Entertainment

Story and photos by Alvin I. Dacanay  It’s Holy Week again. For Christians, especially Roman Catholics, it’s that week when Jesus entered Jerusalem as a king, was executed like a criminal, and emerged from his tomb a conqueror. It’s also the week many people probably look forward to the most, for many reasons. 

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. 

by Alvin I. Dacanay  If there’s one thing that stands out in the second edition of the CineFilipino Film Festival, which will open this week and has “Kwento pa rin ang hari (Story is still king)” as its theme, it’s the accessibility and diversity of the entries in different categories—nine full-length films, five documentaries, five television series, and 17 short …

Guimaras may be known for its mangoes—said to be the sweetest in the world—but this Western Visayan island-province, which is only a 15-minute boat ride from Iloilo City, Iloilo province, is turning out to be a perfect tourist destination to go to this summer, particular this Holy Week. 

Since its establishment in Feb. 1991, travel-and-tours company Profil Holidays, a subsidiary of TAC Tours and Travel Corp., has helped thousands of Filipinos explore more than 100 countries in five continents, giving them a lifetime’s worth of unforgettable experiences. 

In celebration of South­east Asian cinema and culture, three Filipino films that were previously shown at the 2015 World Premieres Film Festival (WPFF) are being screened with select movies from the region at the Film Devel­opment Council of the Philippines’s (FDCP) Cin­ematheque Center Manila this month as part of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Film Aware­ness Month.

Independent Philippine Art Ventures Inc. is set to present wonderful contemporary and classical guitar music from three outstanding guitar players from Japan—Tomonori Arai, Eisei Tanigawa and Takashi Endo, with the latter two better known as Duo Trussardi—who will play in a show titled Three, Two, One…Arai! at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Music’s Abelardo Hall at 5:30 …

Last March 3, many Filipino writers remembered the 122nd birth anniversary of Paz Marquez Benitez, one of the founders of Philippine Women’s University who’s best known for writing the short story “Dead Stars.” Since its publication in the Philippines Herald newspaper in 1925, this much-anthologized love story has been considered by creative writers and scholars as the first modern Philippine …

Iloilo City—Palanca award-winning author Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada recently launched the first two of the four books that he is set to release this year.

By Alvin I. Dacanay On Monday (Manila time), film buffs will finally learn who will bring home the American entertainment industry’s most coveted trophies when the 88th Annual Academy Awards reveals its winners in a star-studded ceremony at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater.