be launching her book entitled “Javid sawen nu Vatan!” / “How beautiful is Batanes!” which compiles her early watercolor paintings that illustrates her childhood life in the island.

Get more information on Alliance Francaise de Manille

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QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – The only black-and-white movie in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival scored a big win, not from bagging the coveted Best Picture award but because moviegoers and online Filipinos started cheering for the rebirth of Pinoy action flicks.

“Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story” is a remake of the 1961 film that starred former President and action star Joseph Estrada. George Estregan J(or E.R. Ejercito in real life) happens to be the nephew of Estrada.

The story follows the life of Nicasio “Asiong” Salonga, a gang leader who is sort of Tondo’s own version of Robin Hood.

Amid the controversies involving the film’s director and producers, the people behind Manila Kingpin are commendable for offering something unique in the annual film festival that, for the past years, has been showing far too many sequels of blockbuster franchises about a husband of a fairy, a sword-wielding hero and horror flicks.

It has been over a decade since the major film houses produced an action film minus the fantasy elements of flying dragons, fairies and rusty robots so essentially, moviegoers wanted to try the newest flavor offered at the festival.

Off the bat, Manila Kingpin looks like it’s made for the younger generation who were unable to witness the golden era of Filipino action films.

By this, I’m referring to films that used to feature the likes of (the late) Fernando Poe Jr., Eddie Garcia, Cesar Montano, Robin Padilla, Jeric Raval, Jestoni Alarcon, Philipp Salvador, Raymart Santiago and Joko Diaz (who also appears in Manila Kingpin), to name a few.

Here are some of the reasons why Asiong Salonga will help spur the revival of classic Filipino films.

Manila Kingpin relived the good days of black-and-white classics. Thanks to high-definition technology, the film got away from the gritty and grainy pictures of old black-and-white movies. It was definitely seeing the 1960s with a new, improved lens. The film vividly captured the drama and action scenes that watching the crisp trailer on Youtube would have intrigued you to go see the whole film.

Mell T. Navarro wrote on Facebook:  “ito na nga kaya ang makapagbalik sa action films in local movie industry? uhaw ang male audience sa action films na matagal nang “namahinga”, dahil mahal naman talaga ang mag-produce ng action sa panahong di naman ito sinusuportahan ng publiko kapag regular or non-MMFF playdates… lets see! mabuhay ang pelikulang pilipino!

The return of iconic characters. From the main character and his trusty “sidekicks” to the leading lady, the antagonist and his goons, even the extras, they all bring different flavors of portrayal that make the action flick even more interesting.

Unlike American action films that always feature a handsome protagonist, the bida (main character) is allowed to have some flaws such as a little beer belly, a scar on the face or a body not toned from going to the gym regularly.

As Filipino fans see these more realistic features, they identify better with the film. Yol Jamendang even blogged about his happiness in pointing out that Manila Kingpin was a film for guys because  “Ang tunay na lalake walang abs (A true Filipino man has no chiseled abs).”

Look out for the calesa chase. Most of us are familiar with car chases while the goons and the main character fire gun shots from different ammos along the speedway. This time, view how early Filipinos would have done this while riding the calesa (horse-drawn carriage). In fact, this was my favorite part of the film. The film also used vintage cars to make the depiction of the era more realistic.

The predictable plot and ending. As with every action movie, the plot revolves around fighting for justice and revenge. The main character is tortured first and then exacts revenge for the injustice done to him, his loved ones or neighborhood. He always saves the day and justice triumphs.

Watch out for signature clothes, unique names and one-liners. The movie includes a lot of uniquely Pinoy names such as Asiong (from Nicasio), Alembong, Tito Golem and many more. Also look out for their attire consisting of jackets, ripped pants and dark glasses for the bida and kontrabida (John Regala won for Best Supporting Actor) and his goons including Baron Geisler, who is commendable for his portrayal. The leading lady, who comes from a poor family signified by her everyday duster, never fails to offers moral support to the main character.

While it remains to be seen if more original action films will play in theaters soon, Manila Kingpin may have attained what it set out to achieve: for a start, revive the interest of the Filipino moviegoing public in action films.

(Image taken from the Manila Kingpin official trailer)

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