Limelight

by Boy Villasanta The long wait is over. After Lovi Poe and ex-beau Montgomery Blencowe, a film producer and scientist, tied the knot in London some two years ago, Monty’s former girlfriend is finally giving birth any time soon. Lovi disclosed her pregnancy to coincide with their wedding anniversary with Montgomery. Lovi and Monty got married at Cliveden House in …

One is a film festival while the other is an award-giving body. How they complement each other without compromising one’s objectivity and credibility. What do they have in common? What else but their penchant for bold, groundbreaking and non-conformist choices for filmic creations. Lately, the two entities overlapped in their scheduled screening and awarding preferred movies. What a conjunction. One …

At the 2025 Cinemalaya, the Best Director trophy went to Sari Dalena for “Cinematryrs” which has shown “her bold and visionary authorship that fuses cinema, history, and haunting memory into a singular act of resistance; for reclaiming women’s voices within the nation’s buried traumas through guerrilla filmmaking that is both mystical and political.” “Child No. 82” won Best Screenplay for …

The William Shakespeare classic play “Romeo and Juliet” will be transformed into a musical, retitled “Romeo and Juliet, The Musical” edited with additional lyrics by Luigi Nacario, music by Eugene Belbis, and directed on stage by Meldrig Costuna and Nacario under the collaborative efforts of Kids Acts Philippines and MINT College. It will be shown at the St. Cecilia’s Hall …

Lyric, the largest musical instrument retail chain in the country, is now the official and exclusive distributor of Casio digital pianos and weighted, portable keyboards in the Philippines. The partnership between two music equipment titans brings Casio’s world-renowned digital piano innovations—including the Celviano, Privia, and Casiotone series—to Filipino musicians and hobbyists nationwide through Lyric’s 24 retail stores, numerous third-party dealers, …

by Boy Villasanta In two consecutive nights, local cinema has enjoyed appreciation from two respected award-giving bodies. Sunday evening saw the harvests of Philippine films in their glorious distinction. After ten (10) days of showing full-length features and short films, the 2025 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival handed out its bests of the best during its awarding ceremony at the Red …

Is it true that the sweet couple Derek Ransay and Ellen Adarna are headed for breakup or have they split already? According to a source, Derek was seen alone in a bar in Japan where he was caught drinking intoxicating spirits. Some witnesses said that Ramsay talked about his impending separation from Ellen. It was reported that the Fil-Brii actor …

What happens when an ordinary, poor peasant Filipino is deprived of his or her rights to live harmoniously in a place he or she calls her own after he or she was land grabbed by an unscrupulous businessman in connivance with a politician? Precisely, no matter how fictitious, character Corazon Vitug (Geraldine Villamil) builds her own republic right in the …

The 21st edition of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival which brought with it not just a fresh slate of bold, boundary-pushing Filipino films, but also a broader cinematic footprint has ended. To open more doors to Cinemalaya’s growing community of storytellers and cinephiles, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and Cinemalaya Foundation Inc. continue to nurture its two-decades-old …

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Following the success of its first Metro Manila leg at Shangri-La Plaza, the Japanese Film Festival (JFF) 2025 returns to one of its longtime partner venues—the UPFI Cine Adarna—and, for the first time, expands its reach to SM City Manila, marking an exciting milestone for the festival’s growing audience in the capital. Previously closed for renovations during JFF’s February …