The Pen kicks off Christmas with concert
THE PENINSULA Manila kicks off the holiday season on Oct. 14 with the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and festive music by The CompanY, 92AD, and The Peninsula Strings at The Lobby. While the lights, decorations, and stars have changed through the years, The Pen’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony has remained a quintessential Manila experience and a holiday beacon for Manileños and visitors alike since it was first lit 46 years ago in December 1976. Fourty-six years later, the holiday tradition continues as a message of hope and peace with current General Manager Masahisa Oba lighting up the tree with the children from Virlanie Foundation. The ceremony will be followed by a concert featuring The CompanY and 92AD, along with The Peninsula Strings, performing holiday tunes that guests can sing along to while enjoying a merienda buffet at The Lobby. The Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held at The Lobby on Oct. 14, Friday, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. The special Merienda Buffet costs P3,300 (with Champagne), P2,500 (adults), and P1,250 (children under 12). Prices are inclusive of taxes.
Last chance to see PELÍCULA Spanish Film Festival
THE 21st edition of PELÍCULA-Spanish Film Festival will conclude with screenings at Shangri-La Plaza cinemas on Oct. 14 to 16. PELÍCULA will cap off its two-week long fete with viewers invited to vote for their favorite movie for the Audience Choice Award. The film with the highest number of votes will be screened again during the closing of the Spanish film festival on Oct. 16 at The Red Carpet at Shangri-La Plaza. Meanwhile, lucky winners drawn from the raffle will win these prizes: free Spanish lessons at the Instituto Cervantes, a Christmas hamper, and limited edition PELÍCULA hoodies. PELÍCULA will also be holding “En corto: Short films from the Philippines and Spain,” featuring recent short films from both countries, on Oct. 14. The Filipino short film, Dosena (2022), directed by Kyla Romero, is a coming-of-age tale of a boy who deals with confusion and tragedy on the night of his 12th birthday. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the audience. This will be complemented by the 2020 short drama Totem Loba, the directorial debut film of Spanish actress Verónica Echegui. All the screenings are free. All the movies are in Spanish (or their original language) with English subtitles. For screening schedules and updates visit the website of the Festival (https://pelikula.org) or the Facebook page of Instituto Cervantes de Manila at www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila.
‘My Journey Beyond Fashion’ lecture and exhibition
IN CELEBRATION of Museums and Galleries month, the National Museum of the Philippines presents a lecture and pop-up exhibition, “My Journey Beyond Fashion,” with Ditta Sandico on Oct. 15, 2 p.m. Admission is free. Ms. Sandico is a Filipino designer, a wrap artist, and an advocate of sustainable fashion.
NSAC holds crypto art lecture
FOR more than five decades, Pilipinas Shell’s National Students Art Competition (NSAC) has allowed the youth to express their thoughts and creativity in various fields of art and has produced countless of ground-breaking artists. Shell NSAC’s Virtual Art Interact Sessions are back for a third year to continue supporting aspiring young artists through training and providing a platform to keep the Philippine Art industry moving forward. The first Shell NSAC Art Interact for the year will be held on Oct. 15, 9:30 a.m., and will tackle How to Navigate Through the Crypto Space from a Digital Perspective, a talk with NFT or non-fungible token artists Jopet Arias and NSAC alumni Aldrine Alarcon. Register for the lecture through this link: https://tinyurl.com/NSACArtInteract1.
FDCP conducts free filmmaking workshops
THE FILM Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), in cooperation with the Batangas Provincial Government and the Batangas Forum, brings FDCP Film Talks to the Doon Po Sa Amin sa Batangas Digital Film Festival 2022. This is a series of free online workshops that will run until Nov. 8. The project is designed to heighten the education component of the Batangas Digital Film Festival 2022 and boost interest in filmmaking in the province. The workshops are exclusively open to aspiring Batangueño filmmakers. The workshops will cover various fields of filmmaking including film language, sound design, musical scoring, editing, and scriptwriting. Participants will be mentored by respected filmmakers Raymond Red, Mikko Quizon, Pepe Manikan, Ilsa Malsi, and Clodualdo Del Mundo, Jr. The workshops will be from 9 a.m. to noon via the online platform Zoom, and is exclusive to Batangas residents. Registration is available through this link: https://bit.ly/FDCPFilmTalkspresentsDOONPOSAAMINsaBATANGASDIGITALFILMFESTIVAL2022workshops.
Filipino design links Asia, the Americas and Europe
INSTITUTO Cervantes in Intramuros will be the venue of multi-national discussion series on design thinking for a complexly challenging world called “EULAT for Culture: Filipino Design links with Asia, the Americas, and Europe.” It is part of Design Week, the yearly festival for Filipino design and creativity that is national in scope, with talks, workshops, tours, and experiences in one week, and satellite events throughout the country from Oct. 15-22. With the theme “Design for All,” Design Week Philippines 2022 celebrates design as a creative tool for positive impact, a robust vehicle for inclusive, sustainable growth, and a rich, diverse expression of Filipino culture and identity in a series of hybrid events. In “EULAT for Culture,” each of the European and Latin American speakers takes up a driving idea from their practices at the forefront of their fields. Each will be part of a group including Filipinos whose work has similar trajectories. The speakers are Spanish architect Salvador Perez Arroyo, German-based green fashion/textile Italian designer Arianna Nicoletti, Austrian multi-media artist Horst Hortner, Daniela Gil Sevilla, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Mexico and artisan Camelia Ramos, the sustainable development-driven practice of Italian Architect Romulo Nati, and the textile design and sommelier combination of the French-Filipina team of Kévin and Adrienne Charuel. Filipino scholar Fernando N. Zialcita, Ph.D., and chef Margarita Fores, respectively, speak on behalf of Mexico and Italy, as well as the Philippines, in their presentations. Other speakers include veteran urban planner architect Nathaniel Von Einsiedel, food scholar and anthropologist Corazon S. Alvina, graphic designer Jowee Alviar, architect Deo Alam and the architectural partners Sudarshan Khadka, Jr. and Alex Furunes, social entrepreneur Reese Fernandez, textile innovator Ana Lagon, and food scholar Datu Sharif Pendatun. The events series is organized by the EUNIC cluster in Manila (European Union National Institutes for Culture is Europe’s network of national cultural institutes and organizations) and RIDCULT (the Ibero-American Network for Cultural Diplomacy), together with the DTI-Design Center of the Philippines. The Embassy of Spain Manila initiated the project, and its curator is Marian Pastor Roces. This project is made possible with the collaboration of the Embassies of Austria, Chile, and Mexico, as well as the Alliance Française de Manille, the Philippine Italian Association, and the Goethe Institut.
Ortigas Library holds lecture in Negros
In conjunction with the exhibit “People and Places: A Cordillera Legacy, Photographs from 1900 to 1925” which opens at the Negros Museum in Bacolod City on Oct. 15, a lecture, Knowing the Peoples of the Mountain Province, by John L. Silva, Executive Director, Ortigas Foundation Library, will be held on Oct. 16, 11 a.m., at The Negros Museum. The exhibition — sponsored by the Ortigas Foundation Library and Water Dragon, Inc. — features reproductions of vintage photographs, many of them rarely seen, and highlights the peoples of the Cordillera, their culture and their past. Selected from the collection of Jonathan Best, and the Ortigas Library Image Bank as well as private collectors, the exhibit threads visually through the remote Cordilleras at the beginning of the 20th century.
Filipino Sign Language seminar open for registration
#THEGOODSIGN Deaf Awareness and Basic Filipino Sign Language (FSL) Seminar, which guides participants to better understand Deaf culture, the basic interpretation, with its do’s and don’ts, has opened registration for its in-person sessions on two Saturdays, Oct. 15 and 29. The workshop is meant to bridge gaps and celebrate inclusivity through family members, professionals, educators, students and the general public with the knowledge and fundamental skills essential to be more informed advocates and buddies of the Deaf. The School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde was tapped by organizer Overdoughs, a gourmet cookies and artisanal doughnuts shop that provides employment opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The sessions will be conducted face-to-face on two Saturdays, Oct. 15 and 29, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, at the Overdoughs Café in Promenade Mall, Greenhills, San Juan. Registration fee is P500 per session, inclusive of the educational materials as well as food and drinks. Interested participants may sign up at https://bit.ly/TheGoODSign.
WIFIBODY PH returns live at CCP
WIFIBODY PH, the choreography competition for contemporary dance in the Philippines, returns live at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) Tanghalang Huseng Batute on Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. for Set A and at 4:30 p.m. for Set B. Twelve new works from emerging choreographers around the Philippines — from Baguio, Bicol, Butuan, Iloilo, Romblon, Samar, and Metro Manila — will be featured in WifiBody PH. An Artists Talkback will follow the Set B show after which winners will be announced. WifiBody PH is a biannual competition exclusively for solo-duet form, a form that pushes choreographers to bare their artistic vision as it emphasizes intimacy and conciseness. For more information, visit the CCP website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph) and follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates.