Anak is RP’s entry to the Oscars - FUNFARE by Ricardo F.Lo

FLASH: Star Cinema’s Anak, directed by Rory Quintos and topbilled by Vilma Santos and Claudine Barretto as the mother and daughter at odds, will be submitted for consideration as the country’s entry to next year’s (73rd) Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

It will have to compete with more than a hundred other films from countries around the world for the five slots as finalists. Anak was unanimously chosen by the Board of Governors (BOG) of the Film Academy of the Philippines as the country’s lone entry.

The BOG picked Anak over two other films, Mike de Leon’s Bayaning Third World and Carlitos Siguion-Reyna’s Azucena. The film’s subtitled print will be sent to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in California next month.

Anak is the highest-grossing (more than P160 million) Star Cinema project, shown in various parts of the world. It dramatizes the plight of OFWs and the effects of their absence on their families here.

Now, how can a film "submitted for consideration" get the attention of the 5,000-plus voting members of the AMPAS? According to an Oscars expert, the film’s producer should, if possible, give a video copy of the film to each member; there should be a publicist to drum up interest on the film. Remember, the expert said, " there are more than a hundred films ‘submitted for consideration’ and the members of the AMPAS won’t really have the time to watch each and every one of them."

In short, the producer should spend a sizeable amount for the film "to get noticed." It’s not just submitting the film and leaving its fate in the hands of the AMPAS members.

It’s a good tip, isn’t it?

At the Oscars and in any other awards race, strategy and, let’s admit it, a little politics can help tilt the balance.

Gov. Bong a USA?

"The new commercial of Barangay Ginebra starring Cavite Gov. Bong Revilla and his wife Lani Mercado is sending a wrong signal to televiewers (this one included).

The commercial shows Bong as a ladies’ man, driving the women into a swoon anywhere he passes by – the center of attention and attraction in a party.

And then comes his wife Lani who doesn’t call him but "psst" him. Then she proceeds to tweak Bong’s ear as he rises in meek submission, like a puppy with tail between hind legs.

The message is loud and clear: Gov. Bong is a USA – as in Under de Saya Ako.

He recovers himself and sings for the crowd, while wife Lani squirms in obvious embarrassment.

What’s the commercial trying to say – that the dashing "gob" may be a playboy, looked up to as God’s gift to women, but in the presence of his wife, he’s a wimp?

It’s supposed to be viewed with a sense of humor but the commercial doesn’t sit well with the "gob’s" image as a he-man, never mind if Filipino culture suggests that playboys are, actually and basically, umbilically attached to their mothers, making them eternal Mama’s Boys.

The commercial would have sent another (more positive?) signal if it showed the good "gob" going home to an understanding and happy wife after a hard day’s lady-killing.

Oh, well, but it’s only a commercial, isn’t it?

Miss Int’l roll of honor

Reacting to Funfare’s recent item on Bb. Pilipinas-International beauties in showbiz, several readers are requesting for list of winners in the Miss International contest (the new one will be chosen tonight in Japan, with Joanna Maria Peñaloza as the country’s bet).

Here it is, courtesy of Funfare’s "beauty experts" Felix R. Manuel, Joey Cezeare, Gerry Yumping and Francis Calubaquib:

= 1960 – Maria Stella Marquez Zawadzky (Colombia)

= 1961 – Stam (Stanny) Van Baer (Holland)

= 1962 – Tania Verstak (Australia)

= 1963 – Gudrun Bjarnadottir (Iceland)

= 1964 – Gemma Teresa "Mimi" Guerrero Cruz (Philippines)

= 1965 – Ingrid Finger (Germany)

= 1966 – No pageant

= 1967 – Mirta Teresita Massa (Argentina)

= 1968 – Maria da Gloria Carvalho (Brazil)

= 1969 – Valerie Susan Holmes (Great Britain)

= 1970 – Aurora "Au-Au" McKenny Pijuan (Philippines)

= 1971 – Jane Cheryl Hansen (New Zealand)

= 1972 – Linda Hooks (Great Britain)

= 1973 – Tuula Anneli Bjorkling (Finland)

= 1974 – Karen Brucene Smith (USA, American Beauty)

= 1975 – Ladija Vera Manic (Yugoslavia)

= 1976 – Sophie Sonia Perin (France)

= 1977 – Pilar Medina Canadell (Spain)

= 1978 – Katherine Patricia Ruth (USA, American Beauty)

= 1979 – Mimilanie "Nene" Laurel Marquez (Philippines)

= 1980 – Lorna Marlene Chavez (Costa Rica)

= 1981 – Jenny Annette Derek (Australia)

= 1982 – Christie Ellen Claridge (USA, American Beauty)

= 1983 – Gidget Sandoval (Costa Rica)

= 1984 – Ilma Julieta Urrutia Chang (Guatemala)

= 1985 – Alejandrina Sicilia Hernandez (Venezuela)

= 1986 – Helen Fairbrother (England)

= 1987 – Laurie Tamara Simpson (Puerto Rico)

= 1988 – Catherine Alexandra Gude (Norway)

= 1989 – Iris Klein (Germany)

= 1990 – Silvia de Esteban Niubo (Spain)

= 1991 – Agnieszka Kotlarska (Poland)

= 1992 – Kirsten Marise Davidson (Australia)

= 1993 – Agnies-zka Palchalko (Poland)

= 1994 – Christina Lekka (Greece)

= 1995 – Anne Lena Hansen (Norway)

= 1996 – Fernanda Alves (Portugal)

= 1997 – Consuelo Adler Hernández (Venezuela)

= 1998 – Lia Victoria Borrero Gonzalez (Panama)

= 1999 – Paulina Margarita Gálvez Pineda (Colombia)

Meanwhile, a Funfare reader (name withheld upon request) sent his own list of the possible Top 10 in tonight’s contest, to wit: Miss Mexico Letty Murray Acedo (who competed in last May’s Miss Universe Pageant), Miss Venezuela Vivian Urdaneta, Miss India Gayatri Anilkumar Joshi, Miss Spain’s Raquel Gonzales Rovira, Miss Finland Kati Nirkko, Miss Colombia Carolina Cruz, Miss Japan Kanako Shibata, Miss Russia Svetlana Goreva, Miss USA Kirstin Anne Cook and our very own Bb. Pilipinas-International Joanna Maria Peñaloza.