Showcasing a Filipino superstar in Europe

No doubt about her world-class artistry. Nora Aunor--widely considered as the greatest actress in the history of Philippine cinema and popularly known as the Superstar with her multi-media reign (music, television, cinema, and theater)--could be the closest to Meryl Streep and Barbra Streisand combined in terms of iconic cultural impact.

At the 69th Venice International Film Festival (29 August - 8 September 2012), the diminutive Aunor will stand one of the tallest as the spotlight of the world's oldest film festival beams up at two of her works. Her new film Thy Womb, directed by Brillante Mendoza (the best director awardee at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival) has been officially selected at Venezia's competition section. Moreover, the digitally restored version of her 1982 film Himala (Miracle), awarded as the CNN Viewers' Choice for Best Asia-Pacific Film of All Time, has been chosen for Venezia's section of rediscovered world classics along with the works of European and American masters like Ingmar Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Orson Welles, Michael Cimino, etc.

Aunor, who has won best actress awards from various international festivals, holds the distinction as the first Filipino actor and one of only a few Asians  whose films have been featured in three of the top-tier international festivals--Cannes (1981) for Lino Brocka's Bona, Berlin (1983) for Ishmael Bernal's Himala (Miracle), and Venice (2012) for Mendoza's Thy Womb. Affirming her preeminence, she topped the list of the 10 Best Asian Actresses of the Decade at the 2010 Green Planet Movie Awards (Los Angeles, California) along with China's Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and Maggie Cheung as well as celebrities from South Korea and Japan.

At 59, Aunor continues to reaffirm her royalty long after she sang her way to national fame out of poverty (she used to sell bottled water at the train station in her hometown). Since she became a singing champion at the age of 16 (think of American Idol circa the late 60s), the "little dark girl" has ensconced herself as the showbiz queen, reconfiguring the face of Philippine entertainment where the colonial standard of beauty--fair-skinned mestizas--used to reign. Cited for her pioneering efforts in producing independent films that have been considered among the classics in Philippine and world cinema, she has been a recipient of several lifetime awards. Her globally viable gifts as an artist will be up for a reaffirmation as she makes her presence felt in Europe once again.

Below is a video of a CNN feature on Himala (Miracle) with interviews of Aunor as well as the film's scriptwriter and producer:

A Filipino giant named Mario O'Hara

Vita brevis, ars longa. Life is short, art is long. This truism becomes a living testimony to the works of a Filipino Renaissance Man—“actor, director, writer, a giant of Philippine theater and film," as affirmed in the eulogy from National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

Mario O'Hara, 68, died from complications due to acute leukemia last June 25, 2012. With the news of his passing, a chorus of  artists and writers memorialized their mourning by turning his name a trending buzzword in Twitter. After the outpouring of grief came the ode to his artistry—at turns socio-realist and fabulist in its cold-eyed dramatization but always warm with its humanist vision.  Known for his unassuming ways, O’Hara certainly left a void in the hearts of many who attest to his generosity of spirit and his non-compromising craftsmanship. “Though he’s been invited to direct soap operas and mainstream films many times, O’ Hara was consistent in refusing offers from major studios, citing the creative limitations set by network executives,” cited a report.  

O’Hara wrote the screenplays of two famous films by Lino Brocka, the most internationally renowned Filipino director, one of which (“Insiang”)  became the first Filipino film to be invited to the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival in 1977.  In 2003, "Ang Babae Sa Breakwater" (Woman of the Breakwater), written and directed by O’Hara, was also shown in Cannes. “This low-budget independent film was one of the pioneers leading the charge of Philippine cinema on the international festival circuit. Today Philippine movies are a fixture at Cannes, Venice, and other festivals. This would not have been possible without the ground-breaking work of the quiet, self-effacing Mario O’Hara,” acknowledged the Cinema One Originals Festival last year when it named him a co-recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award along with the Superstar of Philippine entertainment, Nora Aunor.

Known as  O’Hara’s muse and collaborator in most of his critically acclaimed films, Aunor started to be recognized as the “country’s greatest actress” when O’Hara directed her in the 1976 classic “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos" (Three Godless Years), which a film critic arguably considered as “the best Filipino film ever made.” 

That immortality becomes O’Hara can be gleaned from his body of work as a performer and filmmaker. That immortality becomes O’Hara’s can be gleaned from his essential body of work both as a performer and filmmaker.  His influence is immense, wrote a fellow filmmaker in a tribute titled "Once There Were Giants."