•Will a Kapuso become a Kapamilya? •First-timer’s luck works for Diane

Curtain-raisers:

• Now that her three-year contract as a Kapuso has expired, will she bite the juicy bait dangled before her by the rival network Kapamilya? The actress has reached the crossroads of her career and she should weigh the pros and cons very, very carefully. It isn’t a surprise if she sees a greener pasture on “the other side” which has been giving her critically-acclaimed projects, thus raising her bankability and cementing her reputation as a versatile actress, something which her “soon-to-be-previous(?)” home didn’t give her. She has been “under-used” by her home studio in contrast to the other network which has been using her to the fullest.

• A Funfare DPA is laughing at the non-issue between a minor reel/real-life “loveteam.” According to the DPA, the husband is “unreasonably” jealous of actor CA who has no connection with his wife whatsoever. “The husband just doesn’t want his wife to be paired with another actor, so the flow of their show is adversely affected,” said the DPA. “Isn’t it funny that he should feel that way, eh, pareho silang artista? For a while, the husband has been standing up the shooting. Sana matauhan siya before it’s too late.” 

• On a recent PAL flight from Seoul, my friends and I asked a young and pretty flight attendant if it was a turn-around flight (you know, from Manila to Seoul and back). She smiled with a puzzled look and stopped the service (lunch) for a while and gladly made a 360-degree turn the way beauty contestants do. She blushed a bit when we told her what we meant and congratulated her for her cute “turn-around.” She introduced herself as Jonaina Suwalawan and she said that she has been with PAL for barely one year. See you on the next flight, Jonaina!

* * *

There’s such a thing as a beginner’s luck. Writer-director Diane Ventura is definitely not a beginner because she has to her credit an award-winning short film called TheRapist (take note of the play on words) that made it to the Most Popular Films & Best Short Films lists in the 2012 International Film Festival Manhattan (IFFM). Starring Cherie Gil and Marco Morales, the film is a whodunit that, towards the end, makes you think who is what. It was an official-selection entry in the Luang Prabang Filmfest in Cambodia, and in the Cinemanila and Cinema One Originals.

But Diane is a first-timer as a full-length feature director with Awaken (Mulat), which won for Jake Cuenca two Best Actor awards, first at the 2015 IFFM (where Diane won Best Director for Global Feature) and recently at the World Cinema Festival in Brazil. Awaken was also an official-selection entry in the New Wave Full Feature category of last year’s Metro Manila Filmfest and a recipient of the Seventh Ani ng Dangal for Artistic Excellence Award given by the National Commission for Culture & the Arts (NCCA).

The first-timer’s luck encourages Diane to aim higher. The movie’s presskit said that “the world is not always kind to newbies, but when the novice in question displays mad skills at par with his or her superiors, heads turn and people start paying attention.”

For somebody who started conceptualizing music videos for Eraserheads and actually directing them for a new band, Diane has gone considerably far. And there’s no stopping her.

She went to New York to take a course in filmmaking (scriptwriting, editing, directing, etc.). She would have taken further studies but found the tuition ($50,000 a year) much too exorbitant.

“Better use it to make a movie,” said Diane who has a penchant for doing suspense-thrillers (she said in a previous interview that she looked up to Alfred Hitchcock as a big influence.)

Beating Regal Matriarch Mother Lily Monteverde’s once “pito-pito” style of making movies (principal photography done in seven days), Diane wrote the screenplay for Awaken in two weeks and shot the movie in four calendar days. Like TheRapist, Awaken “explores psychosis, hypnosis, altered states of consciousness and perception,” with Jake’s character caught in the “maddening demands of love.” (Trivia: Jake has reconciled with girlfriend Sara Grace Kelley whom he brought to the presscon at Romulo’s Café where Diane presented his trophy. Jake wasn’t able to go Brazil.)

“Jake was very cooperative,” said Diane. “He was doing a teleserye at that time and he very kindly scheduled two days for us.” Jake took up an acting course in New York. Asked if it helped make Jake a better actor, Diane replied, “It did, definitely!” (Awaken will have its world premiere in Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg on Aug. 5, 6 and 7, respectively.)

Diane’s next work, tentatively titled Deine Farbe (Your Color), will be filmed in New York and Germany, with Filipino actors she has yet to choose.

“It’s a socio-political drama with dark comedy undertones done pseudo-documentary style,” shared Diane.

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