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MASTERING THE VISUAL NARRATIVE Greetings from MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA, Film and TV Director/Producer/Writer/Educator It's one thing to watch movies; it's quite another to make them, and make them well. Movie watching is something we can easily master as early as childhood. Moviemaking, on the other hand, is a lifetime vocation at its best. These days, almost anyone can make a movie in many different ways: 1. Buy a video camera you can afford; point and shoot; edit your footage on your personal computer; present a home movie for family amusement. Home movies provide more fun than family albums. 2. Win a grant from Cinemalaya or Cinema One, then make your dream movie on video for international festival circuits, starting, for example, with Cine Manila. 3. Secure loans to fund a professional 35mm indie movie for theatrical release both here and abroad. 4. Apply for a job in a mainstream production company. Start from the director's staff, learn filmmaking on the set, work your way up the ladder, collaborate with your film community, and wait for your big break. 5. Apply for a job in any one of the related fields of advertising, television, the documentary, news and public affairs. So many new stories are waiting to be told. 6. Invest in a solid film education and skills training program, in addition to all of the above, and in both technologies of video AND 35mm.

The MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA FILM INSTITUTE AND ARTS CENTER provides a conducive environment to accomplish all of the above. Learn the Language of Motion Pictures. Practice, practice, practice Production Protocols and Procedures. Acquire an international-standard film education at a fraction of the cost to study in American film schools. Today, the VISUAL NARRATIVE is most in-demand not only as personal entertainment, product advertisements, music videos, and corporate portfolio; but also, and more importantly, as a social expression of our collective significant human experiences. We are relieved, at least for a couple of hours, from our daily troubles. Also, we relish what's best and worthy about human life. We used to paste "still" pictures in bulky family albums - cherished heirlooms - passed on from one generation to the next. Today, we still do this, but we can also record for posterity "moving" pictures of ourselves as a family, as a community, and as a nation, in any number of formats, in both video and film. The best thing about this is watching our mementos, our life-stories, our dreams, fears, and fantasies unravel on the big screen. We all know how beneficial catharsis is after watching a well-made movie, in the various genres of drama, comedy, action, horror, fantasy and adventure. Do visit www.mdafilm.com, and our brand new campus in Beverly Hills Subdivision, Antipolo City. Our facility, high above the smog and din of Manila, offers excellent classroom and location shooting spaces. Enjoy this advantage, only half an hour's drive from the EDSA Shrine. Study the science, art and business of feature filmmaking with our multi-awarded, dedicated, practicing instructors and mentors. Our classroom walls are "mobile", extending to the industrial studios, laboratories and professional shooting sets of our faculty corps in Metro Manila and beyond. Register now to avoid the enrollment rush. We have only a dozen slots left for the next school year which begins in June , 2008. Deadline for enrollment is May 2, 2008. Please allow at least 4 weeks for the processing of your application and personal interview. Welcome aboard MDAFI ! MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA President and Director of Studies MDAFI

Twenty Questions finally

Finally, Twenty Questions will be staged this coming JULY produced by ASTIG (Alagad ng Sining, Talino, Imahinasyon, at Galing).

For updates, just keep on visiting www.geocities.com/twentyquestions2006


the site is still under construction but it will be fully functional soon.

6:20

Juan Ekis, author of Twenty Questions, has another play coming up. An entry from his own blog explains:

"The play may be weird for some people as I will be tackling my own writing process and my beliefs about art and theater in this play. The story goes--five characters from my old plays arrive at rehearsals to stop my supposed 'last play.'"

Still in the same entry, X is looking for a place in Ortigas to stage Twenty Questions. Again, in his words:

"If only I had a peso every time this play is forwarded in the internet, I would have the money to stage it."

Hint...hint. For those who enjoyed reading it...baka gusto ninyo akong pondohan. :)

Care to figure out how to do this?

Twenty More Questions

I've posted about wanting to see Twenty Questions and missing a staging of it before. Now I'm at it again.

The Juan Ekis play Twenty Questions is now officially in pre-production. The last staging doesn't really count, if only because Ekis only found out about it a few days before the show. That isn't the case this time. Details are still sketchy, but I'll be posting updates as I get them.

Kangkongkerers

A strange write-up for a band of crazy artists fueled by beer, tobacco, and batchoy:

Ere the moon set on the year 2004, seven were called by the whispering wind, by the gurgling brook, by the singing rain, by his highness, the god of Rock. He sent his wife, the queen of Funk, who in turn sent her handmaid, the beautiful Waltz, to seduce these mortals and thus bring them to the queen's bosom. Waltz found them in the midst of a play, whereupon the tinkling silence captured all, and of beauty there was no want. From her lovely mouth the song of waltz was sung, and violin strings were strung to play for god and man. The god of Rock saw that this was good. He blessed these mortals with the gift of Batchoy, making known his will - that they be named the KANGKONGKERERS and that they shall play when all is silent.

Muad'ib from the Lost Book of Swamp Cabbage

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