MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino child prodigy impressed an audience in Brunei with her violin playing, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Thursday.

According to the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Brunei Darussalam reported that seven-year old Kristine Clair Uchi Galano performed at the Sheraton Utama Hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam last October 19 .and drew rave comments from her audience, especially from members of the diplomatic corps and the expatriate community.

Performing in her 4th solo recital, Galano played a selection of Malay, Korean, classical, modern, and contemporary music, said the report.

The daughter of Evangeline and Romeo Galang, KC, as she is fondly called, began to show interest in listening to violin performances at the age of three.

At four, KC was given a violin by her parents as a gift, pushing her to take formal lessons at the Expressions Music School in Kiulap. Six months after enrolling, she started performing in Brunei and other neighboring states.

One of the highlights of KC’s career happened last July when she performed with noted violin teacher Albert Leonor as a musical offering to Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei.

She has also competed and won in numerous musical competitions, the most recent being the Malaysian Youth Music Festival 2008 held in Kuala Lumpur last August 23.

The child prodigy won the gold medal in all of the four violin categories she competed in, said the DFA.

She has also competed in the 15th Kota Kinabalu Music Festival held at the Pacific Sutera Hotel in Malaysia where she won one gold and six silver trophies.

Philippine Ambassador to Brunei Virginia Benavidez described KC as a “shining example of what the best the Filipino youth can offer” and that other Filipino children must be supported in other ventures as well.

“It is important that the members of the Filipino community in Brunei Darussalam continue to support the development of young Filipino artists such as Kristine Galano, who has made her family, school, her country and people proud with her numerous achievements,” she said. GMANews.tv

Philippine Entertainment Portal

Sid Lucero and Emilio Garcia go down in history as the first persons to tie for the Best Actor award in the 49-year history of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The Filipino actors were recognized in Greece for their outstanding portrayal in the film Selda (international title: The Inmate), which is co-directed by Paolo Villaluna and Ellen Ramos.

This indie film is also credited as the first Filipino movie to compete in the said festival, which took place in Greece from November 14-23, 2008. Both directors attended the film fest but the two lead actors were unable to attend.

Francis Xavier Pasion was also present at the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival to present his film Jay, which was screened as part of the Independence Day section.

According to Leo Dominguez, Emilio’s manager, his ward was not able to attend because he has tapings for Gagambino three times a week. Emilio learned about the good news this morning on the set of the said GMA-7 show.

In a text message sent to PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portak) this morning, Emilio said, “I’m shocked and at the same time very happy. This is my fourth award for Selda and I am happy for all the recognition I received for this film.”

It will be recalled that Emilio won as Best Supporting Actor for Selda during the 31st Gawad Urian. He was also the Best Supporting Actor during this year’s Gawad Tanglaw and was named as the Supporting Actor of the Year during the 24th Star Awards for Movies.

In the Gawad Urian, Sid tied with Jason Abalos for the Best Actor award, with Sid being recognized for Selda while Jason performed in Endo.

Selda is about a young man (played by Sid Lucero) who is imprisoned for defending his wife (played by Ara Mina). He then meets a fellow inmate (played by Emilio) who helps him adjust to life inside prison.

According to Ferdy Lapuz of Ignatius Films Canada, the jury president of the Thessaloniki IFF, Michael Ondaatje, liked the film very much and said that Selda is a “powerful film.” Mr. Ondaatje is best known as the writer of The English Patient (1997). Another member of the jury is Diablo Cody, the American screenwriter behind the hit movie Juno (2007).

Selda is represented by Ignatius Films Canada.

Philippine Entertainment Portal

Yul Servo is once again honored in Belgium for his acting skills. The councilor of Manila just came back from Brussels where he accepted his Best Actor award for the film Torotot (international title: Destierro).

He is doubly happy since his other film, Brutus, was named Best Asian Film during the 35th edition of the Brussels International Independent Film Festival.

PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) was able to personally congratulate Yul when he arrived at the Cinema One press conference last Wednesday, November 12, held at the Gusi Restaurant in Quezon City. What was his reaction when he was called onstage as the Best Actor?

“Tuwang-tuwa kasi ako bago binanggit yung Best Actor parang sabi ng jury, hindi sila nahirapan sa pagpili sa akin kasi lahat nag-agree sila. Lahat ng international jury. Natuwa ako, habang lumalakad ako, parang nanginginig yung tuhod ko…parang aatakihin din ako, e. Nagpapalpipate yung puso ko,” he recalls.

He revealed that his Best Actor award comes with a cash prize of 200 Euros but the trophy will be shipped to him by December. Through the help of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Yul and Direk Maryo J. delos Reyes were able to attend the film fest, which took place from November 4 to 9.

In Torotot, Yul plays a man who suspects that his wife (Precious Adona) is having an affair with another man. His best friend (played by Baron Geisler) had previously committed a crime of passion when he murdered his wife (played by Maui Taylor).

Produced by Viva Digital, Torotot is directed by Maryo J. delos Reyes, who is also Yul’s manager. The director of Brutus, Tara Illenberger, also attended the film fest to accept the award of Best Asian Film. Shot in Oriental Mindoro, this Cinemalaya 2008 entry is about Mangyan children who transport illegal logs by floating them down the Lisap River. Yul is cast as the doctor-turned-NPA leader who accompanies the two children.

More than 25 countries participated in the 35th edition of the Brussels IFF. This competition, which started in 1974, has already recognized Yul in the past.

In the 2002 edition of the Brussels IFF, Yul shared the Best Actor award with Joel Torre for the five-hour film Batang West Side. This Lav Diaz film also bagged the Best Picture trophy that year.

This November, Yul will be seen in the Cinema One entry Dose (Twelve), which is about the close bond between a young boy and a gardener. The fourth edition of the Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival will have its campus tour from November 19 to 27. The seven competing films will have theatrical screenings at IndieSine, Robinsons Galleria from December 3 to 10.

Philippine Entertainment Portal

Dating couple Geoff Rodriguez and Tisha Silang of the Philippines made it to the final leg of Amazing Race Asia 3 after finishing second in tonight’s episode. Tisha and Geoff will join Malaysia’s Ida and Tania, who stepped on the mat first, and Hong Kong boys Vince and Sam, who came in third place, in the 11th and final leg.

The finale episode of Amazing Race Asia 3 will be aired next Thursday, November 20, in AXN.

Amazing Race Asia 3 is the third installment of the popular reality game show, which is actually a spin-off of the Emmy award-winning reality show Amazing Race. It is hosted by Singapore-based Chinese-American actor Allan Wu.

Geoff and Tisha now have the chance to become the first team from the Philippines to win Amazing Race Asia and the $100,000 cash prize. They will also have the chance to erase or at least duplicate the third-place finish of Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez last season.

Geoff and Tisha are actually good friends with Marc and Rovilson.

At the start of the 10th leg, Geoff and Tisha were in third place; behind the teams from Hong Kong and Malaysia. In fourth place was A.D. and Fuzzie of Singapore.

Geoff and Tisha were actually behind most of the 10th leg when they made some crucial errors. First was when they failed to answer correctly the year Mahatma Gandhi, India’s major spiritual and political leader, was born (1869). Then, in Detour (a task that all teams must perform), both Geoff and Tisha had a hard time counting the exact number of nuts inside a sack.

Luckily, all teams got lost going to the Roadblock (a task that only one member of the team can pefrorm) in Muscat, Oman, so Geoff and Tisha arrived there the same time as the other teams. Geoff also finished the Roadblock easily that enabled them to came in second, behind the team from Malaysia.

The team from Singapore, which finished last, got eliminated.

Amazing Race Asia 3 started with ten teams from different Asian countries, including India, South Korea, and Thailand. After each leg, one team gets eliminated, although there are pre-determined non-elimination legs.

Throughout the race, Geoff and Tisha made some enemies mainly because of Geoff’s attitude that turned off the other teams. It was also only Geoff and Tisha who chose to use the Yield and U-Turn against the other teams this season. A team that was yielded will have to wait for a pre-determined time before continuing the race, while the team that was U-Turned has to do the other detour that they did not previously completed.

Tisha was crowned Bb. Pilipinas-Universe in 1998 but resigned due to her Canadian citizenship. She also tried hosting before in some shows of GMA-7, including Mornings@GMA. Tisha also had a relationship with TV host Paolo Bediones.

Geoff, on the other hand, was a member of the all-male group Powerboys, which also included Jordan Herrera, Frank Garcia, Greg martin, and Jay Salas.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines— A spellbinding victory for Philippine cinema.

Visitors to the Cable News Network entertainment website voted Ishmael Bernal’s “Himala,” which starred Nora Aunor as a simple provincial girl turned faith healer, as the best movie of all time in the Asia-Pacific region, outclassing such greats as Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” and Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

Others in the top 10 that vied for the honor, in which “Himala” was the only Filipino film, included Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s “Mou Gaan Dou (Infernal Affairs)” from Hong Kong, Chan-wook Park’s “Old Boy” from South Korea, Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)” from Japan, Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” from India, Peter Weir’s “Gallipoli” from Australia, Wong Kar Wai’s “Chung Hing Sam Lam (Chungking Express)” from China, and Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s “Gabbeh” from Iran.

According to the CNN website, critics, industry insiders, Asian film stars, and CNN viewers chose the movies that landed in the shortlist of ten films. The online poll that ran in October determined the winner.

The Filipino classic, which was written by Ricky Lee and originally released in 1982 for the Metro Manila Film Festival, was announced the top vote-getter in the popular vote and named the winner of the CNN-APSA Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia-Pacific Film of All Time on Tuesday at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Hundreds of film industry luminaries from around the world attended the event.

Philippine Entertainment Portal

Just a few days after winning two awards in the 6th International Pacific Meridian Film Festival in Russia, Brillante Mendoza was once again honored in an international film fest. Brillante, first-time filmmaker Francis Xavier Pasion, and John Torres were among the directors who won in the recently concluded Bangkok International Film Festival.

The sixth edition of the Bangkok IFF took place from September 23 to 30 in Thailand. Ferdy Lapuz, one of the producers of Serbis, say that this film won the Golden Kinnaree Award in the Southeast Asian competition at the Bangkok IFF. Serbis shows the life of a family who operate a run-down movie house showing sex flicks in Pampanga. Gina Pareño, Julio Diaz, Jaclyn Jose, Coco Martin, and Kristoffer King are some of the stars who topbill this award-winning film.

The Cinemalaya 2008 entry Jay, directed by Francis Xavier Pasion, bagged the Special Mention Award in the main competition category. Baron Geisler and Coco Martin appear in this film about a TV producer creating a documentary about a homosexual teacher.

John Torres’ Years When I was A Child Outside won special mention in the Southeast Asian competition. This 2007 Cinemanila International Film Festival entry is also known for its alternative title is Taon noong ako’y anak sa labas.

According to the official website of the Bangkok IFF, the Golden Kinnaree Award “symbolizes the creative spirit—looking to the future, while respecting the achievements and traditions of the past—flying between the worlds of reality and imagination.” This award was won by Brillante Mendoza for Serbis.

The winners were chosen by a six-member jury panel, including Thailand-based, Lao-Australian-ethnic actor Ananda Everingham, Swedish festival artistic director Martial Knaebel and Singaporean director Eric Khoo. The Bangkok IFF has two divisions: the main competition and Southeast Asian competition, each featuring 10 films from the world and the region.

The Bangkok IFF screened around 80 films from over 40 countries during its week-long run.

GMA News

MANILA, Philippines — Eight months of rigid training finally resulted in a bountiful harvest for the University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors (UPSA), who returned home on Tuesday with 12 awards from prestigious choral competitions in Europe.

UPSA bagged awards from five different choral competitions in France, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, and Wales in the United Kingdom.

The awards include two grand prizes, seven 1st prizes, three 3rd prizes, plus five grand prize qualifications.

In an interview with GMA News’ 24 Oras program, UPSA founder and conductor Ed Manguiat said he never doubted that his group would not return home empty-handed becayse of the time and effort they poured into the undertaking long before their journey.

“Of course, before the competition everybody was nervous but definitely we’re already on,” Manguiat said in an interview with GMANews’ reporter Aubrey Carampel.

“We always did our best … that’s why we won first prizes and grand prizes,” Manguiat added.

He said the group underwent eight months of strict rehearsals before jumping into the competition proper.

“We studied about 70 difficult songs and then in one competition we even sang about 24 songs and everything was difficult.”

The group even rehearsed singing in different languages, like French, Hungarian, German, and Italian, the report said.

The group also hinted a double celebration following the triumph of their member, Gretchen Espina, the 20-year-old girl who was crowned as the country’s very first Pinoy Idol.

Pinoy Idol is a reality-based singing competition produced by GMA Network and FreeMantle — a franchise of the hit reality show American Idol.

As ambassadors, the group also staged a concert in Europe in their bid to promote goodwill, the report said.

The UPSA was initially formed as the Kalayaan Choral Crowd, a freshman dormitory choir of the Kalayaan Residence Hall at the University of the Philippines’ Diliman campus. It was later reorganized as the University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors in 1980.

ABS-CBN News

Nine recipients of this year’s prestigious Gawad CCP will be feted Wednesday night at formal awarding ceremonies at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

This year’s recipients include Felicitas L. Radaic (Gawad CCP for Dance); Gilopez and Corazon Kabayao (Gawad CCP for Music); Feliz Monino S. Duque (Gawad CCP for Theater); Malou L. Jacob (Gawad CCP for Literature); Jose R. Moreno (Gawad CCP for Fashion Design); Rev. Fr. Rodrigo D. Perez III, OSB (Gawad CCP for Cultural Work); and the Philippine Folk Dance Society (Special Honors).

Two of the Gawad CCP recipients were honored posthumously: the Gawad CCP for Visual Arts was given to legendary comics illustrator Francisco V. Coching, while the Gawad CCP for Film was given to iconic Filipino filmmaker and actor Manuel P. Urbano (aka Manuel Conde).

The Gawad CCP Para sa Sining is given to artists or groups of artists who have consistently produced outstanding works, enriched the development of their art form. The award is also given to cultural workers who helped to develop and enrich Philippine art and culture through their works in research, curatorship and administration.

Awardees

Felicitas L. Radaic is honored for her achievements in elevating and professionalizing the standards of classical ballet in the Philippines. She conceptualized and authored the Philippine Ballet Syllabus. She founded her own school and co-founded the Dance Theatre Philippines and the Philippine Ballet Theater. Radaic has produced and trained some of the country’s finest classical ballet dancers.

Gilopez Kabayao and Corazon Pineda Kabayao are two of the most esteemed and respected musicians in the Philippines. With a career spanning many decades, the Kabayaos have performed all over the Philippines and the world, sharing their love and gift of music through numerous outreach performances and workshops.

Monino S. Duque defined stagecraft in the Philippines. As one of the country’s most respected lighting designers, he institutionalized standard operational procedures in theater management. Duque also raised the country’s professional ushering service to world-class standards; and laid the foundation for festival management. His body of work encompasses all genres, from the classical to the modern.

Malou Jacob is synonymous with political theater in the Philippines. As a playwright, she is rooted in the tradition of social realism, which stretches from the seditious Tagalog playwrights of the American occupation of the Philippines at the turn of the century, till the subversive theater of the Martial Law era. Her thought-provoking plays are social commentaries that advocate for change and action. She is an advocate for the empowerment of the Filipino, especially women, through theater and education.

Pitoy Moreno is the best known among Filipino designers internationally and dubbed as “the Fashion Czar of Asia”. His collections have circled the globe and landed the fashion pages of international publications like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. His beadwork, embroidery and hand painting embellish the gowns of international celebrities, politicians and royalty. He promoted Philippine fabrics and popularized the use of jusi, piña and lepanto. He was one of the earliest exponents of the Maria Clara. He re-fashioned the Barong Tagalog and made it wearable by women. First Ladies of the Philippines, as a matter of course, have donned Moreno’s trademark ternos.

Rev. Fr. Rodrigo D. Perez III, OSB has written and co-authored several major publications that have contributed immensely to the development of Philippine Architecture. He played a vital role in the conservation of churches in the country, specifically when he was Technical Consultant of the Historical Conservation Society from 1960-1963. As a Benedictine priest, he expanded his influence in education and culture by serving the boards of the St. Benedict College, Mirriam College, St. Scholastica’s College and the CCP. Fr. Bob was Rector/President of San Beda College for 15 years.

The Philippine Folk Dance Society is the leading organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Philippine folk dances for close to 60 years. Through its regular folk dance workshops, both national and regional, and the Philippine Folk Dance Teacher Accreditation Program, it has constantly sought to upgrade folk dance education, particularly among teachers across the country. It published and produced important materials such as the “Sayaw: Dances of the Philippines”; “Classic Collection of Philippine Folk Dances”; and the Instructional Video on Philippine Traditional Dances.

Two titans of Philippine visual and film arts were also given overdue recognition by the Gawad CCP posthumously:

Francisco Coching (1919-1998) is a master artist and master storyteller who reached a mass audience through the komiks novels he wrote and illustrated during his 40-year career. Coching’s works promoted Filipino as a national language and proved to be a powerful medium of verbal and visual literacy. His works entertained the masses with high adventure, action, drama and romance, by creating compelling, imaginary worlds where characters like Hagibis and Sabas roamed.

Manuel Conde (1915-1985) is considered to be the first independent Filipino filmmaker. Even as he worked within the studio system beginning in the 1930s; he also wrote, directed, produced and starred in his films, under his own MC Productions. He placed Philippine cinema on the world map when his Genghis Khan became the first Filipino film to be screened in an international film festival—the 1952 Venice Film Festival. He is best known for his screen persona, Juan Tamad and as such came out with several Juan Tamad films that were not just comedies but social satires portraying the best and the worst of Pinoy politics.

ABS-CBN News

An all-girl team from a Quezon City high school bagged the grand prize at the Disney Channel inter-school dance competition in Hong Kong last Saturday.

The Holy Spirit School team of Jessica Meñez, Czarina Jose, Krizia Duka, Lyza Torsiende and Julia Mella are all part of the dance group “Janssen Knights” that bested other entries in the “High School Musical: My School Rocks!” competition.

The competition brought together dance groups around Southeast Asia to choreograph their original dance moves using the songs inspired by Disney Channel original movie, “High School Musical 2.”

A video of Janssen Knights’ performance was posted as an entry at the Disney Channel Web site, where it had gathered 29,000 votes from viewers across the region.

With the victory, the Janssen Knights got the chance to perform in the upcoming “High School Musical: Live!”, which will also be staged in Hong Kong Disneyland.

The team is expected to arrive in Manila Monday afternoon.