CCP Cine Icons goes to the University of Santo Tomas for the special screenings of award-winning films Bagong Buwan and Anak on April 15, at the Pier Giorgio Frassati Auditorium.
Launched in 2023, CCP Cine Icons is a special program of the CCP Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division (CCP FBNMD) which aims to honor and popularize the life and works of National Artists and Gawad CCP Para sa Sining awardees.
In collaboration with the UST-SHS student council, CCP Cine Icons will be featuring digitally restored classic works by National Artists Ricky Lee and Marilou Diaz-Abaya.
Starring award-winning actresses Vilma Santos and Claudine Barretto, Anak is about a Filipina overseas contract worker whose social circumstances force her to leave her family and take a higher-paying job in a more-prosperous Asian country. Unaware of her husband’s death, she is met with resentment and hatred by her children when she finally returns to the Philippines.
“Dahil sa digital restoration program ng ABS-CBN Sagip Pelikula, naibabahagi namin sa bagong henerasyon ang mga kuwentong ito para ma-appreciate nila ang mga nilikha noong 80s, 90s, and early 2000s,” shared National Artist Lee who wrote the script of the OFW-themed drama film.
The film won Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Amy Austria at the 2001 Film Academy of the Philippines. Vilma Santos won Best Actress of the Year at the 2001 Star Awards for Movies.
In Bagong Buwan, actor Cesar Montano portrays a Muslim doctor who returns to his hometown and witnesses the local insurgency. While he endeavors to lead his family and other civilians to safety, he struggles to reconcile his professional and religious principles.
Directed by Diaz-Abaya, who co-wrote the screenplay with Lee, the film premiered in 2001 as an official entry to the 27th Metro Manila Film Festival and won seven awards including Best Actor to Montano, Best Child Performer to actor Jiro Manio, and Best Original Theme Song to Joey Ayala’s Walang Hanggang Paalam.
Bagong Buwan will be screened at 9 am, while Anak screening is scheduled at 1 pm. Talkback will follow after the film screenings. Actors from Anak such as Vilma Santos-Recto, Claudine Barretto, and Baron Geisler will be present for the talkback.
This will be the first time that the CCP has brought Cine Icons to UST, but not the first time the CCP has done a film screening in the oldest university in Asia. Last February 22, the CCP collaborated with the UST Central Student Council to present the Cinemalaya award-winning film ‘Liway’ by Kip Oebanda in commemoration of the EDSA People Power Revolution, under the CCP Lakbay Sine program.
Returning for another must-see screening, the CCP continues to champion the best of Filipino filmmaking and encourage film appreciation among the youth and the general public.
To get the latest updates on future film screenings from CCP Cine Icons, follow the official CCP and CCP Film, Broadcast, and New Media Division social media accounts on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.