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Showcasing the best the Philippines has to offer in music, film, fashion and art...
John Herrera
Designer
John Herrera was the only neophyte among the first batch of students at the Fashion Institute of the Phiippines. Being with other professional designers, who were upgrading their skills at the Fashion Institute, was a challenge for someone more than eager to start a career in fashion. The skills and attitude that he showed landed him an apprenticeship position with Shanon Pamaong and within a short period of time, his works have landed on the pages of Mega, Preview, and Gadgets magazines, as well as the fashion sections of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and Philippine Star newspapers.
Bee Eyes
Tropical / Punk / R&B
Danny C. Sillada
Renaissance man
Danny C. Sillada (born 1963, Cateel, Davao Oriental, Philippines) is a Filipino surrealist painter, poet, philosopher, essayist, musician, performance artist, and literary, art & cultural critic from Mindanao. He was a recipient of 2003 Pasidungog Centennial Awards for literary and visual arts, a centennial event that was attended by the president of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in his hometown province in Davao Oriental.
In 2005, Sillada was controversial for his artwork Menstrual Period in Political History. A satirical take on the recurring political crisis in the Philippines. This controversial mixed media piece (an attempt was made to destroy it at the height of the "Hello Garci" political scandal) reflects the artist’s critical stance toward the power struggles that are putting our country into pit.
As a multi-talented artist Sillada also writes and publishes poetry and philosophical essays both on print and on-line, composes and performs ethnic songs, hip-hop and ethno-techno music at the local Metro Manila alternative venues. He was described in a research paper submitted to the University of Asia and the Pacific as "the embodiment of a Filipino who defies the existing trend. His multi-faceted attribute in the humanities, as a Renaissance man, is identical with those of well-rounded historical figures during the Renaissance period in Europe. Sillada is a visual artist recognized in the Philippine art scene for his paintings and installation artworks, a literary writer who is into prose and poetry, a philosopher, whose writings are akin with existentialism, a first-rate performance artist, and also an art-critic."
He studied priesthood (Roman Catholic) at The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas and San Carlos Seminary, Philippines, but left his vocation six months before his ordination to the Sacrament of Holy Orders to become a full-time artist.
Sillada obtained his BA Philosophy and Literature at the Queen of Apostles College Seminary, Davao (1986); his graduate and post graduate studies in Bachelor in Sacred Theology (1990) and Pastoral Theology (1991) at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, and his MBA (units) at the Ateneo de Manila University (1993), Philippines.
Tatang
Dir. Nico Hernandez
Tatang and Ester live in the streets of Manila. Tatang makes a living out of the easiest way he knows, stealing and pickpocketing and he lets Ester be his aide. One incident goes wrong and Tatang ends up getting beaten by a group of men. He takes out his misfortune on Ester and starts feeling useless. Ester, seeing her grandfather's condition, starts to take matters into her own hands and decides to be the one to work for them. She becomes better at stealing and her grandfather realizes that his grandaughter is slowly turning into quite a thief. One day, while at the market, Tatang hears a gunshot and hurriedly looks for where it came from, what he sees is something that will forever change the rest of his being.
The role of Tatang is played by veteran character actor, Pen Medina and alongside him as Ester is child actress Nikki Bagaporo. It was one of the finalist in the Cinemalaya Film Festival 2009 where it won Audience Choice (Shorts).
Angle Tagle
Avant-garde Designer
Angle Tagle, explores unusual silhouettes and uses monochromatic colors in his designs. His inspirations include cyber robots and warrior gods and goddesses, that is why he is into bold shoulders and wide hips. Structured and draped skirts, pointed sleeves and tight hugging garments are his signature designs. Though Tagle is into fashion forward designs, he always makes sure that his garments are wearable. He balances creativity and comfortability in his designs and thinks of his target market, which is women who are willing to experiment with their style but would not look odd when they wear Tagle’s pieces. His influences include John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Olivier Theyskens and Nicolas Ghesquirre.
Before studying at Fashion Institute of the Philippines, Tagle, took up a Bachelor of Arts Major in Journalism since he never dreamt of becoming a fashion designer when he was young. He just remembers that when he was nine years old, he kept pictures of huge buildings and celebrity lofts and a particular one page article ripped out from an airline magazine about a designer who won in an international competition held in France.
He was 22 when he took up fashion merchandising, since then he said to himself that he wanted to be a part of the fashion industry for the rest of his life. He is encouraged to work hard and master all the basic, advanced and haute couture techniques and listen to his mentors including one of the most sought after designers in the country, who is also a graduate of FIP, John Herrera, and the Mega young designer champion and season 1 Project Runway winner, Aries Lagat.
Tagle has joined various fashion shows including film promotion fashion shows, fashion shows for a cause, shows sponsored by top schools in the country and is looking forward to joining this year’s Philippine Fashion week.
The Vince Noir Project
Psychedelic / Electro / Indie
The Vince Noir Project is a band out of the Philippines made up of four rocking guys and a gal. They met while playing music in the local indie band scene and became acquaintances, friends, and ultimately bandmates. With so many different musical influences it is hard for the VNP to pigeonhole their sound, they love makin music of all kinds; but when pressed for an answer regarding genre they use psychedelic/electro/indie rock to describe their music. However, they prefer to say their sound is more like one helluva party rather than genre specific! The band formed in May 2007 and are comprised of Aless Tinio (vox), Tani Santos (guitars), Rembrandt Vocalan (synths, guitar), Pete Ferrer (bass), and Wally Contento (drums). The VNP has just completed their first self titled studio album produced by Mr. Diego Mapa which has just come out under 12 Stone Records and is available in stores nationwide.
Kawayan De Guia
Artist
2009 CCP 13 Artists Awardee. The Thirteen Artists award is the most prestigious achievement any Filipino artist under the age of 40 can receive in the country.
Recipient Ateneo Art Awardee - the contemporary art prize given annually by the Ateneo Art Gallery to artists below the age of 36 that have made a significant contribution to the development of Philippine Contemporary Art.
2004 Juror's choice award-ASEAN Art Awards, one of the most prestigious ASEAN contemporary art competitions held recently in Bangkok, Thailand.
Death in the Land of the Encantos
Dir. Lav Diaz
Death in the Land of the Encantos is the English title of Lav Diaz’s Philippine independent film whose original Bicol-language title is Kagadanan sa Banwaan ning Mga Engkanto. A black-and-white film written and directed by Diaz, it is a 9 hour-long film about the experiences and feelings of an emotionally unstable Filipino expatriate upon returning to his hometown after it has been devastated by a typhoon. Conceptualized over a span of six weeks, it was filmed mainly in Bicol and partly in Pila, Laguna. It has been presented in a number of international film festivals, where it has received much critical acclaim.
The story centers on Benjamin Agusan (Gawad Urian nominee Roeder Camanag), a Filipino poet from Bicol, whose muse in his youth was the Mayon Volcano. As the film opens, Agusan has just come back to the Philippines after 7 years of living in Russia, where he had been teaching and writing. In those years, he fell in love, had a son who died, and almost went insane. In an apparently manic-depressive state, he returns to his hometown, which had just been ravaged by a typhoon. Going around his hometown, he is reunited with a number of his old friends and sweethearts and besieged by memories, all the while struggling with his love-hate relationship with his homeland and hometown.
Diaz’s work has been mistakenly labeled a documentary, undoubtedly due to his footage depicting the actual destruction caused by super typhoon Reming (international name: Durian) which on November 30, 2006 ravaged the Bicol region where Diaz had filmed earlier works. He was horrified to see the very areas he had captured on film just weeks before now in ruins. He filmed the same sites again, eventually coming up with a story that drew a parallel between the anguish of the typhoon victims and the despair of Filipinos suffering from the corruption of their government. The film not only shows the destruction caused by the ravages of nature but presents the social and political deterioration of the Philippines. The protagonist’s own emotional and mental instability may be said to reflect the state of the Bicol Region and the Philippine government. In addition, the film deals with broader philosophical theme of the struggle to achieve love, beauty, redemption, and understanding.
Death in the land of the Encantos (IMDB)
Fashion Institute of the Philippines
New Wave
Fashion Institute of the Philippines was established in July 2003 and has since then produced quality graduates who are now big names in fashion, operating their own shops and boutiques or working here and abroad for various fashion and design companies.
Over the next few weeks indieManila will be featuring the new wave of fashion designers to come out of FIP.
Candyaudioline
Shoegaze / Indie Rock / Dreampop
Candyaudioline is a 5 piece unit that plays a mix of shoegaze inspired indierock and dreampop... Presently composed of Allan - also of Soft Pillow Kisses (Vocals/Guitars), Dennis (Guitars), Jeff (Drums), Maggot(Bass) and Celene (Vocals)... Candyaudioline has been around since 1997 always threatening to release an album or EP but always end up dissatisfied after each recording effort... Nevertheless, they are a very proud bunch and boast that they create some of the best unheard-of music there is this part of the globe. They still feel that someday the world will be their's for the shaking... As of the moment. they are busy with occassional late night practice sessions followed by a trip to the nearest food outlet in search of a good meal and... Lovely faces!!! Candyaudioline was supposed to be called "Jennyondioline", a Stereolab song but they did not like the name Jenny so they changed it to Candy instead... And from Candyondioline it became Candyaudioline...
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