Cinemalaya awarding recap

It's a week late, my apologies, but here's a recap of the Cinemalaya awarding night in pictures:

Of course, a pic with my favorite up and coming superstar, Jerica:

I am personally glad she was the one chosen to sing the Cinemalaya theme, she made it so relevant and youthful. If you've heard the original version, you'd know how "old" it sounds. Here's a video of her stellar performance!

Sorry for the very few pictures, I realized all my pictures were blurred and I was too busy tweeting results live I didn't get to concentrate. Congratulations btw to all the winners!

Here's an outfit shot to cap off this post:

Dress Shirt - Folded and Hung | Black and pink pumps: Janylin

Had to make do with the full scale mirror in the ground floor co'z I had no one to take my picture :( And to make it worse, we got stranded in CCP co'z of the storm and flooding-- all that while there was no electricity! If you've been in CCP you'd know how old the building is and how there are so many ghost stories there--well, I kind of have a third eye, so being stranded in the Center, in the dark, freaked me out BIGTIME.

Still, what an amazing day--no, make that what an amazing Cinemalaya week it was! Can't wait for Cinemalaya 2013!

Here's the list of winners:

A. SHORT FEATURE CATEGORY

Award 
Awardees
1. Best Screenplay 
Sigrid Andrea Bernardo of
Ang Paghihintay sa Bulong
(Waiting to Whisper)
2. Best Direction 
 Sheron Dayoc (As He Sleeps)
3. Special Jury Prize 
Manenaya (Waiting)
4. Best Film 
Victor

B. FULL-LENGTH CATEGORY

THE NEW BREED

Award 
Awardees 
1. Best Sound
Aparisyon
2. Best Original Music Score
Mikey AmistosoDiego Mapa Jazz Nicolas of Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There)
3. Best Editing
John Wong and
Rona Delos Reyes (The Animals)
4. Best Production Design
Benjamin Payumo
of Intoy Syokoy ng Kalye Marino  (Calle Marino)
5. Best Cinematography
Tristan Salas (Diablo)
6. Best Screenplay
Rody Vera (REquieme)
7. Best Performance of a Supporting Actor
Joross Gamboaof Intoy Syokoy ng Kalye Marino   (Calle Marino)
8. Best Performance of a Supporting Actress
Anita Linda (Santa Niña)
9. Best Direction
Mes de Guzman (Diablo)
10. Best Performance of an Actor
Kristoffer King (Oros)
11. Best Performance of an Actress
Ama Quiambao (Diablo)
12. Special Jury Prize
REquieme
13. Best Film
Diablo

DIRECTORS SHOWCASE

Award 
Awardees 
1. Best Sound
Ditoy Aguila of Kalayaan (Wildlife)
2. Best Original Music Score
Diwa de Leon (Kamera Obskura)
3. Best Editing
Vanessa de Leon of Mga Mumunting Lihim (Those Little Secrets)
4. Best Production Design
Adolfo Alix, Jr. of Kalayaann(Wildlife)
5. Best Cinematography
Albert Banzon of Kalayaan (Wildlife)
6. Best Screenplay
Jose Javier Reyes of Mga Mumunting Lihim (Those Little Secrets)
7. Best Performance of a Supporting Actor
Art Acuña of Posas (Shackled)
8. Best Performance of a Supporting Actress
(ensemble)
Judy Ann Santos
Iza Calzado
Janice de Belen
Agot Isidro of Mga Mumunting Lihim (Those Little Secrets)
9. Best Direction
Raymond Red (Kamera Obskura)
10. Best Performance of an Actor
Eddie Garcia (Bwakaw)
11. Best Performance of an Actress
(ensemble)
Judy Ann Santos
Iza Calzado
Janice de Belen
Agot Isidro of Mga Mumunting Lihim (Those Little Secrets)
12. Special Jury Prize
Kamera Obskura
13. Best Film
Posas (Shackled)

A Cinemalaya Gem

My godmother is the project manager for the closing ceremony of Cinemalaya 2012. Last night when I went to her office, I chanced upon a very young girl who turned out to be one of the performers at the closing. At first, she looked ordinary but when she told us her story we were moved and became instant fans.

Her name is Jerica Villanueva.

Jerica is a member of the children's group, God's Little Sparrows. Her story was first made public when Wish Ko Lang featured Jerica in their show after seeing how good she was. Her life story called out to them-- She's from a poor family but brimming with raw talent-- y'know, the stuff that hits every soft spot.

Jerica's video on youtube got the attention of Cinemalaya's President and so here she is... the chosen artist to sing Cinemalaya's official theme song, Balanghai.

I cannot wait to see Jerica's performance on Sunday! So excited for her-- this could well be her big break. You go girl!

Cinemalaya Saturday

By some bizarre twist of fate, classes got suspended, my exams did not push through and I ended up watching 3 Cinemalaya films today.

To be truly honest, I'm not too excited about the films this year. Due to the lack of promotion perhaps?

Of the very few I've heard about, I'm disappointed to say that the buzz was not substantiated. I'll not say what film it was but one film (that has been creating so much buzz online) is a total letdown. To think I purposely rearranged my schedule so I can watch it today :( The story was too amateur and was far from artistic. If you follow me on twitter, you'd know what film it was. (Clue: chirp, chirp, quack, quack, moo!)

But let's not focus on the bad. Here are two of my favorites from the films I watched today:

Ruweda by Hannah Espia

This film blew me away! The first time I watched Cinemalaya, I fell in love with a film from the Shorts category and now on its 8th year, a short film, has again won my heart. The film itself is a thesis submitted by Hannah to the UP Film Institute. This alone made me admire her more. I mean, this is just her thesis! Think of what else that girl can do when given the right opportunity! It was so artistic and well-executed. The story was simple but deep at the same time. Amazing job Hannah!

Intoy Shokoy ng Kalye Marino by Lem Lorca

Two thumbs up! If I had an additional thumb, I'd raise it too! Super good! I love how the story was deep yet not dragging. The acting was superb and the scenes were well executed. I loved it. This film is Cinemalaya personified-- good script, amazing actors, great direction-- yes, it is artistic excellence at its best.

For now  my bet is Intoy Shokoy and Ruweda. I'm excited for the awarding!--and oh, let's help them win audience choice too, okay? ;)

It's only the start of Cinemalaya and a whole week is ahead and I'm getting super excited! See you at the screenings!

Sweets to take the blues away

A couple of days ago, a colleague and I attended a meeting in Makati. It was another of those "impromptu" meetings where you don't know a thing about the issue but just had to go because your office has to be represented. Well, like how it always is when you're unprepared, it is bound to end in disaster.

My colleague and I were grilled during the meeting. We couldn't give them the information they needed for the simple reason that we did not know the answer. We do not handle those issues so everything they were asking were foreign to us. It was a total disaster!

Since we were feeling down, we decided to drop by Karen's kitchen before going back to the office.

 I've been wanting to try her velvet cake because a lot of people attests to how it is the BEST red velvet cupcake they have ever eaten. I'm a red velvet fan and I am yet to identify my "ultimate red velvet" so I felt doubly excited to try Karen's.

Like I said, we were feeling a bit down after the meeting so we bought a couple of desserts and parked our broken hearts in UCC beside Karen's Kitchen for cups of Joe.

 Now, that's what you call a meal!

Top- clockwise: Red velvet cake (Php185.00), apple crisp (Php(45.00), Japanese lemon cheesecake (Php90.00)

We finished these in a flash and our favorite was, as expected, the red velvet. Let me now zoom in on the product:

The cake itself is moist and is not too sweet-- just how I like my red velvet. The cream cheese is nice and thick but honestly, I'd like it to be more tangy. Still, it's very good!

Thank you Karen's kitchen and UCC for the tasty food! It turned our frowns into smiles. Oh yes, that's the power of sweets and coffee ;)

Karen's Kitchen
Petron Dasma, Makati or Palm Village, Makati
www.karensskitchen.com.ph

Cinemalaya season

It's that time of year once again! Look what's up at the ramp at the CCP:

Oh yes, it's time to satisfy our appetites for the best indie flicks-- time for Cinemalaya at the CCP! See you at the screenings!

For the schedules and other details, click here