Limelight

A short film made by students from the Digital Filmmaking program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde won four major awards at the second annual SineNanay Film Festival, held at the Philip­pine Women’s University (PWU) Concert Hall on Taft Avenue, Malate, Ma­nila, on December 16.

by Alvin I. Dacanay  Filipinos shall have more high-quality movies in accessible venues to look forward to next year after the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) announced that it shall have control of select SM theaters in Metro Manila and beyond, as well as build at least two more cinematheques outside Luzon in the next 12 months. 

Despite being touted by some film-award observers and websites as a likely nominee, Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s award-winning Ma’ Rosa failed to advance in the foreign-language film race of the 89th Academy Awards, extending the Philippines’ quest to secure a spot in that category. 

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) recently announced the winners of its 2016 Ballet Competition, held at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater) last month. 

After revisiting the Philippines’ Spanish colonial past with its twin ballets Ibarra and Simoun, which reinterpreted Dr. José P. Rizal’s novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibus­tering), Ballet Philippines (BP) looked back on a more recent period—the 1970s— with Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko (Sing It and I’ll Dance), a (mostly) cheerful dance musical featuring …

By Alvin I. Dacanay Filipino-Australian actress Anne Curtis again ruled Twitter this year after the social-networking site revealed last week that she tops the list of the 10 most followed Filipino accounts, of which eight are owned by fellow celebrities, and that half of its 10 most influential moments of 2016 are enter­tainment-related events.

Bassoon player Adolfo “Pong” Mendoza is the guest solo­ist in the fourth concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) under the baton of Maestro Hermin­igildo Ranera that will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) on December 16 at 8 p.m.

2016 may be remembered by many as one of the best years Philippine cinema has enjoyed, but it’s also a particularly cruel one for the industry, as it saw several entertainers pass on. The latest is retired actress Lolita Rodriguez, who died in Hemet, California, on November 28, two months after she suffered a stroke. She was 81. 

Days after the Met­ro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) announced its eight official entries to its 42nd edition on November 18, the producers and stars of the movies that failed to make this year’s cut, par­ticularly the big-budget franchises that lorded over the annual event for many years, offered their two cents on their exclusion, with two of them admitting they …

Come and celebrate the holi­days as Ballet Philippines (BP), in collaboration with ABS-CBN and the ABS-CBN Phil­harmonic Orchestra, stages Awitin Mo at Isasayaw Ko (Sing It and I’ll Dance), a new dance musical featuring the songs of popular 1970s Filipino band VST & Co. at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main The­ater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) from …