Cesar Montano brings to life the untold story of Alfredo Lim + Rochelle Pangilinan still living a beautiful life sans regular show

The members of the Entertainment Press Society, Inc. are in a feverish pitch as they wind up preparations for the 2012 Golden Screen TV Awards which will be staged tonight, March 1, at Teatrino Greenhills. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Enpress would like to thank their generous sponsors who helped them staged the event -Heaven’s Best Entertainment, Mega C Health Ventures, Inc. and Shimmian Manila Surgicenter and Saranggani Congressman Manny Pacquiao.

TV personalities in the field of drama, comedy, talk tv at news programs are at the forefront as the Golden Screen TV Awards honors the outstanding programs, hosts, actors and news anchors who made TV viewing an entertaining and delightful fare.

Serving as segment hosts are Julia Clarete, Kim Atienza and Arnell Ignacio. The Golden Screen TV Awards also pays tribute to four endearing TV icons who will be given special awards lifetime achievement awards - Ms. Gloria Romero, Ms. Nova Villa, Ms. Mel Tiangco and Mr. Eddie Garcia.

In  a text message, Tita Gloria apologizes that she could not attend the awards night where she will be conferred the Helen Vela Lifetime Achievement Awards for Drama. It falls on a Friday, which is the taping day for her soap “Forever” as she has too many sequences to shoot. However, she is very thankful to Enpress and the Golden Screen TV Awards for acknowledging her contribution to the industry.

The jury members of the 2012 Golden Screen Awards have already deliberated and voted on the winners.

Good luck to all the nominees and congratulations to the winners.

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Even if she is wondering why she has not had a teleserye for almost a year (the last one was Broken Vow), Rochelle Pangilinan is not mad or nagtatampo with GMA Channel 7. She said that her manager Perry Lansigan had not been remiss in communicating with GMA 7 with regards her career plan in GMA.

Even if she hasn’t had a regular show, she has been kept busy with out of town shows, corporate events and even occasional guest stints in TV dramas. Minus a regular show, she still managed to survive, beautifully. That’s why she felt glad when she was told by GMA 7 that a forthcoming show, a teleserye, is soon coming her way. It would be on a primetime slot and all details are being finalized before the final announcement.

It’s a good too that Rochelle is happy with her relationship with Arthur Solinap, her boyfriend, and that takes away whatever anxiety she may have regarding her career. But they are not yet ready to settle down. They have good careers going and they’d like to make the most of it.

Rochelle joined the GMA 7 regional show in Ilocos Norte yesterday and she has an out-of-town show in Bukidnon on March 4 and at Angeles City, Pampanga on March 16.

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Cesar Montano, one of the country’s most gifted filmmakers, who directs and acts in this most recent adaptation of the life story of Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, left no stone unturned in ensuring that only A-list actors will bring to life the drama and action that happened in the story of the bemedaled police officer.

The big-budgeted flick boasts of a host of the most talented actors in Philippine cinema today, including Alessandra de Rossi, Nonie Buencamino, Tirso Cruz III, Marc Abaya, Spanky Manikan, Ms. Gina Pareño and Ms. Gloria Romero, to name a few.

Before he ever became a public figure, Fred Lim led a colorful, if difficult life—abandoned by his mother as a toddler, raised in an orphanage, and reunited with his grandparents some years later. He was a shy but hardworking student. Lim finished accountancy and later became a lawyer in 1963, and served a decorated career as a Manila police officer long before he ever became a public figure.

The film chronicles those early years, and more—carefully selected scenes from those years far from the public radar, but brimming with drama, action and life.

If you think Alfredo Lim: The Untold Story is just another gratuitous political bioflick, think again.

“Kadalasan kapag gumagawa ng ganitong pelikula, ng bioflick, kailangang mag-imbento ng direktor at ng scriptwriter ng mga eksena para madagdagan ang action,” says Montano. “Pero in this case hindi. Siguro kung isasama natin lahat, makakagawa tayo ng ilang teleserye at pelikula tungkol kay Mayor Lim. Napakayaman sa material ng buhay niya, at piling-pili ang mga eksena na sinama namin dito,” says Montano.

Indeed, the film is more than just an action movie, and neither is it textbook melodrama: it is an exposition and examination of a complex man, weathering challenges both internal and external, and emerging victorious—a showcase of Filipino craftsmanship that is truly world-class.

Montano and the rest of the team behind Lim are eyeing screenings in several international film festivals.

Abroad, the film will carry the title Turning Cradle—referring to the basket-like structure found at the gates of orphanages where mothers, too ashamed to show their faces, would abandon their babies—the cradle where Lim’s own mother left him at the tender age of two.

Alfredo Lim: The Untold Story is now showing in theaters nationwide.