Limelight

Are you ready for another #HeleChallenge? 

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is inviting Filipino filmmakers to join the Ika-28 Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video (CCP Independent Film and Video Competition), better known as Gawad Alternatibo, at the CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Dream Theater) from Aug. 6 to 8, 2016. 

Story and photo by Alvin I. Dacanay  Followers of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) can expect better films and a streamlined awards ceremony this year after its new, 14-member executive committee introduced sweeping changes to the festival, including a renewed focus on artistic excellence. 

The Philippine Contemporary A cappella Society is proudly presenting Akapela, a unique, one-night-only contemporary a capella concert featuring two of the country’s most talented and in-demand vocal acts today—Pinopela and Baihana—at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC Plaza, Makati City, at 7:30 p.m. on April 23.

Six weeks after the deadline for submissions to the 12th annual Virgin Labfest (VLF) passed, and after deliberating on a record 197 entries, VLF festival director Tuxqs Rutaquio revealed on social media last Wednesday night the dozen new one-act plays to be staged at the leading theater festival in Metro Manila, if not the Philippines, which will run from June …

After briefly restaging the Palanca award-winning Maniacal last December and mounting an adaptation of Moliere’s The Misanthrope, titled Schism, last February, the Egg Theater Company is presenting this month its first full-run production: a Filipino translation of Irish playwright Martin McDonaugh’s acclaimed The Pillowman. 

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero is seeking to curb excessive working hours in the entertainment industry that expose its workers to unhealthy and unsafe conditions. 

The seventh and final season of The Mentalist kicks off this month on Warner TV with this question: After Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) finally confessed his love for California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney), will viewers finally see a romance blossoming between them? 

Maine Mendoza, one half of the overwhelmingly popular “AlDub” love team that not only took the Philippines, but also the world, by storm, is now a proud endorser of Banco de Oro (BDO) Unibank, one of the country’s top banks. 

Three years ago, a film by Jeffrey Jeturian that starred Vilma Santos premiered at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Titled Ekstra (Extra, or as it’s known overseas, The Bit Player), the film follows a very long day in the life of a middle-aged single mother who endures indignities as one of the many bit players in a popular telenovela.