Limelight

Story and photos by Alvin I. Dacanay Filipino movies dominated the World Premieres Film Festival (WPFF) 2016 awards, with four of these winning honors in two of the festival’s international sections and Alvin Yapan’s latest feature earning the highest number of prizes in the Filipino New Cinema section. 

Superb young pianist Oliver Salonga is the first featured artist of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Special Concert Series 2016, which will open at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino at 7:30 p.m. on July 27. 

Story and photo by Alvin I. Dacanay  More than two months after announcing sweeping changes in the rules, selection criteria, and the composition of the executive committee of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), its organizers introduced the people tasked to choose this year’s entries, and the activities aimed at generating more excitement for the annual event. 

Followers of the ongoing Virgin Labfest (VLF) would know by now that the celebrated theater festival not only introduced a dozen new plays this year, but also its new partnership with creative-content firm The IdeaFirst Company in bringing these works to life. 

Smart Padala, the remittance brand of PayMaya Philippines (formerly Smart eMoney Inc.), launched last Wednesday its new campaign with Angel Locsin as its brand ambassador as part of efforts to further strengthen its leadership in the remittance-service industry. 

Story and photo by Alvin I. Dacanay  A day before Rodrigo Duterte is inaugurated as our country’s new president, the Virgin Labfest (VLF), Metro Manila’s foremost festival of new one-act plays, will open its 12th edition—aptly christened Binyag (Baptism) and represented by a hatched egg containing the number “12”—at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) …

Sixty-five movies, including 10 new ones from the Philippines, will be shown in select cinemas in Metro Manila as part of the third World Premieres Film Festival (WPFF), which will run from June 29 to July 10.

As someone with ties to the Philippine literary and theater communities, it pleases me to see more of our independent filmmakers adapting Filipino novels, stories, and plays for the big screen.

In celebration of July as Philippines-Japan Friendship Month—a friendship that marks its 60th anniversary this year—The Japan Foundation Manila and Shangri-La Plaza team up again to hold Eigasai 2016, the newest edition of the annual Japanese film festival that will run at the Shang Cineplex from July 8 to 17.

Good news for those eager to watch Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s newest film Ma’ Rosa: No need to wait much longer. Last week Mendoza and Wilson Tieng, president and CEO of Ma’ Rosa distributor Solar Entertainment, confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the award-winning drama would be shown in cinemas nationwide starting July 6.