Boses wows NY audience

Curtain-raisers:

• You can’t say that a certain showbiz couple(?) isn’t discreet, although not totally so. A Funfare DPA said that the couple(?)’s “discreet” romance started early this year. One time, the couple(?) showed up at 2 a.m. at a high-end suites in Makati City which isn’t frequented by showbiz folks but so sorry, the “fresher” place was full. The actress was wearing dark glasses and a bandanna but she was recognizable just the same. “I wonder where they ended up that night,” said the DPA. Could it be true that the couple(?) sometimes meets at the yacht of a TV host? (Oops! Isn’t that a giveaway clue?)

• I won’t say if the Filipino Artist involved in this item is an actor or an actress. Following the advice of a foreign actor the Filipino Artist had met, the FA went to the office of a Hollywood casting agency as soon as the FA was in the States, only to be crashed by painful reality. The FA (with manager) sat for hours at the corridor outside the agency’s office, ignored by the people present. “Dinaan-daanan lang kami,” said the manager. “I never felt so humiliated in my whole life.” Moral of the story? Look before you leap.

• If and when the best friend of a controversial late singer would write her (the singer’s) biography, it would be full of juicy chapters about the singer’s intimate encounters with men from showbiz, politics and big business, complete with graphic descriptions of the shapes and sizes of the men’s private parts and their bedroom styles. I doubt if the book, if ever it is written, would see print. It would be so explosive that the powerful men involved would surely have it “censored” or stopped with a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order).

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Just hours after dominating the Enpress (Entertainment Press Society) Golden Screen Awards in Manila with six major honors including Best Motion Picture for Drama and Best Director for Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, Boses was screened in New York City last May 1 with some 600 people in the audience unanimously raving about its intense direction and artistry plus brilliant performances that draw attention to the issue of child abuse as a grave social ill.

This is according to Funfare’s Big Apple correspondent Edmund Silvestre (of The Filipino Reporter).

“I’m giving it a nine out of 10,” Edmund quoted Deputy Consul General Melita Sta. Maria-Thomeczek as saying after the screening sponsored by the Assumption Alumnae Association Abroad (AAAA), headed by Linden Martinez, at the spacious Apostle Hall of Church of St. Paul in Manhattan. “The story line is excellent and very relevant to our times, and the direction stunning. It raises our consciousness on the problem of child abuse with a message that all of us can make a difference to finding solutions to challenges in our society.”

Said Dr. Ching Legarda, a member of AAAA and one of the screening’s promoters, “We need a movie like this every now and then, and more relevant directors like Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil.”

Edmund said that Ellen and cast member Ricky Davao (who does a magnificent performance as an abusive father) were flown to the event which was for the benefit of various agencies giving voices to abused or exploited Filipino children —Daang Sine Foundation, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Council for the Welfare of Children.

Boses lead star, first-time child actor Julian Duque, a real-life child prodigy, won the Enpress Breakthrough Performance by an Actor award for his role of a mute, battered boy. He beat in that category his co-star Coke Bolipata, a Juilliard School graduate and well-renowned violinist, who effectively played Julian’s violin mentor and “savior.”

Julian, who obviously won the hearts of the audience with his raw acting talent, was not at the screening. But his brief videotaped greeting that night prompted an awed crowd to cheer.

“That boy will go places not only as a violinist, but also as an excellent actor if guided properly,” remarked concert producer Alice Ojeda-Martinez. “The boy is a virtuoso.”

After the film showing, Ricky staged an hour-long concert with New York-based music genius Michael Dadap accompanying him in the guitar.

Thank you very much for coming to my debut concert,” said Ricky, half-jokingly.

Observed Edmund, “Actually, Ricky can sing very well.”

“We didn’t know he’s a good singer just like Gabby Concepcion or Christopher de Leon,” said businesswoman Fely Ong, owner of the popular Jeffeli Digital Photo & Video in Queens. “He can front-act for big concerts here.”

Ellen, who first found fame with her directorial debut, the award-winning indie film Mga Pusang Gala, said she’s now scouting for investors for two new scripts as a follow-up to Boses.

“One script is about an OFW from Iraq who comes home,” she shared. “The other is a love story that is also about the environment.”

Ellen also had her share of mainstream filmmaking. In fact, her first job was as the assistant to line producer Bibsy Carballo for Himala, starring Nora Aunor and directed by Ishmael Bernal. In her second film, she was continuity director for Mike de Leon’s Sister Stella L, starring Vilma Santos.

“I realized, ‘My God, I worked with two great Filipino actresses and two great Filipino directors’,” she gushed. “It’s fantastic, and I’m happy I’m also directing now. I hope I can direct Vilma or Nora in a film for international competition. “

The articulate and jolly director disclosed she has signed a contract with almost all major film studios, but admitted she has not done any single project for any of them.

“Either because of our differences in casting, in budget, or maybe I’m also a little stubborn sometimes,” she laughed. “I think I am really meant to go indie because then I have all the leeway, the material that I want and even the way I distribute it. I am loyal to my material and also to my audience. I want to communicate with them. That’s why I don’t want to call myself an artist. I’m a communicator. I’ll feel sad if my film cannot communicate to my audience. I keep that in my mind without being dishonest to my material.”

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