Film Industry Icons to Grace 37th FAP Luna Awards Night

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Award-winning producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, screenwriters, editors, sound designers, musical scorers, and production designers will come together to celebrate the greatness of their peers in Philippine Cinema at the 37th Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) Luna Awards Night on Saturday, November 30, at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. Leading the pack of Filipino film icons are Special Awardees Lily Monteverde and Nova Villa, who will receive the Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) Memorial Award and Manuel de Leon Award for Exemplary Achievement, respectively.

Nominee and Special Awardee Nova Villa at the FAP Luna Awards Nominees' Night

Adding star power to the Awards Night are the impressive nominees as well as the iconic presenters, who will grace the stage and award the coveted Luna trophies, such as FAP Luna Awards Hall of Famer Joel Lamangan, Jose Javier Reyes, Bembol Roco, Ricky Davao, Cherie Gil, Snooky Serna, Liza Lorena, Yayo Aguila, Tommy Abuel, Raymond Bagatsing, Raquel Villavicencio, Roy Iglesias, Romy Vitug, Lee Briones-Meily, Marissa Floirendo, Edgar Martin Littaua, Manet Dayrit, Jess Navarro, Jesse Lucas, and Ditoy Aguila. Recipients of the citation "Sine Sandaan Luminaries: Production Companies of the Philippines" will also be in attendance, and representatives of the late Wenn Deramas and Soxie Topacio will receive the Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award, which will be bestowed on the directors posthumously.

Cinematographer Romy Vitug

As for the master of ceremonies, a renowned actor, comedian, host, and impersonator will take on the role singlehandedly with much gusto. He is none other than Jon Santos, who is sure to keep the Awards Ceremony entertaining and exhilarating. In addition, noteworthy performers are set to take the stage during the production numbers of the Awards Ceremony. These are The Company, Frenchie Dy, Gian Magdangal, Sheila Valderrama-Martinez, Lara Maigue, and the Dance Royalties choreographed by Dan Cabrera. Among the most-awaited numbers are the Musical Tribute to FAP Luna Awards Hall of Famers Willy Cruz and George Canseco, and the Sine Sandaan segment on the ongoing year-long celebration of the One Hundred Years of Philippine Cinema. The FAP Luna Awards Night will be masterfully staged under the direction of singer-songwriter Ice Seguerra.

Actor-comedian Jon Santos will host the 37th Luna Awards (Photo from his Facebook page)

From the announcement of the official list of nominees on November 12, to the well-attended Nominees’ Night on November 20, all eyes are on how the Awards Night will unfold on November 30. Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño gave a sneak peek into the theme of the 37th FAP Luna Awards. "This year's Luna Awards is going to be very distinctive because it is going to be anchored on another meaning of what Luna represents. This year, we explore Luna as the moon, as beautiful as it is with its different phases—much like the Philippine film industry. And as we celebrate our hundred years, we embrace these many phases while at the same time look forward to a new future—a full moon. Bright, complete, and illuminating of what’s ahead,” she shared.

The Company will serenade at the 37th Luna Awards (Photo from their Instagram account)

Diño went on to give a background on how FDCP got involved in this year’s organization of the FAP Luna Awards. The FAP, headed by Director-General Vivian Velez, is one of the Board of Trustees of FDCP. “For the last three years, and even before my time, FDCP has already been giving financial support to FAP for the conduct of the Luna Awards. But when I came in, talaga pong si Sir Leo Martinez, the former Director-General that time, and I have been working closely together in support of his initiatives. One of the things na pinag-usapan namin ay ang kagustuhan niyang ibalik muli ang ningning, ang kinang, ang prestige ng Luna Awards para po sa ating industriya because Luna Awards is a peer awards,” detailed Diño.

The FAP Luna Awards is regarded as the award-giving body that is “by and for the peers in the industry.” The choices of the Voters from the Electoral College are highly anticipated because the Voters are all former winners or nominees of the FAP Luna Awards or other prestigious award-giving bodies. Through the voting process and conduct of events, FAP and FDCP ensure that this year’s FAP Luna Awards will continue the tradition of giving recognition to the outstanding artistic accomplishments and technical achievements in Philippine Cinema.

The 37th FAP Luna Awards will kick off with the Red Carpet Ceremonies, followed by the Cocktail Reception and Awards Ceremony. The Red Carpet and Awards Ceremony will be shown via livestream on the Facebook page of FDCP (Film Development Council of the Philippines).

Estonia A-List Film Fest Screens 5 PH Films, 'KALEL, 15' Gets World Premiere

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Jun Robles Lana’s latest film “KALEL, 15” will have its World Premiere under the Official Selection programme of the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 29, 2019 in Tallinn, Estonia. It is the only Filipino film in the official competition, and it will be up against 20 films from all over the world.

“KALEL, 15” tells the story of a teenager who is the son of a priest and is HIV positive, and how he has to make choices no child should ever have to make. It stars the late Eddie Garcia, Jaclyn Jose, Elijah Canlas, Elora Espano, and Gabby Padilla, and was co-produced by The IdeaFirst Company, Octobertrain Films, and Cignal Entertainment.

TheIdeaFirst Company co-president and director-producer Perci Intalan is looking forward to showcasing their film in Northern Europe for the first time. He shared, “We’re very excited about the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival because this is the world premiere of ‘KALEL, 15.’ We chose to premiere here because this is Jun’s first film in this festival. We feel the audience and market in Tallinn would be right for our film.”

He expressed that their team is lucky because their producing partners at Cignal Entertainment understood the importance of the world premiere status and knew the significance of having a good festival strategy. “Like for most films, it’s always tricky because you submit the film and hope it will be shortlisted, but at the same time, you have to decide carefully to whom you will give your world or international premiere.”

Last September, director Jun Robles Lana shared a still from the film on Twitter. “This is the realization of a passion project almost 5 years in the making from the time I pitched it at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum. Looking forward to our world premiere soon.”

Prior to having its world premiere in Tallin, the drama film participated in various events until it finally took shape to the film that it is now. Director Intalan said, “’KALEL, 15’ is a film that has been in development since 2014. It was part of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum in 2014 under the title ‘Our Father’ and again in 2019 (in the Work-In-Progress Lab) under the title ‘Son of God.’”

Representatives from “KALEL, 15” will be attending the Tallin Film Festival. According to Director Intalan, the team hopes to apply for travel assistance from the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the country’s national film agency. “Since we’re in the main competition and the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is one of the few festivals where the main competition offers a wide range of awards that include Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography, traveling to Tallinn are our director Jun Robles Lana, our producer Ferdinand Lapuz, our cinematographer Carlo Mendoza, and our lead actor Elijah Canlas (who will be participating in an international film festival for the first time).”

Director Intalan also noted, “Jun has premiered films in Tokyo (‘Die Beautiful’ and ‘Barber’s Tales’) and in Karlovy Vary (‘Shadow Behind the Moon.’)” Director Lana’s previous films "Shadow Behind The Moon," “Die Beautiful,” and “Barber’s Tales” brought home awards at various film festivals, including the 13th Pacific Meridian Film Festival, 20th International Film Festival of Kerala, and 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, among others.

“KALEL, 15”’s world premiere screening will be followed by a Q and A session with Jun Robles Lana, Elijah Canlas, Carlo Mendoza, and Ferdinand Lapuz.

Other Filipino Films Participating in the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Aside from “KALEL, 15,” four other Filipino films are part of the lineups in Tallin Film Festival.

“KALEL, 15”’s world premiere screening will be followed by a Q and A session with Jun Robles Lana, Elijah Canlas, Carlo Mendoza, and Ferdinand Lapuz.

Other Filipino Films Participating in the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

Aside from “KALEL, 15,” four other Filipino films are part of the lineups in Tallin Film Festival.

Photo from the Tallin Black Nights Film Festival website

Cinemalaya 2019 Best Film “John Denver Trending” by Arden Rod Condez is the only Asian film in competition under its category and is set to have its European premiere under the Just Film Youth Competition programme, Tallin Film Fest’s biggest sub-festival. The Quantum Films-produced film stars newcomer Jansen Magpusao and Meryll Soriano.

On the other hand, “Mindanao” by Brillante Mendoza, which had its European premiere at Tallinn Film Festival last November 15, is part of the Signature section. The film was produced by Center Stage Productions, and it features Judy Ann Santos and Allen Dizon. It was also part of the programmes in the Busan International Film Festival, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival, and Cairo International Film Festival.

Photo from the Tallin Black Nights Film Festival website

Meanwhile, after competing at the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival, Paul Soriano’s “Mañanita” had its European premiere under the Rebels with a Cause Competition programme at Tallinn Film Festival last November 25. The film was written by celebrated filmmaker Lav Diaz and produced by Ten17P, and stars Bela Padilla and Ronnie Lazaro. Filipino audiences can anticipate for the film’s scheduled wide release in Philippine cinemas on December 4.

Completing the Filipino entries for Tallinn Film Festival is “Verdict,” Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s feature debut which was produced by award-winning filmmaker Brillante Mendoza. It screened under the Festival’s Current Waves programme last November 16. The film features Max Eigenmann, the late Kristoffer King, Lourdes Javelosa-Indunan, Vincent Aureus, Jorden Suan, and Rene Durian, and was produced by Center Stage Productions and Films Boutique. It was also shown in Philippine cinemas last September during the third Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP).

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is the only competitive feature film festival in Northern Europe with the accreditation of International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), making it the only A-film festival in Northern Europe which shares the status with the world’s leading festivals, such as Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Karlovy Vary, Warsaw, and San Sebastian.

On the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival website, Festival Director Tiina Lokk said that the Festival aims “to find talented and strong films from amongst the whole world’s film production, to discover new films and filmmakers, and to promote smaller filmmaking countries that simply cannot otherwise get their foot in beside the renowned countries.”

The 23rd Black Nights Film Festival runs from November 15 to December 1, 2019 in Estonian cities of Tallinn and Tartu.

How to Write Better and Create SEO Friendly Content Too

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Writing the SEO friendly content is definitely not an easy job. Cheapcustompapers gives you more tips and tricks to improve your SEO based content writing.

1. Use headings and subtitles

The use of headlines and subtitles is important for SEO for several reasons.

First, you can quickly look through the text. So it's easier to read. People are more willing to share easy-to-read content.

The same is true for search engine robots. When walking on the page, they recognize the headers and use them to better understand the content, e.g. assess which parts are most important, etc.

Also, headers and subtitles help even saturate the page with keywords. However, remember not to abuse this option.

2. Add links to existing content

One of the ways search engine positioning is to evaluate the number of backlinks a site has.

Good content usually has a lot of backlinks - both external and internal.

If you want to direct traffic to your site and position older content better, be sure to link them in new posts.

This will help search engine robots - and users - find your best articles.

Besides, linking to high-quality good sites has a positive effect on your site's position. The better the links, the higher your position in search results.

Also, the use of reliable sources to create content inspires the trust of recipients.

3. Optimize the length of the content

Once, most blog posts had up to several hundred words. It was about numbers - the more published posts, the more traffic to the site.

It rarely happens today. Even on the GetResponse blog, you are reading, you will usually find articles with a length of 1500 words and more, published less frequently.

This is because in the last few years Google has started to give greater priority to longer, higher quality content. He wants to provide the most accurate answers possible. It often boils down to the fact that the posts are to contain the most detailed answers to questions asked by users.

It is no longer enough to write an article for 300 words. However, it is not about blurring the subject of the texts too much.

Take a look at Google Analytics reports and see which content generates the most engagement. Which are the most visited and which users read the longest? Analyze what content has the highest conversion, e.g. newsletter subscription.

And then use this information to determine the best approach that works for your industry.

4. Choose your keywords wisely

Some marketers like to just sit down and start writing. They leave SEO optimization at the end.

Others start by writing down the keywords they intend to use in the content.

I prefer the second approach.

You start by defining keywords that are relevant to the topic you're working on. You are looking for them in your head, you use a keyword planning tool available on Google or a more advanced solution like Ahrefs or SERPSTAT. Or you rent an SEO agency that will take care of everything on your behalf.

And when you start writing, use keywords in the title, header, meta descriptions, ALT tags, and the main content.

5. Optimize graphics

If you want the content to be interesting and shared, you'll need graphics. People are much more eager to buy from companies whose websites contain attractive and matching photos.

You can optimize your photos by adding keywords to image file names and creating ALT tags.

Also, make sure you optimize the image size. Too large photos will take longer to load, and this will have a bad effect on SEO.

The images should be as small as possible, but still clearly visible and of good quality. In many photo editors, you can use the built-in tools to optimize them. If you do not have such a program, Squoosh will be an alternative, a free tool with which you can resize images and compress them quickly.

6. Enable content sharing

You've managed to prepare an SEO friendly, content-rich and interesting article that readers read with pleasure. The next step is to make it available. Sites such as ShareThis or AddThis allow you to easily put social buttons on the page so that users can easily share content.

7. Create high-quality content

This should be an obvious matter, but it is not always remembered. The best way to encourage users to read and get involved is to create useful and fun content. Search engines appreciate sites with high-quality content on the right topic. Quality matters more than any other factor.

Once you have a good idea of how to write and format content, consider using one of the tools below to simplify the texts and streamline the process of creating them.