i cant write out a decent post for now. im in a bit of a rush, trying to balance releasing writeups for tirador, doing its tarpaulin and making changes on the poster, plus i got a 3 day shoot by sunday and an event in batangas on saturday. then it’s wedding time for two friends next weekend on sat and sun respectively, the first one being at baguio. then it’s another event in bataan on the 15th before i head home for cdo. whew. chorva chorva achuchu chu. cheers!
The UP Film Institute is most proud to hold the Philippine gala premiere of Brillante Mendoza’s Tirador (international title: Slingshot) this Monday, 3 December 2007, at 7 p.m. as the opening film of Cine Veritas Human Rights Film Festival.
The film is the sixth feature in three years from Brillante as practically all of his previous works have grabbed major international prizes. Tirador had its world premiere at Toronto (Canada, 6-15 September 2007); was exhibited for the Dragons and Tigers Out-of-Competition at Vancouver (Canada, 27 September-12 October, 2007) and got its Asian premiere no less at Pusan, South Korea (Window on Asian Cinema, 4-12 October 2007). It is slated to date for further showcase across the globe till middle of next year in prestigious filmfests foremost of which are the Marrakech (Morocco, 7-15 December 2007) where it vies in main competition for the Golden Star Grand Prize and the 58th Berlin (Germany, 7-17 February 2008) for the International Forum of New Cinema.
brillante mendoza topbills up film institute’s human rights film festival
TIRADOR Philippine Premiere!
For those who miss out on films by Mendoza, take note of his latest masterwork, Tirador (Slingshot) an intimate glimpse into the lives of criminals who have to deal with police raids and other hardships on the gritty streets of Manila. The film has already been picking up speed in film festivals, including Toronto, Dubai and the US. Filipino viewers will have their day as TIRADOR premieres at the UP Film Institute on Dec 3, 2007. The film stars Jiro Manio, Nathan Lopez, Kristoffer King, Coco Martin and veteran stars Julio Diaz and Jaclyn Jose.
Slingshot (Tirador) dir. Brillante Mendoza; Philippines, 2007. 86 minutes
Opens December 3, 2007 UP Film Institute
was in cagayan a week and something for a shoot. am now back. more news later. yey
back in manela
finally !
turntable! yey!
went through cubao getting costumes for a shoot and i ventured into cubao x yet again to look at records as a sidetrip. i asked the lady if they were selling a turntable and they were! it was a 2nd hand sansui and it worked great. i was grinning from ear to ear on the way home. soo excited! now we can finally listen to LPs, like JCS and the recently purchased hair original broadway cast, and be transported to a no longer obscure distant past hahaha
now to look for french LPs and OPM of the golden age 😀 yey!
remember when it rained
tatems joven and i watched the josh groban concert yesterday. at first i thought it was funny that i was watching him live yet i had the feeling i was only watching a concert dvd. later on, josh turned on his charm and we got into the groove. definitely made the expensive balcony ticket price worth it haha
the concert was fun. of course when you watch a concert you clap and cheer– well, i do that even when im watching tv shows, from musicals to home makeovers. and here, we clapped and cheered indeed. it was great listening to josh sing the prayer with lani misalucha, they did a really good version. i love some of josh’s new songs, including “remember when it rained” but his old romantic hits are real crowd pleasers.
when josh started out in the biz he did a lot of retro classical slash light opera kind of songs. now, like colleague michael buble, he’s doing a bit more pop rock. im loving it but im kinda worried on what it will do to his voice. towards the end of the concert, josh’s voice started to strain. but im just glad he just kept on singing after saying goodbye for about 3 times haha more for your money 😀 cheers y’all!
trip to lunch 3: smairu
found another great japanese fast food place! by serendipity carlo and i stumbled upon smairu in the food court area of trinoma in quezon city. the stall was interestingly laid out and their menu featured typical japanese fare but it’s less expensive than kitaro, so that’s a good thing. i didnt think dilis flakes would go well with a chopped cabbage with mayo salad but it did. the teriyaki sauce had more body and went well with the nicely grilled chicken. their bento boxes came with miso soup already and 3 pieces of sashimi. perfect! carlo had his usual tempura and that was great too. so what happens now is that we go to trinoma just to eat at smairu haha. the theaters (which are awesome) are now just a 2nd reason to go
then we went to watch stardust. coolness.
batang rizal & romulus d’grayt
recently i contacted former up fine arts college sec leo abaya re his invitation to watch PETA’s staging of ROMULUS D’GRAYT, where he is involved as production designer. he sent me an mms of the stage design and it looked great, so we were excited to watch it. i feared carlo and i wouldnt be able to catch the show on the later dates so we setup time to see it that weekend.
the featured play of peta before this one was BATANG RIZAL, which was a delight to watch. the story was simple enough but the performances were brilliant and on spot. the actors playing batang rizal and his present day alter ego was engaging and charming, the other kids in the play likewise wonderful to watch. the lessons it imparted werent preachy but still remained relevant. we thought this play was just wonderful we were eager to watch the next PETA play in the season!
come oct 7 we made it to the PETA theater for ROMULUS D’GRAYT and got great seats and a fantastic view of the stage. the play was translated and modernized in everyday-filipino-speak to great effect. some of the players were standouts (especially those actors from ateneo) but the show belonged to dido who played romulus. the design of the production was impeccable, and chickens in the play were also great. notably the costumes were fantastic and was really imaginative in its use of material.
carlo and i had a blast watching venus, the only female in the cast, and a non-speaking role at that ! a statue who on instinct jumps off her pedestal when frightened or gossips at courtly drama. super funny we had to have our picture taken with her.
met actor nor domingo also at the lobby at the end of the play and made chitchat re the next play for PETA which he’ll be directing. looking forward! SKIN DEEP (libretto and book by vincent de jesus of zsa zsa zaturnnah ze musical & ze movie, batang rizal) up next. cheers! salamat sir leo for inviting us to romulus! we had a wonderful time yey
benjamin padero 