We received an email from good friend Senedy Que, the award-winning scriptwriter of “Mga Munting Tinig” and who is himself a film director (his film debut was the indie film “Dose” which was shown at the Cinema One Original Festival last year). He wrote about how “Ploning,” the Judy Ann Santos-starrer that was directed by Dante Nico Garcia, was received by the public when it was shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in the US.
Here’s Senedy’s account:
“ The second screening of ‘Ploning’ at the Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival was even more successful. It was shown again at the Regal Cinema 1 at 6:30pm on January 13. As early as 5pm, a line was already forming at the ‘Rush Tickets’ area for those wanting to buy a ticket for the sold-out screening. There were a lot of Filipinos, but more than half were Caucasians. Three friends of mine flew from Australia, landed in LA, and drove to Palm Springs to catch the ‘Ploning’ screening.
“Director Dante Nico Garcia, Judy Ann Santos, Meryll Soriano, Ces Quesada, producer Guia Gonzales, and Juan Sarte arrived in a black stretch limousine, making heads turn as they got off, all wearing elegant black outfits. Solid teamwork and the Filipino pride were clearly on their faces. People started to crowd over Juday for souvenir photos. ‘Ang ganda niya.’ ‘Ang puti pala niya.’ Those were some of the comments I overheard.
“During the entire screening, the audience was very quiet, absorbing the elaborate stories of the women (and a few men) in the film. Later, we could see people wiping their tears (and blowing their noses)—especially after the parting scene of Rodrigo and his adoptive Taiwanese father (Spanky Manikan) and the wordless reunion with his brother (Ronnie Lazaro). Once again, the closing credits of the film were met with a loud applause! Most of the audience stayed on for the Q & A—asking questions about Dante’s inspiration in making the film and returning to his roots.
“An after-screening party was held at the Azul Bar in downtown Palm Springs.
“We should all be proud. ‘Ploning’ was a well-received Oscar entry here in Palm Springs. Let us continue to pray for its inclusion in the top 5 nominees for the foreign-language category at this year’s Oscars! Nothing is impossible!” (As of presstime, the Oscar nominees for the Best Foreign Film category have been revealed, and “Ploning” failed to make the cut. The efforts though of its star and director to bid for an Oscar nomination are admirable.)
****
We finally got to talk to Jose Sarasola, the controversial “participante” in the “Pinoy Fear Factor” (Argentina, South America) when the eliminated participants were finally presented to the press.
Jose immediately became controversial when a series of “naughty photos” of him (which turned out to be false) circulated in the Internet. The 22-year-old aspiring chef said he was surprised that the said photos came out, but he was not really bothered because it was not him.
“But my parents, especially my dad, was really upset because we belong to a conservative family,” said the young man who started his career as a model when he was 19. Jose even called his family as “holy family” which raised some eyebrows. He didn’t mean to be disrespectful to the real Holy Family, but he said he was just stressing a point since his parents are both active in church activities, including him.
He was even more surprised because the supposed “naughty photos” of him came out even before the promotional pictures from “Pinoy Fear Factor” came out. But Jose said he doesn’t have any idea whether somebody had the intention to discredit him or malign him by coming out with those photos. The good thing was that he was able to pacify and reassure his dad that it wasn’t him.
Jose also expressed interest to be in showbiz. He joined “Pinoy Fear Factor” for the experience. “I love challenges and I wanted to challenge myself. I could have gone some more had I not been eliminated. But those snake bites really made me think if I should still go on. Maybe God was telling me that I should quit and I was quite disappointed that I had to be eliminated.”
Although educated in an exclusive school and brought up in an exclusive village, the Fil-Spanish Jose never thought highly of himself. He even counts the security guards, house helpers and bums in his neighborhood as his most trusted friends.
Even after traveling to several continents around the world, Jose finds his life a bit boring. Through Pinoy Fear Factor, he was able to bring excitement to his life and prove that he’s not the ultimate conio but the ultimate participante.
****
It’s no big deal for Rachelle Ann Go that she, Christian Bautista (his ex-boyfriend), Nikki Gil (the ex-girlfriend of Gabriel Valenciano) and Gab, who’s now being linked to her, are all together in one show – ASAP 09.
At the presscon of her “Falling In Love” concert, to be held on January 30 and 31 at the Music Museum, Rachelle said she and Nikki became friends during the time when the latter was still on with Gab Valenciano.
She also doesn’t have a problem with Christian since they’ve parted ways as friends. There could have been some problems that troubled their relationship before but they chose to keep them to themselves and not discussed them in public, lest they become a fodder for intrigues.
Rachelle didn’t deny that Gab is special to her and is courting her. She maintained, however, that they are still in a getting-to-know-each-other-more stage. A chair from Dimensione worth P30K was Rachelle’s gift to Gab last Christmas, while he gave her a MacBook laptop as gift.
When asked when is she going to have a big concert at the Araneta Coliseum, Rachelle very humbly said that she’s not yet ready to hold one. She doesn’t think that she’s already capable of filling up a venue as huge as the Big Dome. She wouldn’t want to go into something that she thinks she’s not ready for.
*****
This Friday, join the fun of the wacky bunch of “Bubble Gang” after the GMA Telebabad, featuring the now famous characters Angelina and her Yaya (played by Ogie Alcasid and Michael V respectively).
In a fast food restaurant, Angelina wouldn’t want to approach the mascot. Her Yaya thinks Angelina must be afraid of the mascot but in truth, Angelina was content on doing a prank on the unsuspecting masked character. What could the prank be?
Bitoy (Michael V) plays a wedding photographer who transforms the body of a dead person into a groom. Will the mourners shed tears or die laughing?
On the other hand, Chef JL Cang shows the many items that can be found inside the refrigerator of a typical Pinoy family that would surely elicit laughter.
This and more tonight on “Bubble Gang,” the undisputed number one gag show on Philippine TV.