Leading lifestyle destination Shangri-La Plaza is set to host one of the anticipated runs of the World Premieres Film Festival, the cinematic showcase of critically acclaimed works and upcoming film directors from across the globe.
All the entries in the festival will either make a worldwide or an international premiere, with the Main Competition, Intercontinental and “ASEAN Skies” categories screening at the Shang Cineplex until July 5.
The lineup includes a special premiere of Filipino entry Dalisay (9 p.m. last Thursday), and two other international section entries – 3 Beauties and Damn, and New York.
The main competition section counts Redha and Daughters of the Three Tailed Banner with gala premieres at the Shang last night.
The last three films include ASEAN Skies section entries 7 Letters, by Singapore’s seven most illustrious directors, and another Filipino entry Laut, plus the lauded Galloping Mind.
Ticket price for the film festival is P100.
Check out the complete World Premieres Film Festival screening schedule at the Shang Cineplex or at www.facebook.com/shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage.
For inquiries, call 370-2597 or visit www.facebook.com/shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage. Follow the Shang on Instagram: @shangrilaplazaofficial.
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Classic movies on coping with daily life at DLS-CSB
The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) will showcase four classic films of world cinema for the month of July, which focus on ordinary people and how they cope with their daily lives.
All screenings are free and open to the public.
Screened yesterday was Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention (2002). Composed of strange, random vignettes of Palestinian life, this deadpan black comedy is centered on two lovers who meet at a border checkpoint between Nazareth and Jerusalem.
Jia Zhangke’s The World (2004) will be shown on July 6 (12 noon), at School of Design and Arts (SDA) Building, Room A1119, and on July 8, (12 noon and 3 p.m.), at the SDA Cinema. Tracing the underbelly of China’s economic boom, the film explores the lives of contractual workers in a theme park that features miniature replicas of tourist attractions from around the globe.
The coastal fringe of the Sahara Desert acts as a stark backdrop in Waiting for Happiness (2002) by Abderrahmane Sissako. This lyrical portrait of the victims of structural adjustment in West Africa is scheduled on July 20 and July 22, (12 noon), at the SDA Room A1119.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Millennium Mambo (2001) will be featured on July 27 and July 29, (12 noon and 3 p.m.) at the SDA Cinema. Set in Taipei at the dawn of the new Asian century, the film follows an aimless twentysomething as she drifts through the neon streets of the city while her future is on hold.
The selection is curated by Elmo Gonzaga, who holds a PhD from the University of California Berkeley. He specializes in the Visual and Spatial Cultures of Southeast Asia and the Global South. He is, at present, teaches Media Studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He will soon be assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
For inquiries and reservations about the film screenings, please call 230-5100 local 3897 or email mcad@benilde.edu.ph.