On 29th of September 2009, at exactly 8:00pm, the Davao artist William "Yam" Laranas' Hollywood directorial debut movie "The Echo" will have a special screening at Cinema 1 of Gaisano Mall of Davao. It will have its regular showing on October 7 at GMall Cinema. The Davao City National High School (DCNHS) Alumni under Councilor Peter Lavina and the DCHS Batch 85, where the director is a member, co-presented the very special Davao premiere screening in which the proceeds will go to the DCNHS Special Program for the Arts. The movie is the first Hollywood movie directed by a Dabawenyo. For more details of the movie, you may browse their website at "The Echo Movie".

It was a rainy Saturday night when everyone gathered at the CAP Mini Auditorium to watch the world premiere of a Full-Length Film of Mr. Arnel Mardoquio's "Hospital Boat".

The auditorium started to filled with audience as early as 7:00pm. Some stayed at the lobby taking a glance at the exhibit and some at the parking area waiting for the screening to start.

The seats were almost full when the program began. A prayer lead by Sr. Marietta Banayo of the Missionaries of the Assumption was followed by the singing of the National Anthem.

The night made it more special with the presence of the National Artist, Mr. Bienvenido Lumbera, a prizewinning poet, critic and dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines. In his Solidarity speech, he was happy to announce that "Hospital Boat" is one of the finalists of the Short List Film as Best Picture of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. He also said that he is happy for being invited to the special screening of the film in its hometown.

Mr. Ed Cabagnot also graced the nights premiere screening. According to him, in his solidarity speech, the night is very historical for it was the culmination of the year those of the artists interested in film. He added that the night was also important for it has a good audio and video projection.

Another personalities also graced the nights premiere including Dr. Ti-Undia, Ms. Agnes Locsin, Mr. Mike Ayala and Mr. George Mira.

The viewing starts at 8:00pm. The heavy rains simultaneously poured that made it a sign of blessings and success.

The movie lasted for two hours. Subsequently, it was announced that there is also a screening on August 16 at the Kaputian Island, Island Garden City of Samal.

Hey guys!

The success of our last film appreciation would not be possible without your presence. We thank you for that and for expressing your thoughts on the movie we've watched.

The distinct interactions that took place during our 2nd Film Appreciation Session was truly a remarkable experience and inspiring for us pursue this very unique, educational and entertaining meeting. Indeed, our discussions are getting more critical and as we go along on our next film appreciation, we would like to solicit from you suggestions as to what theme will be having for the month of August.

However, during our last session we have agreed that our 3rd Film Appreciation Session would be on August 15, at Street Cafe, Juan Luna St. On this matter, please cast your vote (found at the bottom bar of this blog) as to what movie you'd like to watch on our next session. We'll post the movie with the majority of votes and will serve as a tentative choice for our upcoming screening.

We listed the movies mentioned on our discussions through the Facebook Fan Page.

Here's the lists and the links for details:

Foreign Films:

- West Side Story
- Funny Face
- Hello Dolly
- The Jazz Singer
- Dancer in the Dark
- Annie
- New York New York
- New Orleans
- The Wizard of Oz
- Hair
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Singing in the Rain
- Brigadoon

Local Films:
- Kakabakaba ka Ba?
- Isang Sulyap mo Tita
- Maalaala mo Kaya
- Zsa Zsa Zaturnah

There might be an immediate change of the film to be screened depending on the availability of the copy of the said film.

We are glad to announce that the 2nd Davao Film Appreciation session is happening on August 1, 2009, at exactly 6:00pm at the Street Cafe, Juan Luna Street (near Ateneo Jacinto campus).

The film we will be showing is the Oscar-winning 1972 classic, "Cabaret" starring Liza Minelli. We are thinking of somehow coupling this with the film "Dancer in the dark" should time permit. The latter is an enduringly avante garde musical directed by Lars von Trier back in 2000.

"Cabaret" is the story of seemingly two worlds, one of misery and pure decadence. It is the city of Berlin in 1930, a time when political unrest racks the country, the economy has been destroyed, and millions of unemployed roam the streets. Enter into this chaos an American cabaret dancer, working at the downtown "Kit-Kat club" where anything goes on the stage.

"Dancer in the dark" centers on the lives of a mother, Selma and her son, who decide to emigrate from Central Europe to America. The year is 1964. Selma works day and night to save her son from the same disease she suffers from, a disease that inevitably will make her blind. But Selma has the energy to live because of her secret! She loves musicals. When life feels tough she can pretend that she is in the wonderful world of musicals...just for a short moment. All happiness life is not able to give her she finds there..

We are expecting more movie enthusiasts to come because we are inviting all of our friends to the future events of our club.

However, considering the venue is limited to a small crowd, we request you to register in advance through our Facebook Fan Page so we have an idea how many people are coming. For formalities sake, we need to inform the cafe's management our headcount prior to the screening.

We encourage you to come earlier so we will be able to start on time. Should you need something to eat or drink, Street Cafe has variety of food items that you can order in a very economical cost.

For more updates and details, email us at cineastedavao@gmail.com. Or add us up on our Facebook Fan page. Cheers!

The Cineaste Davao Core would like to thank you for visiting our blog site and we do hope to keep you posted in all our activities.

This blog site, aside from our Facebook Fan Page, is where we post announcements and other undertakings of the club.

So, please do visit very often to keep you updated! Should you have comments, suggestions or anything you would like to express, please do email us @ cineastedavao@gmail.com or do leave a message here.

Many of us have dreams. A dream wanting to realize someday in our lives. We dreamed that we would one day watch together as a film community.

It's a remarkable day on the 12th of July 2009, the first Cineaste screening was realized. Selected film enthusiasts were present to watched the very first movie "Fiddler on the Roof".

The movie was actually a personal choice of the very first guest and possibly one of the mentors of the club, Mr. Aurelio Pena, Columnist of Edge Davao and a film collector.

Fiddler on the Roof is set in the small Jewish village of Anatevka, Russia, in 1905 and is concerned primarily with the efforts of Tevye, a dairyman, his wife, Golde, and their five daughers to cope with their harsh existence under Tsarist rule.

Our heartfelt gratitude to Ms. Min Ponce for hosting us at Kublai's Cafe, Ponce Suites for our very first screening.