A maritime lawyer by profession, sometimes called Frog Prince of the Philippines with currently more than a thousand of collectible frog items. Like the frogs with a reputation for leaping that is well deserved, jump with me to my froglandia as we travel and explore the world seeking symbols of divine powers of love, fertility, regeneration, rebirth, immortality, and transformation.
I guess this is a very powerful movie i saw in
the ongoing Pelicula Spanish filmfest in greenbelt. Best for women's
cause , including Breast Cancer campaigns. De tu ventana a la mía is a
film of interwoven emotions and struggles of three women
of different generations aiming to build the lives they desire, their
own future, love and dreams. All of them lose the love of their lives
and they will have to pursue their happiness and fight for their dignity
in a dark and hostile word http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpvVMJOezR0
I would rather say "buenas noches" to my pillow than have a headache in finishing the special screening of Raya Martin's "Buenas noches, España / Good night, Spain" during the 10th Película Spanish Film Festival in Greenbelt. It has a running time of 70 minutes.
After sitting inside the greenbelt cinema for almost 30 minutes and trying to decipher what the film is all about, i literally walked out of the moviehouse along with other audience. Being a film addict myself, as a follower of the various film festivals in manila, I seldom "unfinish" the movie notwithstanding its bad execution.
Press releases described the film of "filipino filmmaker Raya Martin, one of the most controversial artists in recent years" in the following manner - " In another lifetime, a Spanish couple takes drugs and teleports through their television set. A troubled young man travels through the countryside and meets a lost woman. During the trip, they discover a museum housing the expatriated paintings of the most important Filipino artist of the revolution. Eventually, the Spanish couple disappears toward their colony. Inspired by one of the earliest teleportation accounts, which happened between the Philippines and Mexico during the colonial period.
Based on how they described Raya as a director, the film should have been good. There’s no excuse for it to be not good.
i was already warned by a good friend ( who is also a multi-awarded script writer) that i should not expect much on this film of Martin. And i should have listened to him. Raya himself said at the beginning that "he is afraid of film premieres in the Philippines."
I understand that Raya wanted to show the audience "strange teleporting and psychedelic experiences" but i guess he overdid himself. The "screeching " sound is so irritating to the point you have to cover your ears. The "play" of colors added "injury" to the film since you are already disturbed by changing texture.
The hardest part of any endeavour is to keep your target market/ audience "interested" in your product. For a buyer of a book, he will scan the first ten, twenty, fifty pages before he decides to buy it. If you buy music CD, you will know if it is okey on the first few seconds of hearing the melody. In Raya's film, it took me almost thirty minutes out of its seventy minutes running time to decide that i can no longer stand being tortured by the bad sound and cinematography. My eyes and ears are really in pain. Walking out is my only option, along with more than twenty people who went out ahead of me.
There’s a lot wrong with the film – it is, frankly, a complete goddamn mess – but its cardinal sin to me is that it has no idea what kind of movie it wants to be. Is it a fantasy film? A nostalgia piece? An alien rampage film? A misunderstood alien film? Some combination of these?
This is a film whose script should never have been filmed, a script whose structural problems are so obvious and huge that i have to take aspirins to explain how they ended up on screen.
Instituto Cervantes’ Película Spanish Film Festival turned 10 this October. And it promised to be the biggest and best showcase yet of Spanish movies in the Philippines. The annual festival presents work by some of the most innovative and engaging artists from the Hispanic community for the local audience of film lovers, journalists and film industry representatives to enjoy.there is a sense of familiarity Filipinos feel when watching Spanish films and television shows. The films bring to the Philippines a very accurate picture of what Spanish people go through nowadays.And my scoreboard this year is SIXTEEN (16) films at 65 pesos per film. My sked for this year's film marathon at the Greenbelt Cinema:
DATE
TIME
PARTICULARS
October 5
(Wednesday)
7:00pm
La Verguenza
9:30pm
Primos
October 6
(Thursday)
9:30pm
Morirse esta en hebreo
October 8
(Saturday)
7:00pm
Elsa y Fred
9:30pm
Lope
October 9
(Sunday)
7:00pm
Tambien la lluvia
9:30pm
Fuera de Carta
October 10
(Monday)
7:00pm
Todas las canciones hablan de mi
9:30pm
Buenas noches, España
October 11
(Tuesday)
7:00pm
Gordos
October 12
(Wednesday)
7:00pm
Amador
9:30pm
Buried
October 13
(Thursday)
9:30pm
Yo, tambien
October 14
(Friday)
7:00pm
Chico y Rita
October 15
(Saturday)
9:30pm
Mar adentro
12:00am
Didi Hollywood
MY MEXICAN SHIVAH (Morirse esta en hebreo According to Jewish belief, from the moment a Jew is born, he or she is accompanied by two angels: an angel of light and an angel of darkness.With the passing Moishe (75), his family and friends gather in Mexico City to sit shivah, the 7-day Jewish mourning ritual.Which angel will win the battle for Moishe's soul? If the shivah reveals anything, it's that Moishe's family and friends loved him with all his flaws and mystery- and most of all his spirit.
LA VERGUENZA (THE SHAME) A well-to-do couple, who a year prior adopted an 8 year-old child with behavioral disorders, find that they are unable to control his behavior and life with him gradually turns into a living hell. They decide to contact their social worker in hopes of giving him back .But they soon realize that there's a price to pay if they pursue this decision
PRIMOS (Cousinhood) After being left by his fiancée days before their wedding, Diego decides to go on a trip with his cousins to a little town they used to vacation in when they were younger. They go on a weekend filled with town festivities, the perfect plan to forget everything and try to regain a past love, Martina
"ELSA Y FRED"Fred, a recently widowed Spaniard in his 70s who has led a quiet life, retires to an apartment in Madrid. Elsa, a similarly-aged but more colorful Argentinian and a chronic liar, is his neighbor. Fred has no significant health problems but is a hypochondriac. Elsa is seriously ill and undergoing dialysis but hides it from Fred. The two fall in love. Elsa throws Fred into situations the widower would have disapproved of before he met her, making him "live life and not death". Once Fred learns Elsa will probably die, he pays all their expenses for a trip to Rome to fulfill Elsa's lifelong wish of reenacting Fellini's famous scene starring Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni under the Fontana di Trevi in La dolce vita.After the trip to Rome, the movie ends with Fred visiting Elsa's grave in Madrid with his grandson. Fred looks at the birthdate on her tombstone and realizes she lied about how old she was and jokingly and affectionately calls her "embustera" (Spanish for "liar").
"You are not afraid of dying, you are afraid of living" My fave line in "ELSA Y FRED"
LOPE is A chronicle of the life of Lope de Vega, the Spanish playwright who dominated Spain's early Golden Age of theater. Born November 25th, 1562, about two years before Marlowe and Shakespeare, Lope Félix de Vega Carpio would outlive them both. The first Spanish dramatist to make a living as a playwright--and now considered the greatest of all Spanish playwrights--Lope is said to have written over 2,200 plays, over 500 of which have survived! Most of Lope's plays revolve around the conflicting claims of love and honor. His most popular work is Fuente Ovejuna or The Sheep Well (1614) in which a tyrannous feudal lord is murdered by villagers who refuse to confess and are eventually spared by intervention of the king. Other popular plays by Lope de Vega include The Foolish Lady (1613), Finding Truth Through Doubt (1620-24), The Knight from OlmedaPunishment without Revenge (1631). (1622) and
EVEN THE RAIN/ TAMBIEN LA LLUVIA Spanish director Sebastián, his executive producer Costa and all his crew are in Bolivia, in the Cochabamba area, to shoot a motion picture about Christopher Columbus, his first explorations and the way the Spaniards treated the Indians at the time. Costa has chosen this place because the budget of the film is tight and here he can hire supernumeraries, local actors and extras on the cheap. Things go more or less smoothly until a conflict erupts over the privatization of the water supply. The trouble is that one of the local actors, is a leading activist in the protest movement
FUERA dE CARTA Maxi (Javier Cámara) thinks his life is perfect. He is a famous cook who owns a top hyped restaurant in Chueca (the gay district of Madrid), with his most important goal being to get the restaurant rated by the Michelin guide. He is living the homosexual lifestyle without problems and hangups, with his employees as his closest confidants -including Alex (Lola Dueñas) and Ramiro (Fernando Tejero). But when his son Edu (Junio Valverde) and daughter (who were born from an unsuccessful marriage) appear and a new neighbor, Horacio (Benjamín Vicuña) moves in (an attractive famous Argentinian ex-soccer player), they will completely turn his life upside down and make him question his values.... It has non-stop comedy twists involving Maxi, the children, the employees in the restaurant, the handsome neighbor, and Maxi's parents. Just when you think you can't laugh anymore, it takes things one step further.
Todas las canciones hablan de mí (Every Song Is About Me) After many years together, Ramiro and Andrea decide to end their relationship. Supported by his friends, Ramiro tries to get over his breakup by making plans and focusing on his future, but all he really wants is to go back to Andrea, who he still loves.
Raya Martin's Buenas noches, España (Good night, Spain) In another lifetime, a Spanish couple takes drugs and teleports through their television set. A troubled young man travels through the countryside and meets a lost woman. During the trip, they discover a museum housing the expatriated paintings of the most important Filipino artist of the revolution. Eventually, the Spanish couple disappears toward their colony. Inspired by one of the earliest teleportation accounts, which happened between the Philippines and Mexico during the colonial period.
GORDOS" (FAT PEOPLE) is a comedy about life's excesses and deficiencies; about our insecurities, phobias, obsessions, traumas, mistakes, fears, blame, desires, hopes, challenges, concessions, goals, relationships, love, sex, health, family... about survival in the widest and "largest" sense of the word.
AMADOR Marcela (Magaly Solier from Milk of Sorrow) is a young woman who lives with her boyfriend, Nelson. Both of them are immigrants. She intends to leave him, but changes her mind when she finds out that she is pregnant, although she doesn't tell him about her pregnancy. Nelson earn a living as a flower thief. He keeps the flowers in the fridge, but when it breaks they have to buy a new one, but don't money for the rent. So Marcela decides to take a job in the city. She begins to take care of a bed-ridden older man whose family is out of town. But only a week into her job and the man dies. Marcela knows that if she calls his family to inform about his death she won't get the money so she keep the things as they are as if the man was still alive
BURIED. Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up six feet underground with no idea of who put him there or why, life for the truck driver and family man instantly becomes a hellish struggle for survival. Buried with only a cell phone and a lighter, his contact with the outside world and ability to piece together clues that could help him discover his location are maddeningly limited. Poor reception, a rapidly draining battery, and a dwindling oxygen supply become his worst enemies in a tightly confined race against time, fighting panic, despair and delirium, Paul has only ninety minutes to be rescued before his worst nightmare comes true.
Yo Tambien "Me Too" is a surprising social drama. The film is about 34-year-old Daniel from Seville. He is the first European man with Down's Syndrome to get a university degree. When Daniel gets a new job, he meets Laura, an open-minded colleague. Their friendship attracts the attention of friends and family who regard it as a problem if Daniel falls in love with Laura.
CHICO Y RITA Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment. From Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas, two passionate individuals battle impossible odds to unite in music and love.
The Sea Inside (Mar adentro) is a 2004 film based on the real-life story of Ramón Sampedro (played by Javier Bardem), a Spanish ship mechanic left quadriplegic after a diving accident. Sampedro fought a 29-year campaign in support of euthanasia and his right to end his own life. He was not able to get the court to rule in his favor, but he did end his life (after drinking potassium cyanide).
Di Di Hollywood tells the tale of an actress whose wish for stardom comes with much sacrifice. Her name is Diana Diaz, a young woman with a wild yet familiar dream: to become a star. And to win it all, she is willing to lose herself. She heads out for the bright lights of Miami, and despite its glamorous first impression, this new paradise proves anything but. Fed up with casting calls, hunger, and near-poverty, Diana continues to push forward, and with the help of new friends, makes it out to Hollywood. As Diana Diaz transforms into Di Di, the once ambitious bartender truly learns the price of stardom.
I watched last night my third film for his year's Pelicula Spanish Filmfest 2011 at Greenbelt Cinema, Morirse esta en Hebreo, or My Mexican Shiva.
My Mexican Shivah is about how the death of a man results in the celebration of his life. According to Jewish belief, from the moment a Jew is born, he or she is accompanied by two angels: an angel of light and an angel of darkness. With the passing Moishe (75), his family and friends gather in Mexico City to sit shivah, the 7-day Jewish mourning ritual. The spirit angels, Aleph and Bet, divine accountants, only visible to the camera, watch over the family and calculate which angel will accompany Moishe's soul to the afterlife. The odds are against Moishe from the beginning. Family dysfunction aside, Moishe's friends are all attending for their own motives. And to make matters worse, while performing his duties, a Chevreman, who is a member of the Sacred Funeral Society, is milking the family for all they're worth: charging for kosher food, slippers and various other shivah goods. Emotionally unstable and obsessed with staying young, Moishe's daughter Esther, falls apart; crying over a lost tooth and announcing that she is going to have plastic surgery to fix her entire body immediately after the shivah. Meanwhile, Moishe's son, Ricardo, is attempting to convince a doctor attending the shivah to give his girlfriend an abortion, while his wandering eye leads him to his dead father's lover, Julia Palafox, the notorious mistress for whom Moishe left his family many years earlier. Which angel will win the battle for Moishe's soul? If the shivah reveals anything, it's that Moishe's family and friends loved him with all his flaws and mystery- and most of all his spirit.
Filipinos have our own version of the film My Mexican Shiva. In the movie Crying Ladies, a heartwarming comedy film starring Sharon Cuneta and Angel Aquino,i guess every Filipino could relate the some of the scenes especially during the wake when Eric Quizon, the grieving son, has to relay the story behind the death of his father over and over again to the visitors, from one seat to another as if he is a replay of the previous scene the only difference is the person he was talking to. In DEd na Si Lolo, more than the superstitions, it was absurdly amusing how the family rationalized the traditions and worked their way around them.Yes, there’s fun in funerals. Even in grief, Filipinos never lose our sense of humor. Laughter helps us deal with our loss.In one way, it is good since it can be a form of releasing one's sadness. After having two funerals in two consecutive years, i realized that the said movies presented the "funny" side of death in the family.
SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS RELATED TO DEATH
The Filipino daily way of life is encompassed by countless sayings, proverbs, and beliefs. People tend to work around the superstitions even if they were told they may be committing a sin. Many Filipinos believe in superstitions to avoid any negative consequences. They may be true; they may be not.
- If a black butterfly lingers around a person, it means that one of his relatives has just died.
- A beautiful flower or candle scent smelled in a home after a death of a beloved, means there's a spirit of the dead visiting who wants the relatives to know he/she's around. Pray for his/her soul
- If one dreams that one of his teeth is being uprooted or pulled out, a member of his family will die.
- During a wedding the one whose candle goes out first will be the first of the couple to die.
- When a group of three have their picture taken, the one in the middle will die first.
- If a cock crows in the afternoon, it means somebody will die.
- Pregnant women should not have their picture taken; otherwise, their babies will die.
- When a pregnant woman wears a black dress, her baby will die.
- If a person's shadow appears to be without a head, that person will soon die.
- Cleaning the backyard when the sun has already set and it is already dark causes death.
- If two people from the same family get married within a year, one will die.
- A coffin should be built to fit the corpse; otherwise, a family member of the deceased will soon die.
- Tears must not fall on the dead or on the coffin; this will make the dead person’s journey to the next world a difficult one.
- During a wake, never see your visitors off at the door of the chapel or funeral parlor.
- Do not sweep the house until after the burial.
- After the funeral service, do not go home directly so that the spirit of the dead person will not follow you to your house.
- When a dog is howling, making a spooky cry, it means that death is coming to someone.
- When sending a rosary with the corpse; cut it into pieces. This is believed to hinder anymore tragedy in the family
- If the dead person is a mother/father to an infant or a little child, pick up the child and pass him or her over the coffin, so the spirit won't appear to the child.
- When you are dreaming and a dead person asks you to come along with him/her, DON'T go.
If a person meets a black cat, he will die.
Year in and year out, several foreign-film festivals are held in Manila and sometimes, in the provinces.
One big hit with the masses is the Película Spanish Film Festival, now on its 10th year. Instituto Cervantes’ Película Spanish Film Festival is turning 10 this October. And it promises to be the biggest and best showcase yet of Spanish movies in the Philippines.
With events tied in with the celebration of Jose Rizal’s 150th anniversary (the unveiling of a new Spanish translation of Noli Me Tangere in November at the Instituto) as well as a decade of Spanish-Filipino cultural exchange, the Instituto Cervantes proudly introduced its lineup of Spanish films.
Multi-awarded films like Primos (Cousins), Yo, Tambien (Me, Too), and the Javier Bardem starrer Biutiful make their Philippine premier at the festival.
Didi Hollywood (Director: Bigas Luna)
Other films include the period drama Lope, a story chronicling the life of Spanish playwright Lope de Vega; Bigas Luna’s Didi Hollywood about an aspiring actress who decides to move to Miami to try her luck in the Latino world; and the 2010 Spanish thriller film directed by Rodrigo Cortés, Buried, which follows the story of a US contractor (Ryan Reynolds) who wakes up finding himself buried alive inside a coffin.
La Vergüenza (The Shame) (Director: David Planell)
\Another highlight of the festival is “Diez años de Película (10 Years of Película),” a special cycle of audience choice winners of previous Película instalments from 2004 to 2010, featuring films like Alejandro Amenábar’s Mar Adentro, Isabel Coixet’s La vida secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of Words), and Nacho Vellila’s comedy Fuera de carta.
Running at the Greenbelt 3 ground floor is a photo exhibition also titled Diez años de Película (10 Years of Película), which documents the history of Película from its inauguration in 2002 to becoming one of the biggest showcases of Spanish and Latin American films in Asia.
Biutiful (Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Javier Bardem)
The annual festival presents work by some of the most innovative and engaging artists from the Hispanic community for the local audience of film lovers, journalists and film industry representatives to enjoy.there is a sense of familiarity Filipinos feel when watching Spanish films and television shows. The films bring to the Philippines a very accurate picture of what Spanish people go through nowadays
Regular run of all films, with English subtitles, will take place from Oct. 5 until 16 at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. Specific times and ticketing information are available on the Festival website, www.pelicula.ph.
