Benilde Films Featured in Seattle

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Seven short films from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Digital Filmmaking program (BenildeFilm) were officially selected and screened as part of the Diwa Filipino Film Showcase of Seattle held at the Armory Loft 1 Seattle Center, Washington last June 2 and 3.

John Craig de Guzman's Amy, Christian Rae Villanueva's Ang Mga Turo ng Gabi (The Lessons of the Night), Aleina Espineli's Ang Pagbabalik Tanaw ni Olympia Mercado (A Look into the Life of Olympia Mercado), Kim Timan's Caramel Child, Pamela Barrios' Cesar & Magda, Lino Balmes' Orlie and Dev Angeo's and Kristine Medenilla's Saglit (A While) were among the films about the Filipino diaspora featured in the Seattle event. 

Amy tells the story of Mark (Seaver Choy) who is reminded of Amy (Chloe Tabanda), a person who has just passed away in Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), as he sees her in his reverie. It earlier won Best Short Film and Best Editing at the 9th Largabista Film Festival in Tacloban, Leyte and tied for the Best Narrative Film award at the first ASEAN Biennale or ASEANnale Film and Multimedia Competition in UP Diliman this year. 

In Ang Mga Turo ng Gabi, Juanita (Sheenly Vee Gener), a teacher battling depression, teams up with her delinquent student (Dylan Ray Talon) to retrieve something important for her over the course of one night. The short film previously won Best Editing (Annie Chua) and Best Performance (Talon) at Pelikultura: The CALABARZON Film Festival 2018. 

Ang Pagbabalik Tanaw ni Olympia Mercado is about a middle-aged woman (Maddie Martinez) remembering memories of a treasured relationship triggered through her taste buds. 

In Caramel Child, which is set in the year 2003, Katherine Kaye Jones (Angelica Ulip), or Kakay, is a child of a call girl, Ellie Pilorin (Sue Prado), and an absent American man. A poster of the Regional Science Quiz Bee and her mother’s American client (Savino Bellini) will fuel Kakay’s curiosity and determination to finally be in contact with her father. It bagged the Best Film, Best Director (Timan), Best Screenplay (Timan and Balmes), Best Performer (Ulip) and Best Musical Score (Marcus Santos and Joseph Salcedo) at Pelikultura 2018. It also won Best Screenplay at De La Salle University’s Indie Un-film Festival 2017. It is a nominee for Best Short Film at the Cinema One Originals Festival 2017 and 41st Gawad Urian. 

Cesar & Magda is a film about a man who’s trying to survive his extinguished married life. Cesar (Francis Mata) tries to bring back the spark of their relationship by mimicking an ideal woman (Larissa Louise Alivio). He has yet to discover the uncertainty of how his wife, Magda (Bridge Martin), would absorb the transformation. It is one of the finalists in the short film category of Sinag Maynila Film Festival this year. 

In Orlie, after hearing about the Orlando Massacre, the lead character finds himself deeply affected. While seeking refuge in his bathroom, he comes to discover the extent of his wounds. After winning Best Supershort Film at the CineFilipino Film Festival 2018 and a jury commendation at the 12th Filminute, the one-minute film competes at Mister Vorky: 5th International Festival of One Minute Film in Serbia and the 18th Korea Queer Film Festival in South Korea. 

Finally, Saglit (A While) is about a former couple, Misha (Anna Luna) and Kai (JC Santos), who spends one last night together before the former gets married and the latter migrates.

Diwa, a small community film festival made in cooperation with the annual Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival, aims “to celebrate the Filipino Spirit wherever it resides by exhibiting films from the Philippine islands and beyond,” according to Festival Director Adrian Alarilla.

Pagdiriwang, which commemorates the anniversary of Philippine independence, is presented by the Filipino Cultural Heritage Society of Washington (FCHSW) to promote better understanding of the Filipino arts and culture. Held at the Seattle Center since 1987, it has grown into the largest festival of Filipino art, craft, song, dance, music, history, literature, and culture in the Pacific Northwest.

Informative Video Feature on Qatar Development

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In the coinciding of one year passed for the unjustified blockage on Qatar by some of its neighborhood countries, Qatar's ministry of foreign affairs have prepared a video showing the ways Qatar have used to overcome the siege and the recent development  in Doha.

This is to help building positive awareness on Qatar and the preparation of the world cup 2022. The video contains every details and reports from international agencies as well UNHRC.

https://youtu.be/rHYUCohLjCk

Xiong Jing Nan Sees Picture-perfect Father’s Day Moment by Retaining World Title

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Following an impressive win this past January, newly-crowned strawweight queen “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan has emerged as one of the biggest martial arts superstars in the world.

The 30-year-old Chinese martial arts prodigy had a fantastic performance as she dominated Singapore’s Tiffany “No Chill” Teo in the bout for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship five months ago.

Although the previously-unbeaten Teo showed tremendous heart and resilience, Xiong’s blistering offensive attack and striking superiority was simply too much for her to withstand.

Xiong defeated Teo via technical knockout, stopping her Singaporean foe at the 2:17 mark of the fourth round to claim the gold-plated strap.

With the stirring victory over Teo, Xiong also became the first China-born world champion in the constantly-evolving sport of mixed martial arts.

Despite her glowing repertoire as a global martial arts superstar, Xiong attributes much of her success to her father, who is not even involved with the sport.

“My dad taught me a lot, including his life experiences growing up,” she shared. “From when I was a little girl, my dad told me never to run away when facing difficulties and to always take responsibility. Most importantly, he taught me to be brave and confident.

Xiong credits her father for instilling strong moral values in her, like being brave, confident and disciplined.

Moreover, Xiong is grateful that he taught her some of life’s most important lessons such as never running away from difficulties and always taking responsibility for her actions.

“The biggest thing he gave me was courage. I really admired my dad’s courage and confidence,” she quipped.

Xiong points to a childhood episode, where she climbed a neighbor’s house to pick fruit and broke her hand following a fall from the roof.

Her father did not take her to the hospital at first, instead wanting to acknowledge her mistake and use it as a learning experience.

“He taught me some principles,” Xiong recalled. “He asked me if it felt painful first, and then asked me why I did it. Then, he said: ‘This is what you get, you have to be responsible for what you have done.’”

“My dad did not take care of my injury at first. It was not that he did not care about me. He just wanted to let me know that this was my own mistake, and I needed to be responsible for the result,” she added.

Xiong’s father eventually brought her to the hospital and had her hand nursed, which proved to play a pivotal role in her professional career.

Xiong knows a big part of her success is because of her father and the values that he imparted to her at an early age.

Even though he was most certainly tough on his daughter, there was a softer side to him that most people never had the opportunity to see.

“He was really a person who was not good at expressing his emotions. In fact, he has different attitudes towards me for different things. When he should be gentle, he is gentle. When it is time to show a father’s love, he does it. His heart is actually really soft. I can feel his love for me from his heart,” Xiong stated.

Inspired by her father’s valuable lessons, Xiong is ready to shine again as she will defend the ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship against Laura “The Gladiadora” Balin.

Both women are slated to face each other in the main event of ONE: PINNACLE OF POWER, which takes place at the Studio City Event Center in Macau, China on 23 June.

Xiong emphasized that there is no one else to whom she will pre-dedicate her win in her upcoming bout against Balin but her father.   

“I am looking forward to the match. I do not know what is going to happen, or how the match is going to end, but it is going to be exciting. My pride cannot be moved. It only grows. I want to win this for my father,” she ended.

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