Limelight

By Alvin I. Dacanay  A linguist communicates with aliens. An adaptation of a Pulitzer- and Tony award-winning play. A pacifist participates in a World War II battle. Two brothers resort to robbery to save their ranch. Three black women help America put a man in space. A musical set in modern-day Los Angeles. A Indian-Australian man searches for his family …

By Alvin I. Dacanay  Like many filmmakers of his generation, Gil M. Portes has worked with some of the most admired screenwriters in the Philippines, and their collaborations have resulted in a number of prize-winning films. These include 1990’s Andrea, Paano Ba ang Maging Isang Ina? (Andrea, How Does One Become a Mother?), written by Ricardo “Ricky” Lee; 1984’s ‘Merika …

Ballet Philippines (BP) is ending its 47th season, called “Wings,” with its seventh restaging of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece Swan Lake at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) from February 24 to March 5. 

To open its third season, Artist Playground is set to present, for the first time in Asia, James Chalmers’ 2009 one-act play Prelude to Macbeth at the 1701 The Little Room Upstars from February 23 to 26. 

Skechers Performance Philippines announced that actor Gerald Anderson is the new face of its “Go Like Never Before” campaign, which pushes individuals out of their comfort zone and empowers them to aspire for greatness, during a press conference at Makati City’s Dusit Thani Hotel on January 17. 

The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) recognized the creativity and accomplishments of recent international film festival winners during the Film Ambassadors Night 2017 at the FDCP Cinematheque Manila grounds in Ermita, Manila, on January 31. 

Tanghalang Ateneo (TA), the longest-running theater company of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Loyola Schools, is staging as part of its 38th season the live-action version of novelist Edgar Calabia Samar’s bestselling young-adult novel Si Janus Silang at ang Tiyanak ng Tábon (Janus Silang ang the Demon Child of Tábon) until February 25. 

The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the Optical Media Board (OMB) signed on February 7 a memorandum of agreement to speed up the release of clearances for Filipino films participating in international film festivals and movies for cultural-exchange programs. 

By Alvin I. Dacanay In a career spanning more than 40 years, award-winning actress Elizabeth Oropesa has made a name for herself for playing strong and vivid women who are not afraid to speak their mind or assert themselves when a situation demands it. 

A week after 24-year-old Iris Mittenaere of France was crowned as the new Miss Universe at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, pageant watchers and commentators still couldn’t get enough of the charming dental-surgery student from Lille who snuck up behind the contest’s frontrunners, including our very own Miss Philippines Maxine Medina, to clinch the title—the first time …