Here’s good news for filmmakers interested to join the 2010 Cinema One Originals Digital Movie Festival: The deadline for submission of scripts has been extended till March 17.

Those who want to submit entries, whether professional, amateur or veteran filmmakers are required to submit a full narrative feature script. Entries may also include character and story descriptions as well as a detailed production team lineup.

Entries should be in hard copy or CD, sent via snail mail or submitted in person to the Cinema One Office at the 8th Floor of the ELJ Communications Center, along Eugenio Lopez Dive, Quezon City. (Look for Lani de Guzman from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) Entry forms are available online at www.cinemaone.tv.

Cinena One Originals has produced critically-acclaimed, award-winning independent movies such as “Confessional,” “Yanggaw,” “Romeo & Juliet,” “Imburnal,” “Altar” and “Sa North Diversion Road,” among many others which move beyond the boundaries of the mainstream, and have earned, for Philippine cinema the global attention it deserves through awards from various international film festivals from the likes of Cinemanila International Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival, Pusan International Film Festival, New York International Film and Video Festival and the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival in Korea, among others.

Popular website and film experts’ online haven, www.hollywoodreporter.com has in fact acknowledged Cinema One’s significant contribution to the upturn of the Philippine filmmaking industry which has made a strong comeback. In October 2009, well-known online international film critic Patrick Frater published an article entitled “Manila in Its Moment,” where he wrote that a major influence in the “current boom” of Philippine filmmaking is ABS-CBN’s Cinema One movie cable channel which shows Filipino classics as well as commercial films from the past.

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‘Wipeout’ starts airing Monday on GMA-7

Until you have watched “Wipeout,” you haven’t seen yet a TV show with extreme obstacle courses that only the most daring and courageous participants can take the hazards which may endanger their lives in a split-second!

“Wipeout” is US-based, but it has local commentaries that will be handled by Paolo Contis and introducing Vince De Jesus, stage actor/composer, he is also a comedian which is necessary to temper the seriousness of the show in terms of obstacles and hazards.

If you wonder where Vince came from, he said: “I started with ‘Camera Café,’ a 15-minute comedy show. That was my first exposure. It is a wonderful opportunity that I am working with Paolo Contis.

He is natural, and witty. And working together in a wholesome show.”

Now 41 years old, Vince said he has been with PETA for the last 27 years where he wrote and composed songs, including several stage plays. PETA indeed is his love!

Whether he is still single or not, he revealed that he has been living with his partner for five years now.

“Wipeout,” or “matira ang matibay” (the strongest wins) is further described as an endurance game which is “cruel, painful, suspenseful, and hurting.” Viewers will definitely shriek or laugh!

The painfully/funny reality series is from the Endemol International and it features 24 daring contestants from America who will go head-to-head through four rounds of hilarious but no less physically demanding challenges until only one of them escapes being wiped out.

“StarStruck V” avenger Nina Kodaka will do a special feature of the show – interviewing audiences about their predictions on the challenges and opinions on the 24 thrill seekers of the show. You may also catch her on the streets!

The pilot episode airs Monday, March 15 before the “Family Feud” on GMA-7.

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Merk’s brings Salinawit to Makati on March 16

From the pigeonhole: Google the name Pete Lacaba and one invariably gets writer, editor, poet, screenwriter, journalist and translator. What few don’t realize is that “translator” is less the art of writing and more the passion for music that comes by the name of Salinawit.

On Tuesday, March 16, Merk’s Bar Bistro brings Salinawit to Makati for the first time with a lineup of artists to include Armida Siguion-Reyna, Gino Padilla, Suzy Unas, Ramon “Montet” Acoymo, Ricky Davao, Atty. Ferdie Topacio, Richard Merk who runs the bar, and Pete Lacaba poet translator lauriate himself. Accompanist is the amazing Ferdie Borja.

Salinawit basically means the translation of classic foreign songs into Tagalog. It started as Pete Lacaba’s personal project way back in the ’70s until it caught fire among his friends who began asking for more and more translations. There are today 101 Salinawits.

Armida who has been in music all her life and whose name is synonymous with “Aawitan Kita” which has for decades brought classical kundimans to the live stage and television, once brought Salinawit to the Aawitan stage. She has remained an admirer of Pete’s work. In her Tribune column she wrote, “I hold that not anybody can do a salinawit. Pete Lacaba is no musician, but he loves music in a crazy, close to obsessed manner that makes his translations work.”

Gino Padilla was an ’80s hitmaker, one who dueted with Tina Turner for the Pepsi Commercial. His popular hits include “Closer You and I,” “I Believe In You,” “Gusto Kita.” He is today part of the Men of the ’80s group composed of Louie Heredia, Raymond Lauchengco, Randy Santiago, and himself.
Suzy Unas is a lounge singer and recording artist of Ivory Records with a new album “Lite and Smooth.” She has been honing her craft at Lounges of the Calesa Bar, Celebrity Lounge, Hyatt Hotel & Casino, Boulvar Music Lounge since 2004. She can be found today at the Richmond Hotel Lounge.

Montet Acoymo, UP Music Dean is a colorful individual who shares his love of music anytime and everywhere. It will be a great experience to hear him endow the ballads with his operatic style. Actor Ricky Davao is a familiar face in all occasions and events where singing is on the menu; Richard Merk of course is the first name that will come to mind when one speaks of Philippine jazz, and Pete Lacaba is that multi-talented writer who has turned the love for music into an all-consuming passion.

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‘Lockdown’ this Monday on ‘I-Witness’

Jay Taruc is known for documentaries in which he immerses in the lives of people from different walks of life. This time around, he steps into a place that is perhaps one of the most forgotten in society – prison.

In “Lockdown” Jay Taruc documents and experiences life behind bars. Together with hundreds of detainees, he undergoes the prison routine – scrubbing toilets, cleaning up his cell, and cooking food for other inmates among other things. With nothing but time to kill, he uncovers the struggles of those within the penitentiary.

In “selda diyes,” he meets cellmates Bunso, Ken and Puri. Most of the inmates in “selda diyes” have been locked up since they were teenagers. But despite the seemingly cold world inside a prison cell, Jay discovers that perhaps not all the stereotypes about prisoners and prison culture are true.
Jay Taruc’s eye-opening documentary airs this Monday on “I-Witness,” after “Saksi,” on GMA-7.

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Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings Monday, March 15, go to Mrs. Teena Sarino, Bojo Molina, New York-based CPA Ray S. Sampilo, Cecille C. Limjoco, Lourdes “Ludy” Medalla, Corazon P. Velasco, Linda Pasco, Josefa “Tita” Ejercito, Arnold Valdecanas, Remy Mercado and Gabb Drilon…Happy wedding anniversary to Johnny and Baby Go…