If you want to join the 2020 Cinemalaya short feature category, you have until Feb. 28, 2020, 6 pm, to submit your entries.
The Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is now accepting entries for the short feature category of the 2020 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.
In a statement, the CCP’s Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division said the competition is open to all Filipino filmmakers and that online or offline submission are accepted.
For online submission, visit bit.ly/Cinemalaya2020SubmitShortFeat, fill out the online entry form and upload your film with the filmmaker’s profile.
For offline submission, the submission requirements include: a duly completed application form, a brief résumé/bio-data with two recent 2×2 photos of the filmmaker(s), synopsis in English, and the final work in MP4 format, with violator, saved in on DVD (1 copy) or USB.
The final work should be properly labelled with the title, production company address (if any), contact numbers, production date, and director’s name. Its running time should not exceed 20 minutes, inclusive of the credit titles.
All entries must be submitted in a long brown envelope, properly labeled with proponent’s name, title, and contact details.
Interested participants must submit the requirements to the Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division, located at the 4/F Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.
The 10 best short features will be announced on May 12, 2020, and will be screened during the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, scheduled Aug. 7 – 16, 2020.
2nd #UPFair poster. 1982. GULO SA DILIMAN. Poster by Zaldy Zuno of Philippine Collegian. Zaldy also created TIBO, the Philippine Collegian / Kule mascott. Thanks, Zaldy for this rare find. The 1st UPFair was called MAKI PARA KWAN #UPFair #UPFair2020 #UPD #UP #PhilippineCollegian #Kule #Tibo #UPD
On Valentine’s Day 2020, Soprano Andión Fernández-Ching performs with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) under the baton of Maestro Gerard Salonga at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Main Theater.
The PPO’s 6th season concert is at 8 pm.
Among the highlight of the Feb. 14 concert is the PPO performance of Jeffrey Ching’s “My Heart Stayed Numb (The True Story of King Kong).”
The Theatre of Magdeburg website described The True Story of King Kong as a chamber opera with puppets by Ching, libretto by Roscha A. Säidow, and with the composition commissioned by the Theatre of Magdeburg.
“Fascinated by the music of the Filipino-native, Chinese-British composer Jeffrey Ching and the energy of librettist and director Roscha A. Säidow’s puppet theatre, the Theatre of Magdeburg has once again commissioned a composition for a chamber opera. In King Kong, the two theatre artists have opted for an iconographic myth of the 20th century,” the website said.
“A godlike judge holds the protagonists of the famous story to account before a mythical court to determine the real circumstances of the death of King Kong. The perspectives of what happened are compared in flashbacks, whereby librettist and composer highlight the themes dealt with in the story such as power, corruption, western claims to hegemony and, of course, love, in bizarre fashion, inextricably linking the worlds of opera and puppet theatre in the process,” it said.
The concert program includes Lucio San Pedro’s “Ang Buwan sa Kabundukan,” Franz Schubert’s “Erlkőnig,” Manuel De Falla‘s “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas,” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Tatiana’s Letter Scene” (Eugene Onegin), and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no.6, op. 74, B minor “Pathetique”.
Born in Manila, Fernández-Ching last performed at the CCP on Aug. 21, 2016, together with Spanish musician Alberto Urroz in a concert that paid homage to Enrique Granados, described as “a pianist and composer with a uniquely Spanish style.”
The August 2016 concert was part of the global celebrations marking the 100th death anniversary of Granados, who drowned in the English Channel while attempting to save his wife during World War I.
In the Granados concert, Berlin-based composer Ching reworked and contributed his “own Sonata Domenica to the Scarlattiana tradition that Granados began.”
Ching dedicated his composition to Urroz, who performed its world premiere in this particular concert at the CCP Little Theater.
Maestro Salonga is currently the music director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra in Manila, and is in his second season as assistant conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He has guest-conducted the HK Philharmonic, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, Evergreen Symphony, Bangkok Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, and Orchestra Victoria in Melbourne. Early this year, he made his debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
In December 2016, Salonga orchestrated the Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra by National Artist Col. Antonino Buenaventura, which was given its world premiere by the PPO and bassoonist Adolfo Mendoza.
Meanwhile, Fernández-Ching was a soloist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2001 to 2010. She graduated with honors from the Universität der Künste, Berlin, and studied voice with Karan Armstrong and contemporary music with Aribert Reimann following her studies with Fides Cuyugan-Asencio at the University of the Philippines.
She was a prizewinner of Operalia International Opera Competition (Placido Domingo World Opera Contest, Hamburg) and the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and has sung in the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, the Festspielhaus in Baden Baden, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Gulbenkian Auditorium in Lisbon, the Kallang Theatre and Victoria Theatre in Singapore, the Glazunov Hall in St. Petersburg, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.
Tickets are priced at Php 1500 / 1200 / 800 / 500 / 400, with discounts available to students, senior citizens, and groups. For inquiries, please call the CCP Box Office at 8832-3704.
For the first time in Southeast Asia, the “Arte Povera: An Italian Landscape” exhibit can be seen at the Tall Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila at the bank of the Central Bank of the Philippines.
The art exhibit opens a week after the critically acclaimed Philippine premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia de Lammermoor” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines featuring world famous Filipino tenor Arthur Espiritu as Edgardo di Ravenswood and French soprano Melody Louledjian as Lucia Ashton.
In the opera and the art exhibit, the Embassy of Italy in Manila collaborated with Filipino institutions and groups. In particular, for Arte Povera, the embassy worked with Security Bank and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.
Arte Povera runs from Feb. 10 to April 30, 2020.
Arte Povera: Italian Landscape captures one of the most pivotal points in the history of Italian contemporary art in the 1960s through the 1970s.
“The Arte Povera movement broke boundaries in traditional art-making through new engagemenst with audiences and an experimental approach in making life and everyday objects integral to art,” the museum said in a statement,
The exhibit features the masterpieces of 12 Italian artists who gave birth to the Arte Povera movement, namely Jannis Kounellis, Marisa Merz, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gilberto Zorio Pier, Paolo Calzolari, Francesco Arena, and Gianni Caravaggio.
With an enduring influence from their time to present-day art practices, Arte Povera responded to the sociopolitical milieu in Italy during the time, the museum said.
The era was marked by industrialization, mechanization, and instability of the economy.
As a reaction to the perceived dominating abstract modernism in painting, Arte Povera artists focused on sculptural works and installation by using assemblages of cheap throwaway materials evoking a distinct Italian aesthetic.
“Arte Povera emphasizes the physicality of our daily lives,” the museum said.
Arte Povera: An Italian Landscape is curated by Danilo Eccher, a well-known Italian art critic and curator who served as director of several cultural institutions in Italy since 1989, including the Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea di Trento, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna in Bologna, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, and the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin.
Eccher eventually became an independent curatorial practioner in 2015, working on solo exhibitions of artists such as Jannis Kounellis, Albert Oehlen, Sean Scully, and Christian Boltansk.
The European Union’s Copernicus, the bloc’s flagship space program and the Philippines are working jointly to further enhance space cooperation to assist the country in hazard management, disaster mitigation strategies, and improve climate change response, it was announced Wednesday / Feb. 5, 2020.
The Copernicus space program monitors and provides vital information on the earth’s environment and its ecosystems from integrated space and ground-based airborne and seaborne-measured data.
During the January 2020 Taal Volcano eruptions, the Copernicus mapping technology assisted Philippine scientists in making volcanic forecasts.
The European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) had used Copernicus’ mapping system to provide accurate rapid and spatially explicit information on the hazards, exposure, and vulnerability surrounding the activities of Taal Volcano, the EU said in a statement release on Wednesday evening.
Officials of Copernicus and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) have been collaborating since early 2019 to develop “a national capacity support program on Copernicus for the Philippines.”
“This prospective new cooperation aims to address the key objectives of the Philippine government to develop and utilize earth observation satellite applications to enhance hazard management and disaster mitigation strategies and to further strengthen the country’s resilience to climate change,” it said.
On Feb. 6, the second national conference on “Copernicus – a strategic partner for Earth Observation and sustainable development” will be held in Makati.
Participants to the national conference will discuss prominent aspects of science, innovation, and technology to support sustainable development.
They will also tackle the benefits of satellite remote sensing and space data management for disaster management, environmental protection, and climate change adaptation.
The EU statement said the conference will “serve as a platform to enable agencies, organizations, and multiple stakeholders in the Philippines to engage more closely with the European space sector.”
Dr. Philippe Brunet, former EU director for space policy, Copernicus Program, and defense, and now principal advisor to the EU Directorate for Cooperation and Development and DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña will provide keynote addresses.
Rafael de Bustamante, chargé d’affaires of the EU Delegation to the Philippines, will open the conference.
The space and earth monitoring services by Copernicus are “more vital than ever especially for a disaster-prone country like the Philippines,” the EU said.
“The uniqueness of the Copernicus program is its ability to monitor the earth to ensure that citizens are prepared and protected during natural or man-made disasters,” the statement said.
In addition to providing high-resolution global spatial coverage, the Copernicus program promotes full, free and open use of its information to all its users and the general public.
By making the vast majority of its data and maps freely available and accessible, Copernicus contributes towards the development of innovative applications and services, tailored to the needs of specific groups of users, and covering a variety of economic and developmental activities from urban planning and marine protection to disaster reduction and management.
Data captured by orbiting satellites can be analyzed and processed in real-time to become weather forecasting, climatic, environmental, and geological monitoring information. This helps in determining upcoming rainfalls and temperature variations, as well as identifying land degradation, resource extraction, spread of insect borne-diseases, crop yields, or managing disasters, among other areas.
Many of these information are also available to end users on their personal laptops or smartphones.
“Building on the foundations of deeply-rooted scientific knowledge and on decades of EU investment in research and technological development, Copernicus is exemplary of European strategic cooperation in space research and industrial development,” the EU said.
Since its operation in 2014, the European Union has already invested €9.6 billion in the Copernicus program with an additional €5.8 billion allocation proposed for 2021–2027.
The program is generating economic benefits exceeding the investment not to mention a vast plethora of non-monetary benefits, the EU said.
EU #Copernicus #DOST #STEM #Taall #TaalVolcano #ClimateChange #Enviroment #Disaster
The Metropolitan Museum of Manila’s “Cue From Life Itself” exhibit reflects on the instinctive way Filipino artists “make do and dream up, transforming everyday forms with intuition and insight, and in their critical awareness of the material conditions of their milieu and ecology.”
Curated by art historian, scholar, and UP Diliman Prof. Patrick D. Flores, the title is lifted from a monograph by artist, educator, and cultural advocate Brenda Fajardo.
Fajardo frames the concept of “aesthetics of poverty through the artist’s responsiveness to an encompassing but transformable world,” the museum said.
The exhibit features the following artists: Poklong Anading, Kris Ardeña, Yason Banal, Santiago Bose, Brenda Fajardo, Alma Quinto, Jose Tence Ruiz, Lirio Salvador, and Mark Salvatus.
UNDER MY SKIN: Dr. Louie Ocampo (standing, extreme left) of UNAIDS – Philippines with the PETA creative team, cast of Under My Skin, and civil society organizations / Photo by Erickson dela Cruz
Medical doctor Louie Ocampo is the current country director for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in the Philippines.
The position places him at the forefront of the Philippines’ arduous fight to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In a recent presentation of the Philippine HIV/AIDS data, Ocampo said the cases of new HIV infections locally had ballooned by 203 percent during the period 2010-2018.
In the year 2019, Ocampo said that 77 percent of HIV-infected persons are “aware” of their status, 57 percent are into anti-retroviral therapy, and eight percent are being tested for viral load.
Ocampo sounded the call to keep on pushing the drive against HIV/AIDS despite the challenges. “We need to focus on scaling up the HIV response in the regions to have a better accomplishment,” he said.
Ocampo said the Philippines has “the fastest growing epidemic in the world,” quoting a 2018 UNAIDS study.
He explained the report’s details. The Philippines is the “fastest growing in terms of growth rate” if the data in 2010 and 2018 were compared.
However, Ocampo said “in terms of absolute number, it is still very low and we have not defeated African countries when it comes to the number of cases.”
Ocampo said that the HIV epidemic during the period between 1984 to 2009, which he termed as the first wave, was due to men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) and heterosexual contacts, while the second wave (2010-2017) was spurred primarily by MSM contacts.
What was particularly disturbing and disconcerting to Ocampo is the low level of awareness and knowledge among the young members of the Philippine population, or the MSM in the youth sector. This particular sector must understand how the HIV is transmitted and can be prevented, a significant step toward combatting the epidemic.
The use of condom must be popularized and increased, Ocampo said, while acknowledging that reproductive health services should be accessible and available to the youth.
A source of concern and discomfort for Ocampo is the fact that two of three new infections are in the 15-24 age bracket. If not checked, this age group will have about 19,300 new cases by 2022.
The UNAIDS has projected the Philippines to record 201,000 HIV cases by 2025, a significant increase from 56,000 cases in 2016 and 142,000 cases estimated for 2022.
Along with these grim data, Ocampo said that stigma and discrimination are still victimizing Filipinos with HIV/AIDS. And this twin scourge must be decisively confronted, he said.
Theater and HIV/AIDS Awareness
In a bid to further raise awareness on HIV/AIDS, the UNAIDS Philippines has supported the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and several civil society organizations working on HIV/AIDS concerns to stage “Under My Skin,” written by Rodolfo Vera and directed by Melvin Lee.
Under My Skin, which closes the 52nd season of PETA, is “an anthology drama about the stories of Filipinos living with HIV.”
The play introduces the audience to a number of characters affected by the epidemic, and their stories are woven together by epidemiologist Dr. Gemma Almonte.
Almonte hopes for a change in public perception, an increase in compassion, and a society afflicted not with ignorance and prejudice, but with compassion and understanding.
On Under My Skin, a commissioned piece requested by TV and film director Andoy Ranay in 2016, playwright Vera said the play was “based on people he personally knows and loves.”
“I decided to write in multiple stories that will somehow mirror the overwhelming increase of HIV cases. And yet nobody seems to be as alarmed, thinking that it’s just a gay disease,” Vera said.
Under My Skin is a part of the PETA “Acting on HIV” campaign.
Director Lee said the theater is a timely avenue to discuss and confront topics such as this in order to spark discussions.
“A change in mindset is important, that HIV is not just a gay issue since it can affect anybody of any age. It is not simply a private concern, but one that is a public concern. The spread of HIV is a multi-faceted issue,” Lee said.
“The material’s strength is the authenticity of the stories and it has to be told in the most raw form and truthful fashion,” Lee said.
Under My Skin features television, film, and theater artists Cherry Pie Picache, Roselyn Perez, Miguel Almendras, Mike Liwag, Anthony Falcon, and Dylan Talon, together with PETA artists such as Eko Baquial, Gio Gahol, Gold Villar-Lim, She Maala, Mico Esquivel, Bene Manaois, Lotlot Bustamante, Kitsi Pagaspas, Ekis Gimenez, Erold Enriquez, Jarred Jaicten, Joseph Madriaga, Jason Barcial, Dudz Teraña, Rachelle Gimpes, Reggie Ondevilla, Roy Dahildahil, and Csai Habla.
Under My Skin runs from Feb. 7 to March 22, 2020 ( with Friday shows at 8 pm, Saturdays and Sundays shows at 3 pm and 8 pm), at the PETA Theater Center, #5 Eymard Drive, Brgy. Kristong Hari, New Manila, Quezon City.
NEW UP DILIMAN CHANCELLOR: Prof. Fidel R. Nemenzo (center, in white polo shirt) PHOTO BY JOSHUA CEASAR CHAN
Maybe the reason why then UP Diliman student Fidel R. Nemenzo survived a bullet which pierced his body during a protest rally in Welcome Rotonda in the late 1980s was he was to become UP Diliman’s 11th chancellor.
On Feb. 3, 2020, Prof. Fidel R. Nemenzo was appointed incoming UP Diliman chancellor (2020-2023), taking over from Prof. Michael L. Tan, who served from 2014 – 2020.
Of the many recent articles written about Fidel, there was no mention that he survived a sniper’s bullet.
Fidel earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics from UP Diliman and his master in science and doctor of science in mathematics from Sophia University in Tokyo.
A side story
During an English class meeting under Prof. Nieves Epistola sometime in 1979, we had then Prof. Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo, father of Fidel, as our guest resource person.
I was requested by Prof. Nieves to introduce Dodong in one sentence. I said: “Classmates, may I introduce the future president of the University of the Philippines.”
Before being installed as UP president, Dodong was UP Visayas chancellor.
Nur Misuari and Jose Maria Sison were classmates in one political science class under him, Dodong told us.
Fidel is the current vice chancellor for research and development of UP Diliman and leads the Mathematics Division of the National Research Council of the Philippines. Fidel’s grandfather, Francisco Sr., is considered as “the father of Philippine coral taxonomy.”
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