Limelight

by Boy Villasanta Once an actress always an actress. This maxim might not be true anymore for Sarsi Emmanuelle. In the special rescreening of Regal Entertainment’s 1984-Peque Gallaga-directed masterpiece “Virgin Forest” at the Dengcar Theater of the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (Mowelfund) in New Manila to celebrate the 127th Philippine Independence Day, Sarsi quickly negated the prospect of doing movies …

Aside from the burgeoning film festivals locally, there are hundreds of movie events internationally, held all-year-round. In the Philippines alone, there are several film festivals not only in Metro Manila but in various regions as well across the country. While the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks had cut short or permanently eliminated film festivals like the Cinema …

Manila Symphony Orchestra’s “A Night in Hollywood” is all set on June 28, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Aliw Theater CCP Complex as MSO proudly announces the second featured concert for its 99th Season dubbed as such. This exciting concert will feature new music composed for movies as well as a suite of iconic Hollywood compositions. Some of the artists …

The Italian Film Festival 2025 which returned last week at Cinema 2, SM Aura, with a curated selection of acclaimed films that celebrate the charm, wit, and emotional depth of contemporary Italian cinema will extend its other activities on Italian movies. Presented by the Embassy of Italy in Manila, in partnership with the Philippine-Italian Association, the festival showcased three standout …

Every year, the Virgin Labfest Writing Fellowship Program (VLF WFP) calls for aspiring playwrights who are brave enough to learn the best from the best. While the VLF prides itself on presenting the untried, untested, and unstaged plays it produces annually, its accompanying Writing Fellowship Program looks for fellows who are just as untried, untested, and unstaged. In line with …

by Boy Villasanta The Philippine Independence Day in June 12, 2025 or even its pre-celebration activities will not only be observed in the country but all over the world where there are freedom loving Filipinos. Indeed, in New York alone, the Filipino communities in the city will express their gratitude on gaining democracy on the 127th Philippine Independence Day by …

Are we trivializing political things vis-a-vis show business denizens who ran, won or lost, in the recent midterm elections? Or by just simply describing or interrelating comedy or melodrama with character/s of actions and ideas, we are thinking little or laughing them off? Not at all. It doesn’t mean to say that if we discuss politicizing showbiz in the context …

He might not be directly a chip off the old block but John Ad. Castillo has inherited a myriad of cinema wisdom and filmic styles from his late older brother, the award-winning director Celso Ad. Castillo (“Asedillo,” “Nympha,” “Daluyong at Habagat,” “Pinakamagandang Hayop sa Balat ng Lupa,” “Burlesk Queen,” “Pagputi ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak,” “Ang Alamat ni Julian Makabayan,” …

We saw him as slim, long-haired, of medium height and an ordinary looking guy. He was also a great singer. Behind his million-dollar, golden voice, though, lies the great romancer. Yes, iconic Filipino folk singer Freddie Aguilar was a great lover. What set him apart, though, from playboys and Lotharios was his loyalty to the love of his life in …

Shin Chul, Festival Director of the 2025 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) in South Korea, has announced that one of the finalists to the 29th Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF)’s It Project is a Philippine entry. Visayan filmmaker Carlo Francisco Manatad’s “Brilliant Melody” is one of the fourteen selections of the NAFF component. Carlo Francisco is considered as …