Goodbye Asiong Salonga 2011 For Now! Welcome Back Rizal!

I am set to do the continuation of my small film for a great man, Dr. Jose Rizal, leaving behind gangster Asiong Salonga, and the big budgeted film for a while. They are going to shoot the four [not two] remaining sequences, and I have to shoot my 3rd poem for my own project almost at the same time. Good timing!!! Anyway, if it hadn’t jibed, I would have to take time off from editing it just the same because this has long been programmed.

”]Deaf interpreter / performer of A LAS FLORES DE HEIDELBERG will be Romalito Mallari, of Dinig Sana Kita fame. He also appeared in my docu on Deaf Filipinos, Silent Odyssey [2008] as dancing partner of CJ Patriarca, another talented Deaf gal. Rome is scheduled to fit his costume tomorrow. Shooting will be at PEN Learning Center at DLS-CSB SDEAS on Friday, August 26. This is the first time to have very, very short time allotment to spend for my pre-production work which I consider to be very important. Tomorrow and Thursday require heavy preparations and running around to coordinate people, places and things. I have yet to restudy my shot lists. And since this will be my first chroma project, I do find it interesting! I know I will learn something new.

I am also coordinating with Spanish readers from Instituto Cervantes referred by its Cultural Attache, Mr. Fons. Ms. Beatriz Alvarez-Tardio already confirmed her participation in the project.

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Kingpin Asiong to Finalize

Today, I will start with the fine cutting of the film Kingpin… a few dagdag-bawas to less than 10 sequences, and my work will be over…. TEMPORARILY … because there are two days of shooting left I was told. Good enough timing. I will have time for the preparation of Rizal’s Mga Bulaklak  sa Heidelberg shoot.

Already coordinated with Señor Fons of the Instituto Cervantes re poetry readers in Spanish and also with Prof. Wystan de la Peña of the UP Dept of European Languages who will read Ultimo Adiós.

My Deaf Neighbor

I studied Filipino sign language for a year from 2006-2007 but it was only yesterday that I came to know that I have a Deaf neighbor I should have been communicating with.

Walking down Cuneta Ave. on the way home, I met Liza, a Deaf member of Filipino Deaf Women’s Health and Crisis Center (FDWHCC), a group I actually belong too. It was her who saw me first. I was so surprised to see her so I asked where she is staying. We walked towards the road where I pass almost everyday and she pointed at a house with a small store in front of it. It was greatly surprising! Not only because I always pass that way but I used to stop by at that place to have a chat sometimes with an old man who tends his plants with great care, a man with green thumbs. She too was surprised as I showed her where our house is located which must be some 30 steps away from their house.

I first saw Liza at the MRT station a couple of months ago. She is quite small but it was very easy to remember her features. It was a Sunday and I received an invitation from Liway Cabildo for an emergency meeting of FD..When I was walking to go to the Church of Liway located at the corner of EDSA and GMA, I saw her again. When I entered the church’s gate and she entered the gate too, I got an inkling that she must be attending the meeting too. So, I talked to her but she started signing. Only then that I came to know that she is Deaf and that she is a member of FD too. Yesterday, when I came to know that she is my neighbor I felt so happy—I never really knew that there is Deaf in our neighborhood and on top of that, that she is a member of the group I have joined in.

Incidentally, yesterday too, I went to Instituto Cervantes to attend a meeting on “Copyright in the Digital Environment: A Forum for Writers and Publishers.” I was also surprised to meet Deaf students from DLS-CSB School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies’ (SDEAS) Ana Arce, Anaditha and Bronson. Giselle who informed me about the forum was their interpreter. Panelists were Atty. Louie Calvario, Dr. Isagani R. Cruz of DLSU and Ramon Sunico of Cacho Hermanos. Although my problem is about my film, I did ask them for their advice re the case of my historical docu TIGA-ISLA / The Islanders [of Corregidor] which is being sold online and being profited by an Australian webmaster. A lawyer named Atty. Adrian Sison offered to help me re the matter.