EVENTS
Dennis Trillo and Solenn Heussaff, two of the stars of Lakbay2Love, a romantic movie about biking and the environment, will kick off the film’s outdoor premiere by leading a bike ride around the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. The actors will lead a big group of bikers at “Trip,” to be held on Jan. 29, 5 p.m., at the UP Diliman Ampitheater. “Trip,” which is organized by UP Bike Share, is composed of a bike ride, an outdoor premiere of Lakbay2Love, and a concert where Trillo and Heussaff will perform, alongside Joey Ayala, Gig Manila, and surprise guests. A highlight of the night is a raffle of the Trek bicycles that were used by Trillo and Heussaff in the movie, especially signed by the actors. The film costars Pinoy Big Brother alumnus Kit Thompson. For ticket inquiries, call Erasto Films at 333-7485, e-mail lakbay2love@gmail.com, or contact UP Bike Share at 0917-532-1689.
Blink, the online streaming service offering never-before seen films, pay per view, and exclusive live TV shows, is holding a free movie weekend festival at select SM Malls. The festival will go on to SM Marikina and Dasmariñas on Jan. 30-31, SM Davao and Lanang on Feb. 6-7, SM Cebu and Seaside City on Feb. 13-14, SM Pampanga and Clark on Feb. 20-21, SM Manila and Fairview on Feb. 27-28, SM Megamall on March 4-6, and SM Calamba on March 5-6. The festival offers an afternoon of free food, photo booth snaps, raffle prizes, and unlimited movie watching via BLINK, Now under SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc. The BLINK app enables users to watch a variety of movies, TV series, and other content anytime using gadgets such as a mobile phone, tablet, computer and smart television sets.
EXHIBITS
On view at 1335MABINI are two single-channel video works by Yu Cheng-Ta: Fisherman’s Wonderland (2013) and Ventriloquists: Liang Mei-Lan and Emily Su (2009). Meanwhile, Yoshinori Niwa has a solo exhibit exploring the function of language in the act of privately owning an object: asking workers who embroider labels on certain products to put their names instead of the buyer’s. Yu Cheng-Ta’s External Observer and Niwa’s Power of Ownership are on view until Feb. 7. The gallery, located at 1335 Mabini St., Ermita, Manila, is open Tuesday to Saturday, 2-6 p.m., and by appointment on Sundays.
Flamboyance, a solo art exhibition of works by Victoria Abad Kerblat is on view at the Alliance Total Gallery, The Alliance Française de Manille, Nicanor Garcia St., Makati City.
Galleria Duemila and the Yuchengco Museum present Roberto M. A. Robles’ Here Is How The Transition Into The Mambo Beat Looks Like 2016, from Jan. 27 to Feb. 27 at the museum lobby. Robles’s stark white sculptures pay homage to artists and themes that have claimed the artist’s attention for years. The Yuchengco Museum is at the RCBC Plaza, corner Ayala and Gil Puyat Aves., Makati City.
Blanc gallery starts the year with one solo show and a group exhibit. Free Energy features the works of Louie Cordero, while Melted City 3 is a group show of works by Rolf Campos, Kawayan de Guia, Nona Garcia, Hiro Kurata, Chelsey Pettyjohn, and Masuyama Yuji, among several others. The exhibits are on view until Feb. 6 at the gallery located at 145 Katipunan Ave., St. Ignatius Village, QC. For details e-mail info@blanc.ph.
Vinyl On Vinyl starts the year with three shows which are on view until Feb. 6 at Warehouse 2, 2135 Chino Roces Ave., Makati City. Urbanized Indio by Kris Abrigo (Main Gallery) is an exhibit of paintings which are a personal narrative about the artist’s experiences after moving from rural communes to urban conditions. Artificial Flavor by Tyang Karyel is the artist’s take on the modern traditions as well as folk arts and satirically tackle people’s love for pop culture, nostalgia and food. She works in painting, mixed media and sculpture using wood. The third exhibit is Sexobyot by illustrator and comic book artist Apol Sta. Maria. For more information on the shows, e-mail info@vinylonvinylgallery.com or visit vinylonvinylgallery.com.
The Ateneo Art Gallery presents Octoroon, an exhibit of works by Peta Clancy, Helen Pynor, Bindi Cole Chocka and Steven Rhall. Michael Brenan and Chocka curated this traveling exhibition from A LUMA/La Trobe University Museum of Art. The exhibit — which features three video and photographic installations dealing with issues of identity and representation from the indigenous perspective — will be on view from Jan. 25 to March 26. There will be an ArtSpeak lecture with curator Mr. Brennan on Jan. 25, 4 p.m., before the exhibit proper opens at 6 p.m. The exhibit will be held at the Ateneo Art Gallery, Rizal Library Special Collections Building, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Ave., QC.
The upcoming 18th solo exhibit of mixed media by Filipino artist and writer Maria Victoria Rufino is entitled Luminiscence — Dreamscapes 2016. Presented at the Peninsula Manila’s The Gallery, it will open on Feb. 2 and will be open to the public from Feb. 3 to 7. Proceeds will benefit the Child Protection Network Foundation. Rufino is a Director of Alliance Francaise de Manille and executive producer of Maverick Productions. She is a regular columnist of BusinessWorld, and has won awards from the Manila Critics Circle and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and a Gawad CCP for best TV special from the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Formal Elements, an exhibit of works by Irma Lacorte, is on view at Galleria Duemila until Jan. 30. The exhibit features a series of pencil drawings on circular 122 cm. wood panels prepared and coated with emulsion and gesso. Here, Lacorte works with amassed images from old coffee table books and reverts to the basics of image making by isolating or expanding line, texture, form, and tonal value. Lacorte is an accomplished artist who has also been exhibited at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and at St. Paul’s Gallery Columbia University in New York. Galleria Duemila is located at 210 Loring St., Pasay City.
The exhibit The Oxymoron of Patterns is ongoing until Feb. 27 at the 12th floor, SDA Amphitheater, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde along Pablo Ocampo St., Malate, Manila. Produced by the Center for Campus Art, the exhibit “explores the narratives of these systems of patterns, how they behave, act, react, breathe and live in the spaces of existence.”
RE:VIEW 2015, a year-end group show, is on view at the BenCab Museum’s Gallery Indigo until Feb. 7. The show features the works of 38 artists including Leonard Aguinaldo, Virgilio Aviado, BenCab, Marina Cruz, Emmanuel Garibay, Kawayan de Guia, Winner Jumalon, Arturo Luz, Raffy Napay, Leeroy New, Ramon Orlina, Soler Santos, and Rodel Tapaya. Also on exhibit at the museum’s Print Gallery is Philippine Views, an exhibition of 18th to 19th century prints. The BenCab Museum is located at Km. 6 Asin Road, Tuba, Metro Baguio.
The Vargas Museum at UP Diliman in Quezon City starts the new year with the exhibition BenCab: Another Scale, part of the year-long celebration of National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera’s 50 years as an artist.
Art Informal starts the new year with three shows, which are on view until Feb. 6. At the Main Gallery is Begin, a group exhibition by nine young artists — Pope Bacay, Julia Barrameda, Mars Bugaoan, Pin Calacal, Camille Cabatingan, Andie Harn, Kitty Kaburo, Henrielle Pagkaliwangan, and Veronica Pee — who are treading the various personal and impersonal geographies of beginnings. The Big Room houses Being, featuring an installation by Jacob Lindo. The Inner Room has Hagiography, a show of portraits by Jun Jun Sta. Ana. The gallery is at 277 Connecticut St., Greenhills East, Mandaluyong City.
The Metropolitan Museum of Manila takes its turn in celebrating the 50 creative years of National Artist BenCab (Benedicto Cabrera) with a retrospective exhibition that runs until Feb. 27. The museum is located at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila. For details, e-mail info@metmuseum.ph.
Galleria Duemila in partnership Greenbelt presents New Life, a public sculpture exhibition by Impy Pilapil. The exhibit runs until Feb. 28, 2016 at Greenbelt Park, Makati City. For details, call 831-9990, e-mail gduemila@gmail.com, or visit www.galleriaduemila.com.
PERFORMANCE
Bituing Walang Ningning (The Musical) has performances at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila until January. Starring Mark Bautista, Antoinette Taus and Monica Cuenco, it is based on the famous film of the same name about an established star who finds herself competing for fame and love with a newcomer. Directed by Freddie Santos. For details, visit www.ticketworld.com.ph, or call 891-9999.
Repertory Philippines presents Ken Ludwig’s comedy The Games Afoot. Directed by Miguel Faustmann, there are performances until Feb. 7 at the Onstage Theater, 2nd Floor, Greenbelt 1, Paseo de Roxas St., Makati City. For details, visit www.ticketworld.com.ph, or call 891-9999.
RETROWORLD: REtroSPECT Reunion Concert Tour 2016 will be held on Jan. 29, 8 p.m., at the Music Museum, Greenhills Shopping Center,, San Juan City. Tickets range in price from P300 to P1,500. For details, visit www.ticketworld.com.ph, or call 891-9999.
Livin’ La Vida Imelda, Carlos Celdran’s one-man performance about the 1970s, Martial Law, and the life of the flamboyant former first lady will have performances at the Pineapple Lab, 6071 R. Palma Street, Poblacion, Makati, on Jan. 29, 30, and 31, 8:30 p.m. To reserve tickets, which cost P1,000, 0920-909-2021 or e-mail celdrantours@hotmail.com (subject: Imelda) to reserve.
PETA’s upcoming production, 3 Stars and a Sun, presents a dystopian future set to the music of the late Francis Magalona. After one particular deadly storm, the government decides to construct the Stormdome, a shelter that blocks out the sky and has millions of security cameras. The musical will feature 20 songs by Mr. Magalona, including his hits and some unfamiliar ones, including surprises like a song with a kundiman structure infused with rock. The cast includes Paolo Valenciano, Gio Gahol, Nicco Manalo, Carla Guevara-Laforteza, and Bodjie Pascua. The musical will run from Feb. 4 to March 6 at the PETA-PHINMA Theater at the PETA Theater Center, No. 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City. For details, call 725-6244, or visit petatheater.com or ticketworld.com.ph.
A BABYSITTER tries to protect the children in her care when mysterious, pig-masked people attack the home. Directed by Audrey Cummings, this horror flick stars Alysa King, Samora Smallwood, and Bart Rochon. Writes Brad Wheeler of the Globe and Mail: “One suspects the ‘actual events’ involved first-time director Audrey Cummings at one point in her life watching better babysitter thrillers such as Halloween or When a Stranger Calls, because Berkshire County is nothing close to original.”
AN AWARD-WINNING novelist has a mental breakdown following the death of his wife. Decades later, his daughter attempts to heal what has been broken between them. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, the film stars Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, and Aaron Paul. “Russell Crowe heads a starry, largely overqualified cast in Gabriele Muccino’s treacly, time-hopping family soap opera,” writes Guy Lodge of Variety.
A FRENCH FILM about two would-be robbers who spin a tale of a thief from Baghdad who finds a magical lamp that is home to a wish-granting genie. Directed by Arthur Benzaquen, it stars Kev Adams, Jean-Paul Rouve, and Vanessa Guide.
A YOUNG AMERICAN woman takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village, only to discover that the family’s eight-year-old is a life-sized doll that the parents care for just like a real boy, as a way to cope with the death of their actual son 20 years prior. She quickly learns that there is more to the doll than meets the eye. Directed by William Brent Bell, the film stars Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, and James Russell. Writes Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly: “[It] aims to set itself squarely in the fictional canon of Chucky and its brethren, but it ends up trying to do so much that it forgets to scare us.”
A STAR CINEMA drama megged by Joyce Bernal about a caregiver who struggles with her new client — a high-powered executive diagnosed with cancer. The film stars Angel Locsin, Vilma Santos and Xian Lim.