• Silent drama at the hospital

They missed each other by a few minutes and what a dramatic moment it would have been if they crossed paths or found themselves together in the same room — that is, Phillip Salvador and former President Cory Aquino who, until now, aren’t on speaking terms.

The scene of the aborted dramatic encounter was a suite at St. Luke’s Medical Center where Tita Cory’s grandson, Joshua, her daughter Kris’ love son by Phillip, was confined after he was slightly (luckily, luckily!) injured in a freak accident last Wednesday afternoon at 5:30 at the Quezon City compound where the boy and his mom are staying. The irony of it all was that it was Kris’ own Expedition which ran over Joshua who, heaven forbid, could have been a goner had he fallen under the huge car.

"Six more inches," according to Kris, "and Joshua could have been hit in the spinal column."

Witnesses said that Kris sent her driver and her yaya back home to retrieve a sponge she had left behind while she waited at James Cooper’s salon where she was being made up prior to a taping for her showKris and Tell. She was also scheduled to host the opening of a crab restaurant with The Buzz co-host Boy Abunda.

The driver was backing up not noticing that Joshua, thinking his mom was in the car, was running after the Expedition. The driver felt a thud and when he got off, he saw the injured Joshua lying on the ground, his thigh scraped by the rear wheel. The driver and the yaya rushed Joshua to St. Luke’s from where they called Tita Cory who, in turn, rushed to the hospital, joined later by Kris who never left Joshua’s side until press time.

Just a few minutes after Tita Cory left that night, Phillip arrived, with chocolates to boot for Joshua (but not Kris?) who hadn’t seen him since his arrival almost two weeks ago from New York where he attended the wedding of his daughter Barbie (with estranged wife Sony Dabao). Father and son missed each other terribly and they hugged and kissed, with Papa Phillip in tears.

And that’s when the "silent drama" unfolded. Peeved (according to a Funfare DPA) that Phillip didn’t at once visit Joshua (who’s a daddy’s boy, constantly looking for his Dada, as he calls Phillip, even calling out Dada everytime the phone at home rings), Kris gave Phillip the cold-shoulder treatment, not talking to him nor giving him even a quick glance all the while he was there.

"At one point," added the Funfare DPA, "Kris took out her rosary and prayed aloud — you know, Hail Mary, full of grace... etc."

I wonder, what was Kris praying for?

It was, no doubt about it, a very cinematic scene involving a couple once very much in love with each other and now can’t seem to stand each other but brought constantly (well, sometimes!) together by the fruit (Joshua, yes!) of their once passionate romance.

Moved to tears by the real-life "silent drama," the Funfare DPA became amnesiac and completely missed how it ended. For sure, nobody shouted "Cut!" It was for real, as I was telling you.

(Postscript: Joshua is safe, suffering only a few bruises. He went through all the tests which all produced negative results. A friendly advice to Kris: Offer a thanksgiving mass for Joshua — and do pray the rosary some more for him.)

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After a long, long silence, Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz is filing this interesting report on Filipino films figuring prominently in international film festivals. Here’s Ferdinand’s "flash" report:

I guess by now you are aware that Jeffrey Jeturian’s Tuhog (Larger Than Life) is competing in the 58th Venice Film Festival, the oldest European film festival, from Aug. 29 to Sept. 8.

Tuhog will compete in the Cinema of the Present program with 19 other films from around the world. Aside from Tuhog, there are two other Asian movies in competition, Zuo Tian (Quitting) from China directed by Zhang Yang and Gaichu (Harmful Insect) from Japan by Shiota Akihiko.

It has been 17 years since a Filipino film competed in Venice. This was Mike de Leon’s Sister Stella L starring Vilma Santos and produced by Regal Films, which is also the producer of Tuhog. Prior to this was Manuel Conde’s Genghis Khan.

There are two competion programs in Venice this year. Up for grabs in the Main Competition (the Venizia 58), is the Golden Lion Award for Best Film. On the other hand, in the Cinema of the Present program, aside from the Lion of the Year Award for Best Film, at stake is $100,000.

I will meet direk Jeffrey in Venice on Sept. 2 He is attending the festival with one of the actresses in Tuhog, Irma Adlawan, and journalist Jessica Zafra.

I am helping direk Jeffrey in the international film festival circuit this year not only with Tuhog but with Pila Balde as well. I will finally give direk Jeffrey his trophy (which I kept for one year in my room) for Pila Balde which won as Best Feature Film in last year’s Houston International Film Festival.

Pila Balde is again, competing at the 18th Bogota International Film Festival on Oct. 17. Bogota is one of the most important film festivals in South America. It is recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF) which rules the festivals, as a worldwide festival specializing in New Directors’ feature films. The festival rewards the Pre-Columbian Circle Award in Gold, Silver and Bronze categories. Last year’s major winner in Bogota was the Mexican film Amore Perros. Earlier this year, this first feature of Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Globe Awards and at the Oscars.

Since I am with direk Jeffrey in Venice, for the first time in several years I will be missing the 26th Toronto International Film Festival. But I am proud to announce the official selection of Joel Lamangan’s Deathrow and Gil Portes’ Markova, Comfort Gay for this year. This was e-mailed to me by Toronto programmer Noah Cowan. The festival is from Sept. 6. to 15. Both Deathrow and Markova were entries in last year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

This is direk Joel’s fourth film in Toronto, after The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995), Pusong Mamon (1999) co-directed with Eric Quizon and Bulaklak ng Maynila (2000).

It’s direk Gil’s second time in Toronto. His first entry was Birds of Prey a few years back.

Direk Gil is a regular in Toronto’s rival festival, Montreal World Film Festival, where his films Miguel/Michelle and Saranggola were shown.

That’s all I have for now but I will keep you updated with all the happenings in the film festival circuit.

Calling aspiring scriptwriters

Do you want to be another Ricky Lee?

Then, put down in words that story idea percolating in your mind. Write a screenplay — quick! — and enter it in Star Cinema’s Annual Scriptwriting Contest.

Deadline for submission of entries is Aug. 9, so act now.

The now-filming first team-up of Robin Padilla and Pops Fernandez, The Videoke King, by Ramon Sarmiento, was one of last year’s finalists in the same scriptwriting contest. Directing the movie is Jerry Lopez Sineneng.

The 2nd Annual Star Cinema Scriptwriting Contest is open to all Filipinos, 18 years old and above, who wish to write film scripts in any genre. Existing works are also accepted provided that the script has not yet won any award in competitions of a similar nature. Works that have been commissioned by any other production outfit are also ineligible.

Employees of Star Cinema and ABS-CBN are disqualified from the contest. Apart from the chance to have their scripts produced into a movie, at stake for the winners are tax-free cash prizes of 100,000 for the first place; P80,000 for the second place and P60,000 for the third place. Interested parties should get a copy of the contest rules and regulations with the attached consent form at the Star Cinema office at #41 Sct. Borromeo, South Triangle, Quezon City. Or you can download it from their website at www.abs-cbn.com/starcinema/contest.