Monday, January 22, 2024

Gawad Alternatibo opens for submissions


Asia's longest running independent film competition, Gawad Alternatibo Para sa Pelikula at Video is now open for submission of entries.

The Gawad Alternatibo now on its 36th edition is held concurrently with the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Films, not exceeding 45 minutes in duration can be submitted into the Narrative, Experimental, Documentation, and Animation categories.

Awarding of winners will be on August 10, 2024. Deadline for submission is at 11:59 PM on April 30, 2024.

More details can be found at the press release reprinted below.

GAWAD ALTERNATIBO CALLS FOR SUBMISSION TO ITS 36TH SEASON

Gawad Alternatibo Para sa Pelikula at Video, the longest running independent film competition in Asia, continues to celebrate alternative cinematic storytelling with a call for submissions for its 36th edition.

Deadline for the submission of entries is on April 30, 2024 at 11:59pm.

The competition is open to all Filipinos. Entries must have been completed not earlier than April 30, 2023, and should have a maximum running time of 45 minutes.

Along with the entries, prospective participants must also submit an accomplished entry form, synopsis and details of the entry, director’s credits, full production profile, and a film entry trailer.

Participants may submit three (3) entries in each category. However, each entry may only be submitted into a single category. The categories are Narrative, Experimental, Documentation, and Animation.

Interested filmmakers can submit their entries to both Gawad Alternatibo and Cinemalaya, which run simultaneously. However, if the entry is chosen as a finalist in Cinemalaya, it will be dropped from the Gawad Alternatibo roster.

Participants joining must submit all their requirements online, through the link found in the CCP website and Gawad Alternatibo FB page.

The finalists will be screened during Cinemalaya 2024. Awarding of winners will be on August 10, 2024.

Established in 1987, Gawad Alternatibo has produced and featured celebrated Filipino filmmakers and storytellers who have made their marks in the Philippine film industry, and has become trendsetter in the independent filmmaking in the country, alongside Cinemalaya.

For full mechanics and downloadable form, visit CCP website and the Gawad Alternatibo FB Page. Follow the official CCP and Gawad Alternatibo official social media accounts on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok for more updates.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

CCP Pasinaya moves forward, expands to Iloilo & Tagum cities


This 2024, the Cultural Center of the Philippines sets its sights forward as the Pasinaya CCP Open House Festival turns 20.

Adopting the theme of Sulong, this edition sees Iloilo City and Tagum City join simultaneously the festivities happening at the CCP Complex on February 3 and 4, 2024.

With a minimum donation of just P50, one can join as many workshops as they can, watch as many performances as they can, visit partner museums and galleries, join the many activities lined up, and more for the two days of the festival.

More details about Pasinaya 2024 can be seen at the press release reprinted below.

MOVING FORWARD WITH CCP PASINAYA: SULONG
This year’s CCP Open House Festival celebrates its 20th year with simultaneous activities in CCP Complex, Iloilo City, and Tagum City

Photo ©Athena Fontamillas

Two decades of bringing arts closer to Filipino people, and the Pasinaya: The CCP Open House Festival just keeps getting better and bolder in 2024.

For the first time, Pasinaya goes beyond the capital city and spreads its wings to Visayas and Mindanao. The multi-arts festival will be simultaneously happening at the CCP Complex and its partner museums, the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Arts in Iloilo City, and Tagum City, Davao del Norte on February 3 and 4, 2024.

Following the theme “Sulong,” the country’s largest multi-arts festival returns on a grander scale with more artistic and cultural offerings in its 20th year.

Photo ©Athena Fontamillas

“After escaping the confines of the pandemic in last year’s Pasinaya: Piglas, the new partnership with ILOMOCA and Tagum City pushes the boundaries. The CCP will always find ways to provide spaces for our artists and cultural groups where they can showcase their talents and create new audiences who will participate in artmaking and appreciate the best that the Philippines has to offer,” said CCP artistic director Dennis N. Marasigan.

A wide variety of exciting activities await the public in Pasinaya 2024. Happening in various venues at the CCP Complex such as CCP Front Lawn, Liwasang Kalikasan, Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez and its surroundings, and parade ground of Vicente Sotto Street, and in partner museums and galleries, the festival boasts over a hundred shows, workshops, and other activities in music, theater, dance, visual arts, film, and literature to choose from.

With its experience-all-you-can, pay-what-you-can scheme, participants may go in and out of the different CCP venues to join 30-minute workshops in various art disciplines conducted by leading artists, resource persons, and teachers, or watch as many shows, screenings, and activities as they can.

Photo © Athena Fontamillas

Pasinaya kick starts on February 3, 7 am, with an opening salvo and special program, followed by the flash mob dance featuring the festival jingle, Sulong Pasinaya, which has become a tradition of the art festival through the years.

Festival components include Palihan where audiences can join the different workshops; and Palabas where they can watch unlimited shows, featuring more than 3,000 artists from different art fields. Festival programmers and art groups will meet in Palitan to do some business-to-business meetings.

Paseo Museo shuttles audiences to various partner galleries, museums, and art spaces around the metro with the hop-on, hop-off tour scheme. Pagtitipon, meanwhile, gathers the Kaisa sa Sining partners from different regions of the countries to participate in the annual art festival. Finally, Pamilihan features the sale of goods from all over the country.
Registration starts as early as 6:30 am at the Bukaneg side of the CCP Front Lawn and at Vicente Sotto Street.

Photo © Athena Fontamillas

In 2023, audience counts reached 37,888 – 12,055 participated in 43 Palihan workshops, 24,482 watched 101 Palabas shows (58 at the CCP Complex, and 43 in partner museums/galleries), and 1,236 enjoyed the Paseo Museo tours in 13 museums and galleries. Total donations amounted to Php 253,514.

With the partnership with ILOMOCA and Tagum City, CCP plans to exceed its target audience counts, collaborate with more artists, stagehands, technical crew, and other cultural workers from various places in the country, and create partnerships with more local government units.

Photo ©Athena Fontamillas

“Breaking free from the common notion that CCP is just the building in 2023, we have continuously proved that we can be anywhere. This year, we are reaching farther and wider into different performing spaces, and into the regions. Year 2024 will be the year we, at the CCP, continue to move forward, despite the challenges that will come our way,” said CCP president Michelle Nikki Junia.

Photo ©Athena Fontamillas

Established in 2005, Pasinaya was conceived as a jump start to the National Arts Month celebration; hence it is scheduled every first week of February. Originally, it was created as a preview for the CCP’s artistic programming for the year. But through the years, the festival has grown bigger and become a venue for art appreciation and education, networking, and collaborations.

Follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok for the latest updates.

PPO announces Roustem Saïtkoulov as guest pianist for February concert

Roustem Saïtkoulov 

A statement posted by pianist Krystian Zimerman on his Facebook page last Thursday clarifying his participation at the upcoming Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra concert caused a stir in the classical music circle here.

Too say that people who were looking forward to seeing him live in Manila got disappointed by how things unfolded (no Zimerman in Manila) is an understatement.

Now, the dust has somewhat settled and the Cultural Center of the Philippines has finally announced that Roustem Saïtkoulov is now the pianist performing with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra at the next concert happening on February 9, 2024, 7:30 PM at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit, Makati.

Instead of a Beethoven piano concerto (either the 4th or the 2nd, depending which info one has), Saïtkoulov will perform Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21 which means that this concert can still be billed as Piano Rapture. It remains to be seen though if the other pieces in the program would still be Stanisław Moniuszko's Bajka (The Fairy Tale) Overture and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27. But one thing for sure is that Grzegorz Nowak will be conducting.

More information about Roustem Saïtkoulov can be found at the press release reprinted below.

PPO CONCERT VI PUSHES THROUGH WITH PIANIST ROUSTEM SAITKOULOV

The Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra wish to inform the public that the Concert VI of its 39th season, slated on February 9, 2024, will no longer have pianist Krystian Zimerman as its guest performer due to logistic concerns and technical requirements needed for the performance.

“We know that this announcement has come as an enormous letdown, not only to our subscribers, patrons, and stakeholders, but also to the whole music community who were looking forward to the said performance,” said CCP president Michelle Nikki Junia.

The concert will push through on February 9, 2024, at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati. The CCP and PPO are very grateful to celebrated pianist Roustem Saitkoulov for being able to step in at short notice.

Under the baton of Maestro Grzegorz Nowak, pianist Saitkoulov will perform F. Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor.

Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra
Photo ©Rodel Valiente

Born in Kazan (Republic of Tatarstan), Roustem Saitkoulov studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and at the University of Music in Munich.

He is the prizewinner at numerous international competitions and the winner of the Rome Piano Competition and Grand Prix of the Montecarlo World Piano-Masters in 2003. Roustem Saitkoulov is frequently performing with world’s renowned orchestras, such as Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, RAI Symphony Orchestra Torino, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Tokyo New City Orchestra or Beijing Symphony Orchestra. He has made many concert tours with the St-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov in Europe and Asia.

His concerts and recitals take him all over the world: to Russia (International House of Music, Moscow and Philharmonia Hall of St Petersburg), China (NCPA Beijing and Guangzhou Opera House), Japan (Great Hall of the Metropolitan Art Space and Osaka Symphony Hall), Chile (Frutillar), Argentina (Teatro Colón and CCNK), Mexico (Palacio de Bellas Artes), Australia (Sydney Opera House), the United States (Carnegie Hall), Canada, South Africa and throughout many of the most important venues in Europe.

He is invited in world’s leading festivals including Montreux, La Roque d’Anthéron, Yokohama, Bologna Festival, Merano, Rimini (Sagra Malatestiana), Ravello, Brescia-Bergamo, Edinburgh, Piano aux Jacobins (Toulouse, France), Festival de Radio France-Montpellier, Menton Festival or Printemps des Arts de Montecarlo.

He recorded several solo piano CD albums for EMI Classics and Dinemec Classics. In 2012, Master Chord Records released with him the two Chopin Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. More recently he has recorded Shostakovich Concerto n° 1 and the Concerto for Piano and Trumpet by the contemporary Estonian composer Jaan Rääts. His last Chopin recital CD has received highest acclaims including “Choc” of the Classica Magazine.

Grzegorz Nowak

“Moving forward, the CCP and the PPO will continue to work hard to bring the Filipino audiences the unique events they will surely love and enjoy. We are not closing our doors to have Mr. Zimerman perform with the PPO in the near future. Though it’s true that PPO Concert VI will no longer take place in the way that we intended, we continue to strive to fulfill our mission as the leading art institution in the country,” said CCP artistic director Dennis Marasigan.

Pianist Zimerman leaves the doors open for possible collaboration in the future with the CCP and the PPO. “My dear Philippine friends, I understand that this is disappointing news for you, as it also is for me, I will be happy to come at some other time,” he said in his Facebook post.

For ticket concerns and subscriptions, contact the CCP Sales and Promotion at salesandpromotions@culturalcenter.gov.ph.

Friday, January 19, 2024

Epic films, heroic exploits at the 18th Spring Film Festival


The Ateneo Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies, Ateneo Celadon, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, and the Shangri-La Plaza present the 18th Spring Film Festival showcasing the best of Chinese cinema and more this January 23-30, 2024 at the Shang's Red Carpet Cinema.

Epic tales and heroic exploits are in offer in this year's lineup namely The Bravest, The Captain, Legend of the Demon Cat, Looking Up, and White Snake. Admission to these films is for free on a first come, first served basis.

Aside from the film screenings, side events to look out for include a Chinese Painting Workshop by Fidel M. Sarmiento (President, Art Association of the Philippines) happening on January 27, 2024, 2:00 PM at the Grand Atrium and Nihao, China a photo exhibit organized by the Embassy of China in the Philippines and Chinatown TV that will be on view at the East Atrium throughout the duration of the festival.

After the Shangri-La Plaza run, the film festival have additional screenings until May at select Robinson's Movieworld Cinemas around the country.

Here is a rundown of the films to be screened at the 18th Spring Film Festival.

The Bravest | 烈火英雄 (2019)


Director: Tony Chan
Cast: Huang Xiaoming, Du Jiang, Tan Zhuo, Yang Zi, Oho Ou

Chinese firefighters struggle to contain a huge fire after an oil pipeline explodes. This film is based on a true story with regards to a massive fire during the month of August 2015.

The Captain | 中国机长 (2019)


Director: Andrew Lau
Cast: Zhang Hanyu, Oho Ou, Du Jiang, Yuan Quan, Zhang Tian'ai, Li Qin, Zhang Yamei, Yang Qiru

Passengers and crew aboard a Chinese airline begin to panic when the windshield abruptly shatters shortly after they take-off. As the temperature rapidly drops down and people lose consciousness, the strong-willed captain perseveres to land the plane safely.

Legend of the Demon Cat | 妖猫传 (2017)


Director: Chen Kaige
Cast: Xuan Huang, Shota Sometani, Yuqi Zhang, Hao Qin, Keiko Matsuzaka

A demon cat appears and breaks the peace of Chang'an City causing a series of strange events. Poet Bai Letain and monk Kukai join hands to investigate the death of the emperor's concubine, Lady Yang by following the trail left by the demon cat.

Looking Up | 银河补习班 (2019)


Directors: Deng Chao, Baimei Yu
Cast: Deng Chao, Bai Yu, Ren Suxi, Xi Wang, Xilun Sun

When his space shuttle flight has a accident, an astronaut remembers the lessons his father taught him while he was growing up.

White Snake | 白蛇:缘起 (2019)


Director: Amp Wong, Zhao Ji
Cast: Zhang Zhe,Yang Tianxiang, Tang Xiaoxi

One day a snake catcher from a nearby village named Xuan saved a young woman named Bianca. They eventually develop feelings for each other as they set off on a journey to discover her real identity.

Here is the film screening schedule for the 18th Spring Film Festival.*

January 24, 2024
1:30 PM The Bravest
4:00 PM Legend of the Demon Cat
6:40 PM White Snake

January 25, 2024
2:00 PM Looking Up
5:00 PM The Bravest
7:30 PM The Captain

January 26, 2024
1:45 PM Legend of the Demon Cat
4:25 PM Looking Up
7:25 PM The Bravest

January 27, 2024
1:30 PM White Snake
3:40 PM The Captain
6:00 PM Looking Up

January 28, 2024
2:00 PM The Captain
4:20 PM White Snake
6:30 PM Legend of the Demon Cat

January 29, 2024
2:00 PM White Snake
4:10 PM The Captain
6:30 PM The Bravest

January 30, 2024
1:30 PM Looking Up
4:30 PM The Bravest
7:00 PM Legend of the Demon Cat

*Film lineup and schedule are subject to change