Events: Bacollywood Opens With Multi-Awarded Directors in a Forum
Day 2 for BACOLLYWOOD: CINEMA REHIYON National Film Festival opens with Directors Peque Gallaga & Celso Ad Castillo in Masters of Cinema Forum, 10 AM at Robinson’s Movieworld Cinema 6.
Peque Gallaga is a multi-awarded Filipino filmmaker. His most significant achievement in film is Oro, Plata, Mata, which he directed after winning a scripwriting contest sponsored by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. He has received an award from the International Film Festival of Flanders-Ghent, Belgium in 1983; a Special Jury Award from the Manila International Film Festival; and the 2004 Gawad CCP Para sa Sining. He also directed the movies Scorpio Nights, Unfaithful Wife, some episodes of Shake, Rattle and Roll, Baby Love and Magic Temple, among more than 30 others.
Probably the most versatile director-actor in Philippine cinema, the name Celso Ad Castillo is a household word to Filipinos. The most memorable of his earlier films are Asedillo 1971 and Ang Alamat 1972.
Succeeding Castillo films aspired towards thematic originality. Even his sex films had a message to tell like Burlesk Queen, among many others. Castillo won the Filpino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) awards for best director and best story for Pagputi ng Uwak, Pag-itim ng Tagak in 1978, and also won the Urian awards for best director and best screenplay for the same picture. He won the FAMAS best director trophy again in 1985 for Paradise Inn. His films saw participation in international film festivals such as Venice Filmfest, Los Angeles (California) World Film Exposition, Asean Film Festival (Malaysia), Hongkong Film Festival, Berlin (West Germany) Film Festival, UNESCO Film Conference (Paris) and Milan (Italy) Film Festival.
Day 2 of Cinema Rehiyon features Luzon films to include films from Pampanga, Calabarzon, Nueva Vizcaya, Bicol Region, Baguio and also from Palawan. Another major highlight is Martha Atienza’s Gilubong Ang Akong Pusod sa Dagat, a video installation at Gallery Orange which will be open to the public from Feb. 8-29, 2012.
Born in Manila to a Dutch mother and Filipino father, Atienza has moved between both countries and cultures throughout her life. Her current project, “Gi Lubong ang Akong Pusod sa Dagat” (“My Navel is Buried in the Sea’) has brought her to the Netherlands, international vessels and currently the Philippines. She received her BFA from the Academy of Visual Arts and Design in The Netherlands. She also participated in the art program at the Kuvataideakatemia in Helsinki, Finland. Previously she exhibited video art, often described as snapshots of reality, as part of installations at galleries. Her work has been exhibited internationally from experimental art spaces, galleries to festivals. In 2009 she joined the ‘Wednesday, I’m in Love’ Residency Program of Green Papaya. In the same year she was nominated for the Ateneo Art Awards. This was her first step to working in the Philippines.
Everyone is invited to enjoy the films and the video installations. Screenings are ticketed but free of charge.*
