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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
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Ted Reyes is a musician, composer, record producer and journalist based in NYC. If you have any comments you can visit his website at www.tedreyes.com or email him at tedreyes@mac.com
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MANILA --- Gretchen Barretto has begged off from the project which would have served as her comeback movie of sorts. It would have reunited her with Senator Bong Revilla, with whom she appeared in a movie some years back. The movie was supposed to be made under Senator Bong family’s own film firm, Imus Productions.
She denied that her partner, Tony Boy Cojuangco, had stopped her from doing the movie. She said she not only had his blessing to do the movie, he’s also excited about it.
Gretchen added that she also liked her role especially after director Wenn Deramas presented the story to her. In fact, when Direk Wenn told her that she would spend five days shooting for the movie, she even assured him that she would not mind an extension.
Then why is she backing out? We asked Gretchen.
“Simple,” she answered. “I was told that Lani (Mercado, Senator Bong’s wife) is not comfortable having me work with her husband. Basta anything which would cause animosity between me and Lani, ayokong mangyari.”
She further stated, “Nagkaroon na kami ng ‘di pagkakaunawaan minsan. For a time, we were not on speaking terms. It was LT (Lorna Tolentino) who paved the way to our reconciliation. I was to prove to Lani that my desire to have her for a friend is sincere. Pelikula lang ito.”
She has told Tony Boy about her decision and he thinks she did the right thing. (MNS)
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MANILA --- Talk show host Boy Abunda has denied his good friend Kris Aquino is pregnant as he confirmed reports that the actress and basketball superstar James Yap have been married since last year.
“For the record, hindi po buntis si Kris. Bakit ko alam ang mga bagay na ganyan? I don’t think na ang bagay na katulad ng pagbubuntis ay maitatago ni Kris sa akin (Kris is not pregnant. How do I know this? I don’t think a matter like her pregnancy is something that Kris can hide from me),” Abunda said in an interview.
Reports said Aquino and Yap wed on July 10, 2005 at Abunda’s residence in Quezon City.
The actress’ mother, former president Corazon Aquino, and Yap’s family are reportedly aware that the couple have been married for almost nine months.
Abunda said the 35-year-old Aquino has been avoiding the issue because she wants her married life to remain private.
“Pinanindigan talaga niya na hindi manggagaling sa kanya...hindi sya magsasalita. Maraming konsiderasyon...nariyan ang pamilya ni Kris (She stuck to her plan that the news of her marriage will not come from her...that she will keep quiet. There were many considerations...there’s Kris’ family),” he said.
Entertainment writer Cristy Fermin, in her DZMM program “Showbiz Mismo” read Aquino’s text messages confirming the civil wedding.
“We first got married May 28” We got our marriage license on May 30 but we repeated the civil ceremony on July 10...again [presided by the] same reverend in Quezon City,” Aquino said in her text message to Fermin, who is her co-host in the Sunday talk show “The Buzz”.
Abunda said he was moved to tears witnessing the most important moment in Aquino’s life.
“It was a beautiful evening, napakaganda. Tahimik lamang ako pero umiyak ako. May portion dun na kailangan ni Kris and James sabihin kung ano ang nararamdaman nila. Ako kumbinsido na mahal nila ang isa’t isa (I was quiet but I cried. There was a portion there when Kris and James expressed what they were feeling. I’m convinced that they love each other),” Abunda said.
The TV host, who hosts “The Buzz” with Aquino, defended Yap from criticisms that he was not as articulate as his better half.
“Si James hindi man masalita pero may karakter. Isa siguro [siya] sa kokonting tao na kaya si Kris (James may be a man of few words but he has character. He is probably one of the few people who can handle Kris),” Abunda said.
He said Aquino and Yap are pushing through with their planned church wedding at the latter part of the year.
For keeps
Versatile actor Eric Quizon said he could tell Aquino and Yap are more than an affianced couple even before the revelation.
“I’m her (Kris’) friend. I’ve known her for like 20 years so more or less I know what’s going through her head. She didn’t have to tell me,” Quizon said.
The actor, who was Aquino’s leading man in the hit 2005 movie “So Happy Together”, said he believes the actress finally found a relationship that is for keeps.
“But of course any relationship will only work if the [people involved] work on it together,” he said.
“I hope I see a little James and a little Kris soon,” he added.
Fermin, meanwhile, said she had preferred Aquino’s former partner, actor-politician Joey Marquez, for the actress until she saw for herself that Aquino and Yap share a beautiful relationship.
“Tanggap na tanggap ko na. Ngayon ko nakikita yung resulta ng maganda nilang samahan...yung respetuhan nila, kung paano nirerespeto ni Kris si James at nirerespeto ni James si Kris. Hindi ako kokontra sa puso ni kris (I’ve accepted them fully. I see now the result of a good partnership...how Kris respects James and how James respects Kris. I will not object to what Kris’ heart says),” Fermin said.
Yap, Purefood’s 6’ 3” small forward, was an athletic scholar at the University of the East. His hardcourt heroics won him the Most Valuable Player award of the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines in 2003.
In February last year, the 24-year-old pride of Escalante, Negros Occidental, met the youngest child of the late senator Benigno Aquino. The couple made public their romance four months later.
Aquino, one of the most popular and highest paid actresses in the country, has a lovechild with veteran actor Philip Salvador. (MNS)
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THE FILIPINO digital movie, UFO Pictures’ “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,” garnered top awards and a cash prize of P6.2 million at the 7th Las Palmas de la Gran Canarias Film Festival held in the Canary Islands on April 1.
The cash prize will be awarded to the film’s distributor in Spain.
The movie beat Oscar and Golden Globe contenders “Junebug” and “The Squid and the Whale” from the United States, as well as “Bride of Silence” from Vietnam, “Gilaneh” from Iran, “Dam Street” from China and “Invisible Waves” from Thailand, among other films.
“Maximo” director Auraeus Solito relayed the good news to the Inquirer through a text message from Madrid, Spain. The Canary Islands lies southwest of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean.
“There was a standing ovation after my acceptance speech,” recalled Solito. “The party after the awards show was great. The people [at the gathering] thanked me for making them cry.”
“Maximo,” special Jury Prize winner in last year’s Cinemalaya
Independent Film Festival, won the Audience Award, Best Actor for lead star Nathan Lopez, and the Grand Prize, which was dubbed the Lady Harimaguada de Oro and came with a 100,000 euros (P6,242,000) cash award, at the Spanish film fest based in the Canary Islands.
Best Actress winner was Laura Linney for “The Squid and the Whale” and the second prize (or Lady Harimaguada de Plata) went to Phil Morrison’s “Junebug.”
Lopez tied with Israel Gomez of “La Leyenda del Tiempo” from Spain for Best Actor.
Story of gay boy
“Maximo” tells the bittersweet story of a pre-teenage gay boy who is torn between his loyalty to his family of petty thugs and his infatuation for an idealistic policeman.
The Filipino digital movie seemed tailor-made for the Las Palmas de la Gran Canarias Film Festival, which, according to its website, “reflects the many different realities which together make up the complex world we live in.”
The international film fest “aims to showcase new contributions to world cinema ... [and] has introduced to the general public ‘fringe’ films from ... Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe,” the website said.
Int’l jurors
And “with the globalization of images ... it seeks to bring attention to filmmakers that make a statement about the world by making a statement about themselves.”
It also “hopes to convert the viewer into an active participant, into an interrogator,” according to its website.
The film fest’s international jurors included painter-filmmaker William Klein, mass communications professor Robert Gubern, actress Anna Padrao, director Mauricio Michetti, actress Leonor Benedetto, filmmaker Marc Recha and writer Zoe Valdez.
The Gran Canarias triumph is the latest international honor brought home by the low-budget digital movie. Thus far, it has won the Golden Zenith at the Montreal World Cinema Film Fest, Best Picture at the ImagineNATIVE Film Fest in Toronto, Best First Film at the Asian Festival for First Films in Singapore, and the NETPAC Best Asian Film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
It also made history as the first Filipino movie to be included in the World Cinema section of the Sundance Independent Film Festival.
Other awards
In February, “Maximo” also received the Teddy Queer (or Best Gay/Lesbian Feature Film) honor at the Berlin International Film Festival, beating Hollywood films like “Capote” and “Breakfast on Pluto.”
Also at the Berlinale, “Maximo” was declared Best Film by the international jury and the Second Best Film by the children’s jury at the Kinderfilmfest.
The film was scripted by Michiko Yamamoto, who also wrote “Magnifico,” another internationally acclaimed Filipino film that had topped the Kinderfilmfest in 2004.
“Maximo” was also chosen, along with Filipino-Americans Ian Gamazon and Neill de la Llana’s “Cavite,” to be part of the 35th New Directors/New Films program presented by the Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of the Lincoln Center in New York from March 22 to April 2.
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ANOTHER Filipino film -- of the horror genre -- howled victory in Brussels.
Yam Laranas’ “Sigaw” won the Orbit Award at the 24th Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (BIFFF), held in Belgium on March 10-25.
Laranas, who directed and co-wrote the movie, is in Manila working on a TV commercial. He learned of the good news only after reading about it on the website of Variety, a Hollywood trade paper.
The BIFFF is “considered the world’s biggest festival of horror, fantasy and science fiction films,” Laranas said.
Previous winners in the BIFFF include horror masters Wes Craven (“People Under the Stairs”), Sam Raimi (“The Gift”), Jee-woon Kim (“A Tale of Two Sisters”) and James Wan (“Saw”).
Now on its seventh year, the Orbit previously honored directors Christopher Nolan (“Batman Begins”), Takashi Miike (“One Missed Call”) and Gaspar Noé (“Irreversible”), said Laranas.
The Orbit honor, according to Laranas, is awarded to “new filmmakers who are making a debut in the international scene.”
“It has been a while since an Asian won the award,” he noted. “Previous Orbit winners went on to make bigger movies. Asians cornered the Orbit this year.”
Hello, Hollywood
Variety reported in its March 28 issue: “[Orbit’s] special mention went to ‘The Beautiful Washing Machine,’ directed by Malaysia’s James Lee.”
Laranas, who had signed up with Hollywood talent agency International Creative Management (ICM), is currently working on an English-language remake of “Sigaw,” now dubbed “The Echo,” with Los Angeles-based scriptwriter Stephen Susco and producer Roy Lee.
Susco penned the Hollywood version of the Japanese hit “The Grudge.” Lee is producing “The Departed,” with director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
“The Departed” is a remake of another Asian hit “Infernal Affairs,” which originally top-billed Hong Kong stars Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai.
A-list horror movie
Laranas said the script for “Sigaw” now has a base price of $350,000 (P17,949,400) -- meaning it could still go higher. “My co-writer Roy Iglesias and I will not only get credits, but also proceeds from the sale of the script.”
The Brussels victory could mean bigger business for “Sigaw” in Hollywood, he said.
“My ICM agent Renee Tab was very excited when she learned about the Brussels win,” Laranas said. “Stephen and Roy were so happy about the film’s latest award. To think it was first released way back in 2004 [as an entry in the Metro Manila Film Festival]!”
Last year, “Sigaw” won Best Music for Jesse Lucas at the Los Angeles Screamfest, another A-list horror film festival.
In February, the movie was also screened at another prestigious horror film fest, the Fantasporto in Portugal, before proceeding to the BIFFF.
Laranas said the Brussels victory was significant because “it proves that the local movie industry is not dying nor dead ... Filipino filmmakers are still fighting to be recognized and to make quality films. When they talk of horror films, Filipinos will be mentioned along with the Japanese and Koreans. There are a lot of talented Filipinos out there.”
Next stop
Laranas expressed the hope he would be able to cast homegrown star Iza Calzado in the Hollywood remake. Calzado won a Urian Best Supporting Actress award for the horror film last year.
“A talent like Iza deserves to be seen by the world. If I cannot cast her in ‘The Echo,’ I have other scripts in the offing. Right now, I am working on a psychological thriller,” Laranas said.
He added that he would only collaborate with the movie’s producer, Roselle Monteverde-Teo of Regal Entertainment, in his next local project.
Next stop for “Sigaw” is the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in May. (INQ7)
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