CHERIE GIL bagged the best lead actress award at the Asean International Film Festival and Awards (Aiffa) 2015 for her brilliant performance in the 2013 film Sonata.
Directed by the formidable tandem of Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, from the script of Wanggo Gallaga, the film showcased Cherie’s acting prowess as an opera diva whose life starts crumbling when she begins to lose her voice.
Cherie was present at the Borneo Convention Center in Kuching, Malaysia, to personally receive the award. She later on posted on her social-media account that she is dedicating the award to her late actor-brother Mark Gil who passed on last September.
Other winners from the Philippine delegation included the Carlo Obispo film Purok 7 which was accorded the Asean Spirit Award, along with Benjamin Tolentino for editing and Joseph Laban for directing. We learned that the winning director almost backed out of the festival because he apparently insisted that he should fly Philippine Airlines instead of the official carrier, Malaysia Airlines. The festival organizers finally gave in to Laban’s demand.
Best Film went to Malaysia’s Terbaik Dari Langit, which also won for Bront Palare the best lead actor plum. Special Jury Awards were shared by Pee Mak of Thailand and The Lion Men from Singapore. Nadiah Wahid of Brunei Darussalam was declared best supporting actress and Sok Sothun of Cambodia won supporting actor honors.
Hollywood actor and Asian superstar Jackie Chan was given the Asean Inspiration Award, and Philippine cinema great Nora Aunor was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award for her impressive filmography.
Filipinos who scored nominations include scriptwriters Wanggo Gallaga (Sonata) and Ralston Jover (Bendor), editor Thop Nazareno (Purok 7), cinematographers Bernard Dacanay (Red) and Mark Gary (Sonata), lead actor Allen Dizon (Ang Magkakabaung), supporting actress Anna Luna (Bendor), supporting actor Nico Antonio (Red), lead actresses Krystle Valentino (Purok 7), Vivian Velez (Bendor) and Barbara Miguel (Nuwebe), and directors Carlo Obispo (Purok 7) and Ralston Jover (Bendor).
Special mention should also go to Rain Yamson, Aiffa National Director for the Philippines, who made sure that the Philippines was very well represented in the festival.
Mabuhay!
ANOTHER UNPLANNED PREGNANCY
Showbiz hopeful Empress Schuck has announced that she is three months pregnant and eyebrows are raising in all directions.
Empress, who left ABS-CBN and signed a program contract with GMA only a few months ago, revealed in the GMA showbiz talk show Startalk that she is, indeed, on the family way. The father of the baby is her boyfriend of one year, model and political scion Vino Guingona.
Is this another “What I Did for Love” story? She must remember that her young career has not even peaked, and she already has made several comebacks that have not exactly seen spectacular results.
The 22-year-old Empress’s first comeback project after her return to GMA has not even concluded yet, and some members of the production team are even saying that the reason why the afternoon soap Kailan Ba Tama ang Mali will be coming to an end soon is because of her unexpected pregnancy.
Well, they say that a baby is always a blessing, but we just hope these young stars will be more responsible with their actions, especially if they have not reached a level of the maturity needed to become parents.
KUH’S OUTLET
Now that she is a senior citizen and almost semi-retired from singing, Kuh Ledesma has certainly found another artistic outlet which also doubles as an income-generating passion: painting.
We first heard of her fondness for the brush and canvas three years ago, the same year she mounted her first solo exhibit as a celebrity painter. The exhibit was called Unexpected, which showed than three dozen artworks. She got more engaged in this past time-turned-passion and followed it up with another exhibit in 2013, billed as Beauty of Purpose.
She tried acting for top-rating 2013 prime-time drama My Husband’s Lover, and got mixed feedback. We caught her recently in the reunion show of Music and Magic, the same show band that made her popular in the 1980s.
Last week Kuh opened her third solo exhibit at the Promenade Hall of the Greenhills Commercial Center. Inspired by the success of the “musical instruments” subjects of her second exhibit, Kuh decided to include an expanded series of her favorite musical instruments into her new show.
She also has artworks that touch on her faith and love. Claiming that she is self-taught, Kuh’s style is abstract-expressionist, and she shifts from simple lines to bright colors depending on her mood and subject.
Kuh’s exhibit runs until April 20.