Good-looking and well-liked producer-filmmaker Paul Soriano is grinning from ear to ear these days.
Soriano and his celebrity wife Toni Gonzaga have just received the good news that they are expecting their first child. Social media was full of reports over the weekend that it has been confirmed Mrs. Soriano is indeed pregnant.
The couple got married in June of 2015 and there were initial reports that Toni will only get pregnant after she finishes her commitment for her soon-to-be-released ABS-CBN daily drama Written In Our Stars, opposite Piolo Pascual.
Cameras for Toni’s new show have started grinding but we heard that materials are not enough to complete the pilot week just yet. So we wouldn’t know for sure if there will be major changes now that the lead actress for the soap opera is pregnant.
By the time this piece comes out, Soriano would already be in Germany as he leads the Philippine delegation to the ongoing 66th Berlinale Film Festival. Soriano is credited as a producer for the film Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery), the lone Philippine entry in the main competition of the prestigious festival.
The film, directed by auteur Lav Diaz, is reported to be more than eight hours long and cinema aficionados from the globe are already talking about it.
Joining Soriano and Diaz in Berlin are actors Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, Hazel Orencio, Angel Aquino, Cherie Gil, Joel Saracho and Alessandra de Rossi. Well-loved coproducer Bianca Balbuena is also part of the entourage.
The jury for this edition of the Berlinale is composed of quintessential actress Meryl Streep, German actor Lars Eldinger, British film critic and programmer Nick James, French photgrapher Brigitte Lacombe, British actor Clive Owen, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher and Polish filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska. Streep heads the jury.
FABULOUS FRINGE MANILA
Fringe Manila is an open access, noncurated, uncensored arts and community festival that aims to showcase fresh, daring and groundbreaking material, highlighting the unique points of view of emerging and established artists from the Philippines and all over the world in theater, literature, music, dance, visual arts, film, performance art, circus and many other interesting art forms.
Ongoing until February 28, Fringe Manila is part of a global network of Fringe festivals across the world—from the United Kingdom to the United States, Hong Kong to Taiwan, South Africa to Australia, including major cities throughout the world with vibrant arts and culture scenes.
Fringe represents the voices of artists and artistic genres that reflect traditional and contemporary art forms. The Fringe model has been replicated and reinvented in cities and countries throughout the world, and the Philippines is now taking its place in this extraordinary artistic uprising.
For this year, artists from the local, regional and international circuits come together to showcase their works in participating venues in Metro Manila.
The opening ceremonies kicked off recently at Pineapple Lab, a cultural center that also doubles as an art and photography gallery in Makati City devoted to the Filipino artist, and the community of artists and art enthusiasts.
According to Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan, festival director of Fringe Manila, Pineapple Lab will be the venue for a number of interesting shows and artworks.
Here are a few examples that he shared. Russ Ligtas, the Visayan lead actor of the recent indie Miss Bulalacao, will be featured in a perfromance art piece, titled Oracle at del Pilar. The controversial Carlos Celdran also has a few surprises up his artistic sleeves when he restages his one man show, billed as Livin’ La Vida Imelda, and Nasser Lubay, the only Filipino to have won at the prestigious Celeste International Art Competition, will showcase select paintings at Pineapple Lab.
Lubay, who will feature six of his artworks all created during his art residency in the Mexican coastal city of Akumal, is elated to be part of this event. “It is a privilege to be part of Fringe Manila, where artists representing various art forms and expressions come together to share what we’ve got. I’m just happy that the Philippines is now part of the global vision of Fringe and that our citizens, especially the younger generations, have something like this to participate in and enjoy at the same time.”