Saturday, March 16, 2019

...the Fox's first pinoy movie

FOX makes first Filipino film


FOX Networks Group (FNG) Philippines produces its very first film, the horror-thriller Maledicto, which rolls into cinemas nationwide on May 1


Nathalie Tomada
Philippine Star
16 March 2019


MANILA, Philippines — FOX, home to hit series and Hollywood movies, makes its first foray into the Filipino movie-making industry.


FOX Networks Group (FNG) Philippines produces its very first film, the horror-thriller Maledicto, which rolls into cinemas nationwide on May 1.

According to the film’s description, Maledicto tells the story of Fr. Xavi (played by Tom Rodriguez), a former psychologist who becomes an exorcist after the tragic and mysterious death of his sister, Mara (Inah de Belen). He meets Sr. Barbie (played by Jasmine Curtis-Smith), a young nun who has the special gift of charism. Together, they deal with the case of Agnes (Miles Ocampo), a seemingly perfect teenager who starts manifesting demonic behavior that will rock the foundations of the church and put one’s faith to test.

The film is co-produced by Cignal Entertainment and Unitel, with ABS-CBN Films tapped as distributor. Maledicto is directed by Mark Meily.

In a roundtable media interview last Thursday, Jude Turcuato, senior vice president and general manager of FNG Philippines, expressed his excitement over their pioneering film venture, which he said is a result of thorough planning. They spent at least two years on studying nearly 100 scripts and pitches before going for Maledicto. They started filming the original production in March 2018. The movie is now “99 percent complete.”




...the Filipina Marvel superhero

Here comes Wave, A Filipina superhero from Marvel


Philippine Daily Inquirer
16 March 2019


LOS ANGELES — A Filipina superhero will be gracing the pages of the Marvel Comics soon.

After the release of “Captain Marvel,” the first woman superhero to have its own major film, comic book writer and filmmaker Greg Pak on March 9 unveiled “Wave” on Twitter, designed and co-created by Filipino comic book artist Leinil Francis Yu.

Greg Pak/TWITTER

Wave has been described by Marvel as “a mysterious new Filipino heroine.” She has identifiable Filipino “morena” skin, a green and gold costume, weapons, and she will be teaming up with heroes from China named Aero and Sword Master.



Wave will debut in “War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1,” the first of four “War of the Realms” issues to be released in May. The story will be set in Asia and will center on the New Agents of Atlas led by Korean-American superhero Amadeus Cho (aka Brawn, previously the Hulk).


Joining his team (aside from Wave) are Chinese Kung-Fu master Shang-Chi, Korean-American heroine Silk and SHIELD agent Jimmy Woo.


“Thank you so much for the huge response to Wave, Marvel’s new Filipina superhero, who’ll debut in War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1! Huge thanks to [Leinil Yu], who co-created and designed her,” Pak posted on Twitter.


Marvel’s website, editor Will Moss said that “War of the Realms” will involve all the heroes from the “Avengers,” “Fantastic Four,” “Wolverine” — pretty much the whole line.


All these superheroes are out to fight Malekith, the king of the dark elves, who is conquering all realms including Midgard or Earth.

...the Filipino amulets in Paris

The Philippine flag is raised in this famed Paris museum—all because of our anting-antings


The playwright and curator Floy Quintos has exposed part of our secret soul in the City of Light. At the Musée du Quai Branly along the banks of the Seine, the exposition he put together explores the story of our amulets and the complex, hybrid nature of the Filipino faith .

Renee Ultado | Mar 16 2019 
ABS-CBN News


The Philippine Flag stenciled with sacred symbols and incantations, flanked by Dino Dimar photographs of current cult members wearing their anting-antings.

It was a windy Monday morning when the Musee du Quai Branly opened its doors to the press, collaborators, friends, and select patrons for the opening of two exhibitions for Spring. The buzzy Oceania assembles almost 200 archaeological objects and art pieces representative of the Pacific island cultures, while Anting-Anting—to which I was invitedis a more intimate installation telling the story of the historical and contemporary use of protective amulets, talismans, and charms in the Philippines. 


This feels like coming home,  " I said, soliciting a genuine noddy smile from a docent as she ushered me into the exhibit space, an obscure area floating above the museum's permanent collection. It was a half-lie. Whie Santo Niño, the Nazareno handkerchiefs and the odd bits of brass jewelry looked familiar, the whole ensemble felt very foreign to me. Eerie and ominous. A physical manifestation of things I have only heard before.


The exposition entitled Anting-Anting: The Secret Soul of Filipinos explores and demystifies these “charged objects” utilized by a myriad of Filipinos to this very day, from policemen to cult members. An offshoot from a previous exhibit at the Yuchengco Museum in Manila, the collection was built and curated by playwright, director, and antique dealer Floy Quintos.

Images of Jesus Christ and the Santo Niño figure into these ancient amulets in brass and ivory, highlighting the Catholic influence on the animist nature of the anting-anting.

The invitation to show here in Paris came with challenges, mostly reworking the storytelling for a predominantly European audience. “My French colleagues would ask me, okay, how do the objects talk to me? How do we make them engage?” Quintos shares. He had to make the exhibit relatable and transportative even to people who have never been to our islands.

And transportative it was. Utilizing the Atelier Martine Aublet, a space designed to be a “contemporary cabinet of curiosities,” Quintos repackaged the exhibit into smaller pockets of stories. One corner shows Rizalista cult paraphernalia, another reveals blood-stained linen vests with pearl buttons believed to bestow protection against bullets.


In 1967, socio-political cult Lapiang Malaya marched into Malacañang, equipped only with bolos, anting-anting, and these stenciled shirts believed to make the wearer invincible against bullets.

On the other side, a wall glows with images from a Dino Dimar documentary following the journey of pilgrims to Mount Banahaw. The space is then infused with noises both familiar (the hypnotizing sound of a waterfall hitting the plunge, a solemn rendition of Ama Namin) and unfamiliar (orations in Pig Latin murmured from sacred booklets). One is given the impression of being in the caverns with the faithful as they pray, light candles, slither into crevices, and collect blessed water.

Quintos photographed outside the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. “My French colleagues would ask me, Okay, how do the objects talk to me? How do we make them engage?” Photographs by Claudio Fleitas.
Some bearing iconographies from the Catholic religion, the anting-anting is one of the many portraits of Hispano-Filipino postcolonial hybridity. Did the Spanish try to make their Gospel more relatable, and the process of evangelization smoother, by incorporating bits and pieces from the native religion? Or did the Filipinos feign allegiance to the Catholic faith while discreetly continuing their animistic ritual under the nose of the colonizer? “That’s the question. It was the kind of dialogue we wanted to highlight,” says Quintos.

The hi'wong is an Ifugao shaman's amulet functioning as a portable idol (1) while the Lingolingo, also from the Ifugao, is a golden pendant worn to ensure good health, fertility, safety, and bounty. Towering over a collection of commercially-produced amulets (3), it shows the potent pre-colonial origins of the anting-anting and its still-widespread use in contemporary society.
A special nook stripped of protective glass is transformed into a tienda of modern anting-anting, open for people to look closely and even touch. Here, they are less spiritual and somehow devoid of a deeper meaning. Quintos wanted to show how they are today more recognized as popular charms, tailored to augment the spirit or help fix daily woes. It is truly revelatory of the multiple ways we practice our faith in the present. I think of my mother, probably the most Catholic person I know, who keeps her Vatican rosaries next to a Buddha sculpture, or my peers who hear mass on Sundays but wander around with a rose quartz crystal in their coat pocket the rest of the week.
The Philippine flag stenciled with sacred symbols and incantation

The show ends in a juxtaposition of cheap, commercially-made trinkets stacked in a pile under an ancient portable idol carved from stone by the Ifugaos. It shows that the need to always carry a tangible piece of the divine, be it for protection or for luck, is universal and distinctly Filipino. It transcends class, languages, and cultures, and reminds us that everyone, from lovestruck tweens to jittery dispatched soldiers, could use a little help from beyond.

Photographs by Claudio Fleitas
The exhibit Anting-Anting : L'Âme secrète des Philippins runs from March 12 to May 26, 2019 at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris, France

Sunday, March 10, 2019

...the world's fastest growing luxury market

The world’s fastest growing luxury market is in the Philippines

Luxury prices in Manila shot up by 11.1 percent year-over-year


The Real Deal
10 March 2019

Welcome to Manila, capital of the Philippines and the fastest growing luxury market in the world.

Manila (Credit: Getty, Pixabay)

The city’s luxury sector saw an 11.1 percent price increase year over year, making it the fastest growing city among 100 global prime markets that Knight Frank tracks, according to Mansion Global. This increase is due to the country’s strong economy and low supply of luxury housing.

But Manila’s growth is much lower compared to top cities in prior years, Knight Frank’s head of international residential research Kate Everett-Allen told Mansion Global.
“In the past 12 years that we have been compiling the index, the top-performing market has yet to record annual growth below 21 percent,” she said. “This is a breakaway from the norm.”
The only other cities this year to show double-digit growth were Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich and Buenos Aires. Knight Frank’s overall prime international residential index rose by 1.3 percent in 2018, the lowest annual growth rate since 2012.
New York’s luxury market declined by 2.5 percent thanks to a strong U.S. dollar, a volatile stock market and an over-saturated luxury market. It was still the third most expensive city to buy a prime property, with $1 million getting buyers about 330 square feet.
Monaco was the most expensive city by this metric, with $1 million buying just 172 square feet of space. [Mansion Global] – Eddie Small