Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 120

CEOs on Norte: “A master’s vision, a magnificent work of art that hits you in the gut.”

Seeing a Lav Diaz film on the big screen is a transporting and fairly rare experience. Starting tomorrow, September 10, Filipino moviegoers can experience a Lav Diaz film for themselves as Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan opens in five Metro Manila theatres. Norte has gotten rave reviews from critics and film students the world over, but […]

Coriolanus: A lesser-known Shakespeare play becomes a hit after 400 years

Tom Hiddleston stars in Coriolanus Theatre has a sense of urgency and spontaneity that films have to work hard to match; cinema has the intimacy of the close-up, not to mention that it democratizes the view. Short of having gobs of blood land on your popcorn, we do not know how the film of the […]

2015 is Visit the Philippines Year

Last week, local media and foreign buyers were invited to the launch of Visit the Philippines Year 2015, the Department of Tourism’s campaign to draw 10 million visitors to the Philippines. In 2015 the country plays host to several international events including the papal visit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Visit the Philippines […]

How to make people watch Shakespeare: Just put Tom Hiddleston in everything

Before we review the recording of the live broadcast of the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus, which was screened by the British Council on September 5 and 6 at Greenbelt, let’s get Tom Hiddleston’s pants out of the way. We know that Tom Hiddleston is probably the most charming person on earth at present. He […]

In case Atom is not around to rescue you

At a media launch yesterday the topic at our table was the Ipit Taxi Gang. We heard of at least two colleagues who had encountered these muggers who prey on taxi riders. Crime is terrifying to think about, but it is ten times more terrifying when it happens to people who know people you know. […]

Win 2 tickets to our Game of Thrones and Geekery talk at Ayala Museum

The winners of two tickets each to our Game of Thrones and Geekery talk at Ayala Museum on Saturday are Kaye (favorite fantasy books: the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce) and theidolfan (The Phantom Tollbooth). You can collect your tickets at the reception desk of the Ayala Museum on Saturday, before our […]

6 days before Norte opens in cinemas

* The screening times will be posted as soon as they are available. True story, stop us if you’ve heard it. Some years ago, at the Udine film festival, we were approached by a couple of Italian moviegoers who said, “Magandang hapon po. Kayo ba ay Pilipino?” We complimented them on their Tagalog and asked […]

Traffic has eaten our lives

Photo from InterAksyon As lifelong veterans of traffic, we formulate explanations as to why it is so bad. These explanations are not thorough or accurate; in many cases, they’re not even right. They are increasingly desperate attempts to make sense of the black hole that swallows us up every time we go out on the […]

W-ORD News with Cookie Monster and John Oliver

Jean-Luc Godard’s Band of Outsiders and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye

Yesterday we found out that it was the 50th anniversary of our favorite Godard movie, Band of Outsiders (Bande a part). We read a review of Band of Outsiders by our favorite film critic Pauline Kael. And we remembered that when we saw Band of Outsiders, it reminded us of our favorite book in high […]