Iza Calzado bags first int’l acting award

Congratulations to Ms. Iza Calzado for winning the Best Performer Award at the Osaka Film Festival for “Bliss,” the new movie of Jerrold Tarog.

This is Iza’s first international acting award and it is a good thing she attended the event so she was able to accept her trophy personally. This is another source of pride for the Philippines which is known all over the world as brimming with talented actors.

Iza has never failed to give an impressive performance. Whether she is playing a supporting role or the lead, you can always count on her to give her best.

The Golden Screen Awards best actress winner for “Dukot” can be relied upon in giving a good performance whether in the movies or in a TV series, like in the currently airing ABS-CBN series “A Love To Last” where she co-stars with Bea Alonzo and Ian Veneracion.

Truly, Iza is an actress of the highest caliber, certainly one of the best, if not the best actress of her generation.

Compared to more popular actresses in showbiz, she may seem like an underdog. She may not be that popular but when it comes to acting, she towers above all and everyone else. Everybody loves an underdog in the same way that everyone loves a winner. And Iza’s time to shine in the international scene has come.

***

We wasted our time watching “Ladyfish,” one of the entries in the recently concluded Sinag Maynila Film Festival. We don’t understand while such a very ugly movie made it as one of the official entries. Organizers of the said festival ought to explain how such a boring and moronic movie made it as an entry.

The script of “Ladyfish” probably looked good on paper but the execution left very much to be desired. If the organizers of Sinag Maynila plan to do another edition next year, we hope that they choose their entries well. Please don’t give the audience a boring and lousy movie.

We feel sorry for Martin Escudero who played the lead role in “Ladyfish.” He really tried his best to come up with a good performance, but a good performance cannot save a bad movie.

To be fair to Martin, he is a good actor and proof of that was his winning the Golden Screen Awards as Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy for “Zombadings.” He later on won several best actor trophies for that comedy film.

Whoever is managing Martin’s career now, we’d like to request that he or she choose the right project for the actor. It is such a pity to see an actor as good as Martin being wasted on a ridiculous movie like “Ladyfish.” He deserves something better.

***

Gerald Santos will hold a major concert on April 9 at the SM North Edsa Skydome at 7 p.m. Entitled “Gerald Santos: Something New In My Life,” the singer will make a big revelation during his concert that will surely make his fans and supporters very happy. It is a post-celebration of his 10th year in showbiz.

Joining the Philippines’ Prince of Ballad are the UP Concert Chorus and Asia’s Songbird, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid. Regine was the host of “Pinoy Pop Superstar” where Gerald was the grand champion of Season 2.

Since winning and having a solo career in the local entertainment industry, Gerald has always yearned to have Regine as his guest in one of his concerts. It is indeed a dream come true for Gerald to finally have Regine as his special guest.

Gerald is making sure that his audience gets only the best from his concert. He personally chose the songs, from power ballads to contemporary pop songs to theater songs.

Gerald has won two Aliw Awards as Best Male Concert Performer and holds the distinction of having five straight nominations from 2011-2015 as Best Male Concert Performer in Aliw Awards. As he makes a comeback in the concert scene, expect another award-winning performance from the voice which critics describe as “one of the best voices in the industry!”

This concert is rumored to be his last. To know why, buy your tickets at SM Tickets (470-2222 ) or call/text 09284782957 and watch out for the big announcement from Gerald himself.