CELEBRATING the Love Month and the National Arts Month, the Cultural Center of the Philippines presents three film programs – Cine Icons, Cinema Under the Stars, and the CCP Arthouse Cinema – this February.
CINE ICONS, is a new program by the CCP Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division highlighting the cinematic masterpieces of film masters, including the National Artists of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast. On its soft launch, Cine Icons will feature National Artist Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s Brutal, written by another National Artist, Ricky Lee. Brutal is about a woman who after killing her husband and his friends goes into post-traumatic shock and withdraws from any form of communication. A feminist journalist becomes interested in the case and resolves to unravel the truth behind the murders.
Another film to screen alongside the film classic is a Gawad Alternatibo 2022 winner entitled, Lingkis by Yvonne Elizabeth Salazar and Isabel Margarita Valenzuela. The film mixes mythology, animation, and documentary to tell the story of a country plunged into darkness by repressive regimes visually depicted by a mythological serpent.
The Cine Icons soft launch screening will be held on February 17, starting at 1pm, at the PUP Theater, located inside the PUP Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila, to be followed by a talkback by National Artist Ricky Lee. The event is made possible in partnership with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).
Cinema Under the Stars (CUTS) returns for its first screening for 2023, featuring Real Florido’s Ist Ko Si Third and Joel Lamangan’s Sigwa, on February 24, 5:00PM, at the CCP Annex Parking area.
A 2014 Cinemalaya Finalist under the New Breed Category, 1st Ko Si Third rediscovers the joy and pain of first love through the story of a 65-year-old retiree Cory who bumps into her first love named Third. When their first date is about to happen, Cory brings with her a handful of love letters she never gave to Third. She is now ready to give them to her first love. Will she discover that first love truly never dies?
The 2010 Cinemalaya Finalist under the Director’s Showcase, Sigwa spans 40 years of Philippine social unrest, told through the eyes of Dolly, a Fil-Am junior correspondent of a US magazine, who is sent to the Philippines in 1970 to do a story on student activism in Manila. After being arrested and deported in 1975, the third year of martial law, she returns to look for her daughter who supposedly died 35 years ago but who, she has been told, is alive. The film, being a composite of the stories of Dolly and each one of her former activist collectives, is revealed fragment by fragment, as she surprises them by her unannounced presence.
The CCP Arthouse Cinema: Of Love and Revolutions presents a back-to-back-screening of Sigwa and Lingkis on February 24, 1-4pm, via Zoom. This online screening is specifically offered primarily for students and educators who continue conducting online courses.
All screenings are free to the public, on a first-come-first-served basis. For more information, call the CCP FBNM Division at 8832-1125 loc. 1705 or follow the official CCP social media accounts in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok for updates.
