By Boy Villasanta It’s clever of actress and producer Rebecca Chuaunsu to have thought, achieved and implemented the showing of the prizewinning “Her Locket” in cinemas nationwide to signal the coming of the Year of the Wooden Snake of the Chinese New Year this week. On January 29, 2025, the most awaited Lunar year of the Chinese will still witness …
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The Japanese Film Festival (JFF) is returning once again to Philippine theaters this February 2025. Rolling into cinemas in Manila, Baguio, Iloilo, Cebu, and Davao, JFF is back with a fresh lineup of amazing Japanese movies. Presented by the Japan Foundation, Manila, JFF was launched in 1997 and has grown to become one of the most anticipated film festivals in …
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Patience and enormous talents have paid off in Beauty Gonzalez’s acting career. After considerable years in the biz, Beauty’s thespic skills are being recognized here and abroad. Gonzalez recently bagged the Best Actress trophy at the recently concluded Five Continents International Film Festival (FCIFF) for her arresting portrayal of a homecoming resident of a mystical town and how her sudden …
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Fashion czar Albert Figueras and his protege Erick Valena used to be inseparable. As a team, Albert and Erick were symbiotic. Figueras was generous enough to share his skills, talents and business acumen with Valena while the latter was obedient and cooperative with the vision and mission of the former in the growth and development of their respective fashion design …
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By Boy Villasanta Internationally renowned director Brillante Ma. Mendoza will head the jury of the 2025 Cinema at Sea Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival to be held in Okinawa from February 22 to March 2, 2025. Mendoza will evaluate the merits of all entries in the feature and documentary films submitted to the festival. “This is an honor for me,” …
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By Boy Villasanta International singer-actress Lea Salonga is back in musical theater in the Philippines. While Lea was a sought-after stage artist in foreign productions, she now returns at home. Salonga is slated to play The Witch in the Theater Group Asia (TGA) production of Stephen Sondheim musical “Into The Woods” at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in August. In …
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By Boy Villasanta Right after Mara Lopez’s tying the knot with young American fiancé Chandler Booth in a scenic island in Palawan, 1982 Binibining Pilipinas-Universe and actress Maria Isabel Lopez got a call slip from GMA Network, one of the television stations that has been getting her artistic services. It was to appear in a cameo in the top-rating show, …
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By Boy Villasanta Except for performers Garry Cruz, Xavier and Keif, most of the talents in Asia’s Sentimental Songstress Imelda Papin’s birthday concert at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Newport World Resorts on January 25, 2025 are the celebrator’s bloodline. Simply dubbed “Imelda Papin Special Birthday Concert,” the show features, aside from the birthday girl, Maffi Papin Carrion, Aileen Grace Arcilla Papin, …
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There are two faces to a single coin, the obverse (front) and the reverse (back). In colloquial, vernacular speech/language, there’s the tao (human being) and the ibon (bird) in tossing a coin the air to signify the order of appearance, for instance, in a game. Or simply put, there are many sides to a story. True enough to the postponement of the 2nd Manila …
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Even if Kapitol Films and United Straight Shooters Media, Inc.’s “Isang Himala” didn’t make much money at the recently concluded 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival, it made history just the same to express its filmmakers and creative team’s vision of a musical film that is relevant and meaningful to a lot of people. One of its main cast members, Bituin …
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