Evo & Grace: The WanderLusts

This year, eight films of different genres made it to the annual Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which will run from December 25, 2019 until the first week of January 2020. Here’s a list of MMFF 2019 films that Puerto Princesans and Palaweños could watch at SM Cinema on Christmas Day (December 25, 2019): Miracle in Cell # 7 (G) Genre: Drama, Comedy In the Filipino adaptation of the 2013 award-winning Korean movie, Aga Muhlach plays the role of a mentally ill man, who is accused of sexually assaulting a little girl. Behind bars, he becomes friends with his fellow inmates and they plan to smuggle his daughter. Director’s Club 1 | Schedules: 10:30AM, 1PM, 3:30PM, 6PM, 8:30PM Culion (PG) Genre: Historical Drama Culion stars Iza Calzado, Meryll Soriano and Jasmine Curtis-Smith with the special participation of John Lloyd Cruz, but the town’s significance in world medical history takes center stage. Set between 1940 and 1941, it revolves around three best friends who ...

Now on its 13th year, the International Silent Film Festival (ISSF) Manila happened last August 30 to September 1, 2019, at its new home at the Samsung Hall, SM Aura Premier, Taguig City. ISSF is one of the most revered film festivals in Metro Manila as it is not only free, it features live performances of local and foreign bands of different genres as musical accompaniment. One of the featured films is the classic by Kenji Mizoguchi, The Downfall of Osen (1935). It is about a servant girl who did everything to finance the education of a man he loves. The live musical score was served by Kaduma ni Karol, a band from Mindanao that fuses indigenous sounds with contemporary music. Other films are Native Life in the Philippines (1913) with live music from Munimuni, Es Mi Hombre (He’s My Man) (1926) with music from Tarsius, L’Onestà del Peccato (The Wife He Neglected) (1918) with music from Stef&No and the Pocket Orchestra, Von Morgen Bis Mitternachts (From Morn to Midnig...

And the winners are... Cinemalaya Full-length movie John Denver Trending is the major winner in this year’s festival, taking home 5 major awards including Best Picture, Best Actor for its lead Jansen Magpusao, Best Original Music Score, Best Editing and NETPAC Award. JDT is about a 14-year-old farm boy whose life is upended when a video of him brutally attacking a classmate went viral, John Denver Trending also scooped up five awards.  As per citation “for its highly relevant subject matter, its highly convincing characters and effective ensemble acting by a cast of non-professional actors; for the nearly epic sweep of its masterful use of the resources of cinema to depict a boy’s entrapment and doom; and for its coruscating critique of social media as an engine of lies, hate, and destruction.” Thop Nazareno’s Edward, whose lead character comes of age, as he is left alone to take care of his father in a public hospital, is the Special Jury Prize winner, the fi...

The Ten Full Lenght Directors of 15th Cinemalaya 2019 For its 15 years, Cinemalaya Philippine Film Festival is still on high energy in giving Filipinos the cinema they deserve, they remain to be the stepping stones of many filmmakers in the country today who travel overseas and bring home awards from different international giving bodies. Still, with the Cultural Center of the Philippines as their home, this year's festival is loaded with numerous films across the regions of Asia and other continents,  and exhibitions from selected movie competition in Metro Manila, plus the fact that Cinemalaya receives Nikkei Asia Prize for Cultural and Community from Japan last May of this year, another achievement in line with the 50 years of CCP. Short Film Directors (Erickson Dela Cruz) Being the biggest festival of independent movies in the country, Cinemalaya on its 15th year is bringing the festival in many cities and provinces this time such as Pampanga, Naga, and Legas...

The movie that tells the story of the first marathon in Japan, is the opening film for much awaited Japanese Film Festival known as EIGASAI now on its 22nd edition that open last July 3 at Shangri-La Plaza Cinema and will last until August 3, 2019. Directed by Bernard Rose, Samurai Marathon is based on Akihiro Dobashi’s novel Bakumatsu Marathon Samurai about the historical Ansei Tooashi, known as Japan’s first Marathon. Happen at the end of Edo Period, the lord of Annaka Clan holds a running contest, as training for his clan against potential attacks from overseas. Like any other Japanese Films , Samurai Marathon is superb in storytelling as it sticks to its narration of blow-by-blow events, brutal scenes with random comedy is a come on, but what moves us is the outskirt farm life shown, it provides freshness in the film. Samurai Marathon is release in Japan last February 22, 2019, it stars Takeru Sato “Rurouni Kenshin” franchise, Nana Komatsu “Silence”, Mirai Moriyama “Rage”. You ...

Denis Velleneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 is everything what the hype has promised. It’s a sequel of visual sensations and ample entertainment. Thirty years after the original film, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling) is a replicant blade runner who unearths a secret that could possibly commence a war in a dystopian world. For those who failed to watch the first instalment, a “replicant” is a fictional  bioengineered  or  biorobotic   android  while a “blade runner” is a police officer charged with killing, or "retiring," replicants. K discovers the remains of a pregnant replicant. His superior, Lt. Joshi (Robin Wright) instructs him to destroy all evidence related to it, including the child. This also leads him to a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a blade runner missing for decades. If you are not a fan of neo-noir dystopian science fiction, watch it for its art. It’s as visually stunning as Ryan Gosling’s face. No matter how dirty and da...

The Team Saving Sally. Change is definitely here, most likely in this year’s selection of entries for the annual Metro Manila Film Festival. One interesting movie is Saving Sally by animator-turn-director Avid Liongoren. It’s a high-breed film that combines real human characters with animated backdraft. It is a love story with unexpected monsters. During its Presscon held recently, Liongoren informed us that it took ten years in the making due to some financial setbacks. Their inclusion in the Film Fest is already a winning moment for him. Playing Sally is actress Rhian Ramos. She admits that she auditioned for the role when she was 19 years old and she eagerly wanted to portray it. It was at the peak of her career at the time but she did not hesitate to try even though the production lasted six years. She replaced the actress that originally portrayed Sally, four years after the production started. It’s a commitment as Ramos emphasized. Joining Rhian as her lead...

Some of this year's actors and Film makers for WPFF 2016. Now on its third year, World Premieres Film Festival headed by Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is back, starting this June 29 up to July 10 with almost 60 films all around the globe, plus a lot film showcase including Filipino Film Classics like “Pagdating Sa Dulo”  by Ismael Bernal that was digitally restored and serve as the opening film of the festival. “We pride ourselves in having the selection of our main competition, which this year are 6 international Films that yet to be seen or screen outside of their origin country, so more or less the first time they are going to show to a foreign audiences, and Word Premiere also hopes to always have a varied line up, different sections, different films that really showcase the culture and films of different countries all over.”  Quintin Cu-Unjieng, Project Development Officer of FDCP. This year’s venue of Festivals also spread within the me...

TheStar Wars "X-Wing". SM is true to its partnership with Walt Disney, this time a two portion in SM Mall of Asia is dedicated for a month long exhibit of some memorable life size characters and planes use in the latest movie franchise Star Wars: The Force Awakens, of course under Walt Disney pictures. “The whole exhibit is due to the strategic partnership with Disney, so we are here to promote the much anticipated film of the year, which is the Star Wars.” Explained by Ria Canteras, AVP for Corporate Marketing of SM Lifestyle Entertainment. At the main hall of Atrium part of MOA lies the biggest replica of X-Wing, even though locally manufactured this gigantic Sci-Fi fighter plane is such a delight not just for Star Wars fans, but for all ages wherein you can ride at the cockpit part and have your photos taken and this is for free. What amazing about this X-Wing is the light around it that feels like a real one indeed, of course with setting of moods due to its ...

Photos from Heneral Luna Facebook page. The much talked historical biopic film Heneral Luna once again is back in Manila this coming November 30, 2015, 6pm at Meralco Theater. This is a special screening, and a fund raising event for Bagong Sistema, Bagong Pag-asa, an apolitical movement group that advocates the changing of the Philippine Constitution for the better future. The said semi-NGO group is led by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who is now on the verge of asking the Philippine congress before the Christmas break to approve its petition for Constitutional Convention. Bagong Sistema, Bagong Pag-Asa (BSBP) is also a membership organization with around 5,000 plus individual members and 300 to 500 thousands affiliate organization around the country.   They just started July of this year during a Summit for Change held in Club Filipino. Bagong Sistema Bagong Pag-Asa is not calling for Charter Change but the whole basic 1987 Constitutions to be revised and ado...