Free Entrance to Italian Film Festival at Greenbelt 3

Presenting Moviemov: Italian Cinema Now at Greenbelt 3 from November 9-13, 2011. Moviemov is a travelling festival supported by the General Direction for Cinema of the Italian Ministry of Heritage and Culture. Its opening  will be on November 9, 2011 at Greenbelt 5, Fashion Walk. Italian actors, directors and producers such as Dario Argento, Asia Argento, Lina Sastri, Ennio Fantastichini, Gianni Paolucci, Daniele Cipri, Alice Rohrwacher, Camilla Nesbitt, Claudio Cupellini, Carlo Macchitella, Franco Piersanti, and Luciano Sovena will join  together with representatives of Asiatic Film Mediale, headed by Senator Goffredo Bettini, Italo Spinelli and a few local actors.

8:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Opening Gala

HABEMUS PAPAM

BY Nanni Moretti (Italy 2011 - 104’) CAST Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa

8:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Tribute to Billante Mendoza

SERBIS

BY Brillante Mendoza (Philippines 2008 - 90’) CAST Gina Pareño, Jacklyn Jose, Julio Diaz

10:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 4

Tribute to Dario Argento

DRACULA 3D

BY Dario Argento (Italy 2012 - 20’) CAST Asia Argento, Rutger Hauer and Thomas Kretschmann

5:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

MINE VAGANTI | LOOSE CANNONS

BY Ferzan Ozpetek (Italy 2010 - 110’) CAST Riccardo Scamarcio, Nicole Grimaudo, Alessandro Preziosi

5:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Italian Showcase

HABEMUS PAPAM

BY Nanni Moretti (Italy 2011 - 104’) CAST Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa

9:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

PASSIONE | PASSION

BY John Torturro (Italy 2010 - 88’) CAST John Turturro, Max Casella, Lina Sastri

9:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Tribute to Bernardo Bertolucci

IL CONFORMISTA | THE CONFORMIST

BY Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy 1970 - 115’) CAST Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin

4:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Tribute to Dario Argento

SUSPIRIA

BY Dario Argento (Italy 1977 - 112’) CAST Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci

5:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Italian Showcase

PASSIONE | PASSION

BY John Torturro (Italy 2010 - 88’) CAST John Turturro, Max Casella, Lina Sastri

6:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

UNA VITA TRANQUILLA | A QUIET LIFE

BY Claudio Cupellini (Italy 2010 - 100’) CAST Toni Servillo, Marco D’Amore

7:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Italian Showcase

MINE VAGANTI | LOOSE CANNONS

BY Ferzan Ozpetek (Italy 2010 - 110’) CAST Riccardo Scamarcio, Nicole Grimaudo, Alessandro Preziosi

8:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

VINCERE | VICTORY

BY Marco Bellocchio (Italy 2009 - 128’) CAST Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Timi and Fausto Russo Alesi

9:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Tribute to Bernardo Bertolucci

ULTIMO TANGO A PARIGI | LAST TANGO IN PARIS

BY Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy 1972 - 136’) CAST Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi

2:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

UNA VITA TRANQUILLA | A QUIET LIFE

BY Claudio Cupellini (Italy 2010 - 100’) CAST Toni Servillo, Marco D’Amore

4:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Tribute to Billante Mendoza

LOLA

BY Brillante Mendoza (Philippines 2009 - 110’) CAST Anita Linda, Rustica Carpio, Tanya Gomez

5:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Italian Showcase

VINCERE | VICTORY

BY Marco Bellocchio (Italy 2009 - 128’) CAST Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Timi and Fausto Russo Alesi

6:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

CORPO CELESTE

BY Alice Rohrwacher (Italy 2011 - 98’) CAST Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentieri

7:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Italian Showcase

CHE BELLA GIORNATA | WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY

BY Gennaro Nunziante (Italy 2011 - 97’) CAST Checco Zalone, Isabelle Adriani, Nabiha Akkari

9:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Tribute to Bernardo Bertolucci

L'ULTIMO IMPERATORE | THE LAST EMPEROR

BY Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy 1987 - 160’) CAST John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O’Toole

3:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Italian Showcase

CORPO CELESTE

BY Alice Rohrwacher (Italy 2011 - 98’) CAST Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentieri

3:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Italian Showcase

CHE BELLA GIORNATA | WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY

BY Gennaro Nunziante (Italy 2011 - 97’) CAST Checco Zalone, Isabelle Adriani, Nabiha Akkari

5:00 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 5

Tribute to Dario Argento

PROFONDO ROSSO |DEEP RED

BY Dario Argento (Italy 1975 - 126’) CAST David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia

5:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Tribute to Brillante Mendoza

KINATAY

BY Brillante Mendoza (Philippines 2009 - 110’) CAST Coco Martin, Maria Isabel Lopez, Julio Diaz

9:30 PM - Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3

Tribute to Bernardo Bertolucci

THE DREAMERS

BY Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy 2003 - 130’) CAST Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel and Eva Green

 For more information you may check their Facebook Fan Page   here  or or Embassy of Italy in Manila site here

Jose Rizal and Switzerland

• • “Nothing more than a free spot for making out”, this is what Historian Ambeth Ocampo joking as he describes Luneta Park today. This place used to be valued for its historical significance but people seemed to have lost appreciation for “useless” things like this. In Jose Rizal and Switzerland talk, Ambeth shared though Rizal stayed for 3 weeks, nothing much has been written about it in his diaries. However, one link that Switzerland has to the Philippines is that the Rizal Monument was made by Richard Kipling a Swiss who won the second prize for the design competition of this monument.

    
    

    Manila was very boring in the 18th century that after the early morning mass every Sunday, going to Luneta Park and watching a human execution is considered an amusement! Rizal was not the only hero executed in Luneta Park. The three priest martyrs Gomburza whom Rizal said “if not because of what happened to them I would have been a Jesuit” was also executed there through a garrote in 1972. That time Rizal was 11, Bonifacio 9, Mabini 8, Luna 6 and Aguinaldo was 3 years old. Jacinto and Del Pilar were not even born!

    
    

    One would notice that at the very back end of Luneta Park is the Lapu-Lapu Monument that is even taller and bigger than Rizal Monument! What is the point of calling it as Rizal Park or when it is shared by other personality? Ambeth said he has nothing against with this brave warrior from Cebu but it is just geographically right to relocate this anywhere not just here in Luneta Park.

    
    

    

    
    

    
    

    Gomburza and Rizal not only shared same place where they were executed but also the place where they were buried in Paco. Rizal is said to have prepared his death very much that he even told the soldiers to hit him with the riffle bullets in the backbone so he can be quickly killed that shortening the agony of being killed! He instructed to be buried in the ground, place a stone and cross in his tomb, fences ok with him and NO anniversaries please. All of these are were followed except the last one that even the country’s presidents do it.

    
    

    As Ambeth ends his talk, he said “Rizal was only 26 when he wrote his novel El Filibusterismo. He wrote 26 volumes of books to sadly… a nation that does not read those.”

"Jose Rizal and Switzerland" at Yuchengco Museum

RIZALizing the Future Culminating Event
Jose Rizal and Switzerland
Saturday, 29 October 2011
3:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Guest speakers: Ambeth Ocampo, Ambassador Maria Theresa Lazaro, and My Rizal 150
Presented in partnership with the Swiss Embassy

Symbolically linking Switzerland and the Philippines are the emblematic figures of two national heroes, Wilhelm Tell and Jose Rizal. Rizal translated into Tagalog Friedrich Schiller’s drama Wilhelm Tell, who embodied the values and ideals for which Rizal gave his life. In his lecture on “Jose Rizal and Switzerland,” Ambeth Ocampo will talk about Rizal’s links to Switzerland. Relations between the Philippines and Switzerland can be traced back to the early 19th century, when Swiss traders, missionaries, and travelers ventured into Southeast Asia. Since the establishment of a Swiss consulate in Manila—the first official representation of Switzerland in Asia—in 1862, exchange between the two countries has flourished. In her lecture on “Switzerland and the Philippines,” Ambassador Maria Theresa Lazaro will discuss the 150 years of diplomatic and trade relations, development cooperation, and cultural exchange between the two countries.

To Read My Review of this Talk "Jose Rizal and Switzerland" Please Click Here

Open to public and with admission (P100 for adults, P50 for students, P25 for children and senior citizens). Ambeth Ocampo's books on Jose Rizal will be available for sale, and a small reception to meet the speakers follows the program.For details, call Yuchengco Museum at 889-1234 or email info@yuchengcomuseum.org.

The Filipino Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins

Sharing you a children's book now a collector's item The Filipino Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins published i n1923. It is very well researched as if it had been written by someone who had visited the Philippines when the author has never been here! Like “It was a busy place,” she wrote about a dock along the Pasig River. “Men were unloading fish and vegetables from other boats…. Other men were piling the produce on carts drawn by carabaos and hurrying away to the markets. Scores of boats were tied along the banks, and in and out and up and down the waterway busy tugs plied back and forth, filling the air with the screams of their whistles and with smoke from their stacks…. There were also ships just sailing away loaded with sugar, tobacco, lumber, hemp, and coconuts.” Except that the family carabao is named Bobtail and the dog Dingo.

The Filipino Twins is part of a series of 26 children's books (1910 - 1930) known as "The Twins Books" about the usual topic always attached to a Filipino setting - struggles of a family to overcome the poverty that threatens them. Most of the stories are twins (The Dutch Twins, The Japanese Twins, The Irish Twins etc) composed of one boy and one girl, the only exception is The Spanish Twins , which is about two boys. Each book took place in a different country or time in America's past. These books are now hard to find now hard to find You're lucky if you have one of these!

New Philippine Peso Bills as One of the Best Currency Series in theWorld

Yahoo News Philippines reports despite its design errors, the new Philippine peso bills called the "New Generation Currency (NGC)" series has been judged as one of the best currency series in the world in an international design competition by the International Association of Currency Affairs (Iaca). 

Sri Lanka bagged the Best Currency Award. Uganda's new series of rupees is one of the finalists as well. IACA is an international organization of central banks, currency-issuing authorities, currency producers and suppliers.  To read more of the news you may click here

FREE Admission: Taiwan Film Festival 2011 at Shangri-La Plaza

 Schedule:  
 October 21
No Puedo Vivir Sin - 2:00pm
Zoom Hunting - 5:00pm
Gangster Rock - 8:00pmOctober 22
The Magical Washing Machine - 2:00pm
Gangster Rock - 5:00pm
Three Times - 8:00pm

October 23
Zoom Hunting - 2:00pm
Pinoy Sunday - 5:00pm
No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti - 8:00pm

October 24
Three Times - 2:00pm
Jump! Boys - 5:00pm
Pinoy Sunday - 8:00pm

October 25
Gangster Rock - 2:00pm
No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti - 5:00pm
The Magical Washing Machine - 8:00pm

October 26
Jump! Boys - 2:00pm
The Magical Washing Machine - 5:00pm
Zoom Hunting - 8:00pm

For more information, you may check their Facebook Fan Page here

Free Birdwatching Trip at La Mesa Ecopark

Free guided birdwatching trip at the La Mesa Ecopark on October 16, Sunday. Hosted by the the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines.You may visit www.birdwatch.ph for more information.

Check their Facebook Event for more details here