The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
First, she won the Miss Universe 2015 crown over 79 candidates from around the world. Now, it looks like Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach has won over the American broadcast media.
Last Tuesday (Manila time), 26-year-old Pia finally got down to work with a hectic media tour that saw her hopping from one short interview to another—and from one chic outfit into another.
This came after she spent the holidays increasing her—and the Miss Universe Organization’s (MUO)—presence on social media, updating her supporters—and detractors—on what she has been up to.
This also came as many beauty pageant-crazy Colombians remain hurt and outraged over comedian and Miss Universe pageant host Steve Harvey’s massive mistake of initially declaring the first runner-up, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez, as the winner before correcting it four precious minutes later, when the crown was already on her head. Talk about embarassing.
While it has earned the pageant and the MUO a high level of attention that they haven’t enjoyed in the United States in years, that blunder spawned, among others, a foolish and petty word war between the rabid supporters of both Pia and Ariadna on social media. One or two of the interviewers had touched on this in some way.
Those who interviewed Pia that day included Good Morning, America’s Lara Spencer, Live with Kelly and Michael’s Kelly Ripa and Michael Strathan, Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush and Kit Hoover, and CNN Tonight’s Don Lemon. They all seemed charmed not only by her poise and presence, but also by her humor, humility and heart.
In those interviews, Pia answered every question with confidence and tact—qualities that speak volumes about her character, and her exhaustive—and, one assumes, exhausting—preparation for her new, hard-won role. Even if some of the questions asked in one show were echoed in others, and she started sounding like a broken record or a trained parrot when she answered them, her sincerity always shone through.
Confidently beautiful
Although each interview had something that was different from the rest (Pia’s walk in Live with Kelly and Michael; her comparing the pageant to a winning Manny Pacquiao fight in Access Hollywood), I like CNN Tonight’s the best. In it, she managed to talk about one of her causes, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) awareness, and how the Philippines’s HIV epidemic continues to grow; and answer Lemon’s rapid-fire beauty-pageant quesitons with aplomb.
I hope Pia succeeds in further raising awareness of this terrible virus, and its toll on the sufferers, better than news reports about the growing number of Filipinos infected with it. It’s likely people would heed her words more than the already alarming HIV statistics released so far by the Department of Health (DOH).
I’m sure the DOH and other concerned agencies and groups would be willing to help her in this regard, since she admitted to Lemon that she’s no HIV expert. If she succeeds, it would set a new standard for her successors to follow.
And about the interviews in general: Although they’re quite pleasant and allowed viewers to know Pia a bit better, they left me curious about a few things. Pia said she had sent Ariadna a message over the holidays, wishing her a merry Christmas and a happy birthday (she was born on Dec. 25), and that the 22-year-old Colombian had replied to her. The interviewers never followed up on that.
What did Ariadna actually say? Was her reply cool and curt? If the interviews she gave to Spanish-language media recently—she told Colombia’s W Radio station that what happened to her was a “grave injustice,” and, on TV network Univision, accused the MUO of “destroying [her] dreams” and throwing them in the trash—were any indication, it probably was.
Yes, Ariadna is still angry and hurt. Many—and not only Colombians—still sympathize with her for the humiliation she had endured, and deservedly so. But she’s proving to the organization and to Miss Universe followers that Pia deserved the title more. She’s doing herself a great disservice, and her statements could possibly backfire on her or, worse, negatively affect the Señorita Colombia contest organizers and her successor Jealisse Andrea Tovar.
Also, what does Pia’s Colombian predecessor, Paulina Vega, think of that unfortunate mix-up? Of the fallout from that? After all, she was the one who finally removed the crown from Ariadna’s head and put it on Pia’s. That must have been difficult for her. She has been silent all this time—quite unusual for someone outspoken. Maybe she was advised not to comment. Perhaps, journalists were discouraged to ask her. We’ll never really know (at least for now).
As for Pia, she has spoken, loud and clear. Last week’s media tour saw her determined to do her best to fulfill her duties. When she comes home on Jan. 23, she will go on a similar tour, as well as attend a series of events, that would give her more chances to have her voice heard.
From what we know of her story—a breadwinner at 11 years old; winning the Miss Philippines-Universe title on her third try; her preparations for the Dec. 20, 2015 pageant in Las Vegas—she may become one of the best Miss Universe winners ever.
Filipino, Danish films
Good news for serious film buffs: the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is celebrating the recent inauguration of its Cinematheque Centre Manila in the city’s Ermita district by holding screenings of several acclaimed Filipino and Danish films this month.
The Filipino films are Lino Brocka’s Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Jan. 8, 12 and 20, 5 p.m.); Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes’s Sonata (Jan. 8, 7 p.m.); Lamberto Avellana’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino (Jan. 9, 5 p.m.; Jan. 21, 7 p.m.); Chito Roño’s Badil (Jan. 10 and 15, 5 p.m.); Elwood Perez’s Esoterika: Maynila (Jan. 13 and 21, 5 p.m.); Henry Francia’s On My Way to India Consciousness, I Reached China (Jan. 14 and 17, 5 and 6 p.m.); Mel Chionglo’s Lauriana (Jan. 16 and 19, 5 p.m.); and Lav Diaz’s Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon (Jan. 22 to 31, 3 and 5 p.m.)
The Danish films, all recognized at the Academy Awards, are Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt (Jan. 9 and 16, 7 p.m.); Susanne Bier’s In a Better World (Jan. 10, 7 p.m.); Kaspar Rostrup’s Waltzing Regitze (Jan. 12, 15 and 20, 7 p.m.); Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast (Jan. 13 and 17, 7 p.m.); and A Royal Affair (Jan. 14 and 19, 7 p.m.).
Among these films, all of which have English subtitles, I highly recommend Badil and Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon. First shown at the 2013 Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival: All-Masters Edition, Badil is one film all Filipino voters should watch, especially in this election season. It’s a taut, compelling thriller set in a fishing village in Samar province that expertly examines how elections really operate on the barangay level.
Badil—which takes place on the eve of an election—not only shows vote-buying and patronage politics at work, but also how Filipinos’ deep sense of utang na loob (debt of gratitude) and of family honor are exploited to screw them come election day.
As for Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon, I consider it the best Filipino film I watched last year. Set in the early 1970s, this five-hour-and-a-half masterwork follows the lives of several residents of a remote coastal village, and the mysterious and disturbing events taking place there just before Martial Law was declared.
In a statement, the FDCP said “the Cinematheque Centre Manila houses the Cinematheque Manila Theater, the Museo ng Pelikulang Pilipino, offices of the National Film Archives of the Philippines, the Film Asean Knowledge Management Center, and the offices of the FDCP, as well as the supplementary Cinematheque Café, film shop, and classrooms.”
“The Cinematheque Centre Manila aims to be a hub for the overall development of the community’s education and understanding toward Filipino and international film culture. As such, film screenings, workshops, symposiums, and other events will strive to empower future generations of Filipino filmmakers,” it added.
For more about Cinematheque Centre Manila and the films, visit www.fdcp.com.