UP Film Institute honors Armida Siguion-Reyna with the Diwata Award for Lifetime Achievement
Lino Brocka's Dung-aw screening after Diwata Conferment at 6 p.m.
The 20th International Women’s Film Festival confers this year’s Diwata Award for Lifetime Achievement to Armida Siguion-Reyna – distinguished actress, producer and industry leader.
In the local film industry, she is looked up to as a character of strength and a woman of steely substance. A staunch defender of artists’ rights to freedom of expression, Armida has proved to be a source of inspiration and a pillar of tenacity to her industry colleagues.
Her artistic legacy encompasses both acting for film and studio production. She breathed life to innumerable screen characters in films that put to question the predicament of disadvantaged women in society. In the films produced under the auspices of succeeding companies she founded, she likewise drew attention to society’s treatment of women and the patriarchal dominion that systematically holds women in bondage - be it a period drama set in the country’s colonial days or a romance of a seemingly faraway time and place at world’s edge.
Today’s generation of film-loving audiences need not be stranger to Armida’s illustrious career as her body of work carries gems of Philippine cinema that have left their indelible mark in the collective consciousness. She gave contrasting dimensions to the contravida parts she essayed in local films for which she earned instant raves.
In her award-winning turn for National Artist Lino Brocka’s “Tahan Na, Empoy, Tahan” (1977), the contravida character she played ended up winning over the audience to her side not because she gets her due comeuppance but just by lending back story to her surface oppressiveness.
She played nemesis to Da King himself, Fernando Poe Jr., in “Partida” (1985) and was rewarded with a lead actress nod – rare not only for a contravida role but also for an FPJ film where stealing the limelight from the Action King no co-star would ever dare.
In more films, she similarly made life difficult to female superstars Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Alma Moreno at the prime of their respective movie queen-ship. But this is not to say that Armida was typecast. In a relatively recent turn in “Filipinas” (2003), she played the matriarch of a family that stands in for a nation in strife and in flux. She was also memorable in an earlier comic turn for Mike de Leon’s “Kakaba-kaba Ka Ba” (1980).
As a lady producer more often described as feisty, Armida was reputed to be meticulous and highly demanding. But such must be due to her dedication to craft and commitment to creativity. The end product always proved her point and established she was right all along. It is of no wonder why the canon of Philippine cinema has to include titles from production outfits credited to Armida such as “Laruang Apoy” (1977), “Mga Bilanggong Birhen” (1977), “Hihintayin Kita sa Langit” (1991), “Ikaw Pa Lang ang Minahal” (1992), “Inagaw Mo ang Lahat sa Akin” (1995), “Ligaya ang Itawag Mo sa Akin” (1997), to mention just a few – all acclaimed films audiences might do well to revisit.
A high point in Armida's career both as a screen actress and a lady producer is the late National Artist Lino Brocka's "Dung-aw," the rare musical dramatization in the 1970s of the story of Gabriela Silang - the female revolutionary icon of the Filipinos fighting against Spanish colonialism long before Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio's Katipunan. Armida portrayed and sang the legendary Gabriela role at a dark hour for Philippine democracy to stir a patriotic fervor in the name of the Filipino struggle for freedom and emancipation.
Screening Schedule:
Cine Adarna:
10 a.m. -Philippine Short Films (Babae, Hulagpos, Blue Bike for Red Wagon, Slide Show)
11 a.m. -Philippine Short Films (Ang Panagtagpo sa Akong mga Apohan/22:19/(De)Construct ing Eve/Nilda)
1 p.m. -2nd Women's Film Congress (Sari Dalena, Ellen Ramos, Ellen Ongkeko Marfil, Pam Miras)
2:30 p.m. -Czech Republic Short Films (Baba/About the First Domestic Cat/Whoops, Mistake/Dress Rehearsal)
3:30 p.m. -Dunia (Jocelyn Saab, Lebanon, 2005)
5:30 p.m. -Diwata Awards Presentation (Armida Siguion-Reyna, Lifetime Achievement Honoree)/Dung-Aw (Gala Night Film directed by National Artist Lino Brocka)
Videotheque:
11:30 a.m. -The Photograph (Nan Achnas, Indonesia, 2007)
2 p.m. -Philippine Short Films (Ika-30 Kaarawan ni Rachel/Ricochet/May Tibak at May Tibak)
3 p.m. -Philippine Short Films (Ajax/Dadi/Uyayi/Hapi Bertdei)
4 p.m. -Philippine Short Films (Laya/Balatkayo/Bottled Star)
The University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) is going to hold the 20th year of the Philippines' longest running women's film festival, the International Women's Film Festival (IWFF) on March 16, 2011 with the theme, PURPLE PIXELS: WOMEN IN THE INDIE FILM FRONTIER. It will be a one-day film festival.
In this connection, we are inviting you and your friends, students, faculty members, office staff and film aficionados you know to join us and participate in the activities of the IWFF.
We have organized the 2nd Women's Film Congress to take place on March 16 at 1:00pm to 2:30pm. The Congress will tackle how women may appropriate a liberating medium such as digital filmmaking and explore how women digitally paint a picture of how their fellow women view the world, how the world views women, and how women would like the world to view them. The 20th IWFF Organizing Committee has invited the following prominent and influential women independent filmmakers, such as Ms. Sari Dalena, Ms. Roni Velasco, Ms. Ellen Ramos, and Ms. Rica Arevalo. They will speak about their experiences as independent women filmmakers and also show excerpts of their works.
Screenings of independent films by women filmmakers will follow the congress and all participants are invited to the screenings.
Screenings take place from 10:00am to 12:00 noon and 2:30pm to 5:00pm.
Likewise, all Festival participants are invited to attend the Festival Ceremonies also on March 16 at 6:00pm at the Cine Adarna where the awarding of the DIWATA AWARD will take place and the screening of the gala film, DUNG-AW. This year's Diwata Awardee is Ms. Armida Siguion Reyna; the 20th IWFF honors Ms. Sigion Reyna for her lifetime achievements in successfully contributing original text about women sensibilities that empower women who have been marginalized in the traditional film text and her outstanding contributions to Philippine cinema.
To reserve seats for the Film Congress and the Festival Ceremonies, and for Festival details, kindly get in touch with Dr. Armi V. Santiago at PLDT 63-2-920-6863 or through email at armisan2004@yahoo.com or through Mr. Nonoy Lauzon at PLDT 63-2-926-3640.
