Sign Up Against PORK!

Yesterday, I went to Luneta to sign up against all pork! Will post my video coverage asap! Nearly done with editing.

The Holy Pig

The mighty pig was atop a truck parked in front of Quirino Grandstand right across the monument of Rizal in Luneta

The place above is special to me and my Deaf friends as this was one of the settings we used for the interpretation of Rizal’s ‘To the Filipino Youth” in Filipino Sign Language.

It was National Heroes Day! Rizal must be sad while witnessing the event — people marching to Luneta to hold a protest rally against corruption. Though clothed differently, the same social cancer he wrote about is eating up the society. It must be hurting for him and all our other heroes who fought and died for our freedom from tyranny and foreign oppression. Now, the fight is against our own leaders who are misusing their power.

For detailed reports, click below:
http://www.manilatimes.net/rallyists-pork-sparse-spirits-high/121622/

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/25/14/who-showed-anti-pork-barrel-rally

 

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Daily Prompt: Get Set, Ready, Go

Yesterday, it was like attending a rally. With Macky Calbay, a Deaf youth leader, we hopped from one building to another, in the campus of the University of the Philippines to hang tarpaulins, print posters, distribute flyers, talk to partners who have joined us to support the screening of my film, A MI PATRIA / INANG-BAYAN / TO MY MOTHERLAND scheduled next week on February 3. It is a collection of Dr. Jose Rizal’s patriotic poems written between the time when he was a teener to the day or a couple of days before he was shot to death by a firing squad on December 30, 1896 during the Spanish regime in the Philippines. My film is the first-ever interpretation in Filipino Sign Language of Rizal’s poems which he wrote more than 100 years ago. They are as follows: A Filipinas, A la Juventud Filipina, Canto de Maria Clara, A las Flores de Heidelberg and Ultimo Adios. Though primarily made with, and for the Deaf sector, the film eventually turned out to serve ordinary students of Rizal Studies. I decided to make the spoken language versions of the film in Spanish, Filipino and English to give access to Blind students.

Running around to market my own film is one of the experiences, we makers of non-commercially viable films encounter. With no known actors, and made for a marginalized sector, I nevertheless expect unexpected reactions as I always tend to choose subjects never before tackled.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/daily-prompt-free-write/

A Mi PATRIA – 5 Rizal’s Poetry in Film Interpreted in FSL Previews Tomorrow

The collection of Dr. Jose Rizal’s poetry [in film] done in four languages: Filipino Sign Language, Filipino, English and Spanish will finally be previewed tomorrow, May 18 at 1pm. The viewing scheduled at PEN Learning Room at DLS-CSB SDEAS is limited to performers, production staff and a few guests only. It is just my SOP to show it to the staff before any premiere screening is held to welcome suggestions to further improve the film, if and when necessary. Its public / premiere showing is targeted next month, June 19, the start of the 151st celebration of Rizal’s bday. Notably, A mi Patria was made exactly 100 years after the first film on Rizal in the Philippines was produced by the Americans, Yearsley and Gross. The film features Aldrin Gabriel, Mark Gaspar and Romalito Mallari as Rizal; Jorelle Faytaren as Maria Clara, and the Silent Steps.

The title “A MI PATRIA” / INANG-BAYAN / TO MY MOTHERLAND [FSL version] – which has taken a year to finish came from Noli Me Tangere, Dr. Rizal’s novel. It is the dedication title of Rizal in the said book. A MI is thematic; it centers on Rizal’s love of country and/or patriotism. All are inspiring poems; some sad, others hopeful. The poems interpreted in FSL are: A Filipinas, A la Juventud Filipina, Canto de Maria Clara, A las Flores de Heidelberg and Ultimo Adios. Rizal started writing poetry from his teenage years.

SDEAS will facilitate the special screening tomorrow.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

At least, I feel a little better today. A Happy Chinese New Year’s Day for me.  Kung Hei Fat Choi!  means May Prosperity Be With You. But I wish you all not only prosperity but good health above everything!

Yesterday, I wasn’t able to attend the Autism Walk 2012, a practice that I always do annually. Being sick automatically disables me from my work. Early morning today, I got up feeling better so I was able to work on the A La Juventud Filipina segment of Mr. Fernando Ramos. A Spanish national, he is a visiting professor at the UP Department of European Languages. With the Silent Steps performance his reading was simultaneously edited in. One or the other functions as an inset. I am just to layin the music of JM Diego and Roselle Pineda. Their music for this particular segment is their second best composed music for the  omnibus film, A mi Patria / Inang-Bayan. Ultimo Adios music still ranks for me as the best among the lot.

ULTIMO ADIOS in Filipino Sign Language_Soon Available

I’ll officially be releasing DVD copies of the Sesquicentennial Edition of Ultimo Adiós [in Filipino Sign Language] on Saturday, October 1 during the closing day of the Deaf Education Seminar being sponsored by the UP College of Education. The film was first launched in June in time for the 150 birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal.  This is to help raise additional funds for our production’s maintenance and operations expenses, i.e., additional manpower, food, materials, atbp. I have yet to finish four poems in FSL and 15 poems in spoken languages [English, Filipino and Spanish].

By the way, Aldrin Gabriel also interpreted the 5th poem that I have added in the collection. I could have settled on having only four, with blessings from the NCCA because the poem SA AKING KABATA which was originally included in my proposal was finally excluded because of the current issue that it was not Rizal who wrote the poem. The last poem in my collection is A FILIPINAS / TO THE PHILIPPINES. With the latter in the collection, the whole series has become thematic: it is about Rizal’s nationalism, his deep love for his country which started as early as when he was a teener, as exemplified in his poem A La Juventud Filipina.