Moving up the stellar ‘escalator’

SANTOS. Ready for bigger and more important challenges.

IT WAS a thrill last month to watch “Sunday All Stars” on GMA 7, and to catch its concluding number, in which “soul” queen Jaya did a demanding duet with “our” Aicelle Santos. Aicelle has been with the show for a long time, but it’s only now that we’ve seen her so “significantly” showcased.

To be tapped to do a duet with the formidable Jaya means that some program producers feel that Aicelle is ready for bigger and more important challenges—and, not a moment too soon!

After we worked with her in her first theater outing, “Katy,” where she was hailed as “the most important musical-theater discovery in years,” we know that the gifted, hardworking and now ambitious “A for Aixcellence” talent has what it takes to finally be acknowledged as the stellar “total” performer she’s become.

Yes, her musical-theater hits, “Katy” and “Rak of Aegis,” have focused the spotlight on her, but we believe that the (perhaps once raw) talent has already been exceptional—and is now ready to fully surge—and shine!

‘Hunky’ comedian

Another musical-theater discovery who’s now doing well on TV, in the movies and in commercials is “hunky comic,” Jerald Napoles.

He first made his mark in Robert Seña’s staging of “Magsimula Ka,” in the scene-stealing role of Jograd—the very same role that originally made a star of Jograd de la Torre, decades ago.

Even more auspiciously and definitively, Jerald stole the show in “Rak” with his “wet and dumb” portrayal of Aicelle’s soggy and sappy suitor—which has made him even more visible on the big and small screens.

At the moment, his roles on TV haven’t hit the comedic spot, but his recent “cameo” role in the MMFF film, “English Only, Please,” made viewers sit up and ask, “Hey, who’s this guy?”

That question is music to a relative show biz newcomer’s ears, because it means that he’s done “something” genuinely attention-calling and delightful, and viewers want to see more of him.

What was droll about Jerald’s performance was that he played stupid so goofily well! Few other local comics can pull that off, partly because they aren’t as big and buff as he is.

Aside from his unique physical attributes, however, the relatively new comic has the ability to laugh at himself—which makes it really easy for viewers to laugh along with him!

More screening venues for indies needed

Film buffs agree that the best thing to happen to local movies this past decade has been the rise of indie movies, thanks to the support of the Cinemalaya film festival and other funding groups.

Trouble is, while many Filipino indies reap honors in festivals abroad, they are seldom viewed in this country, due to a glaring lack of venues to regularly screen them.

A few indies do manage to get into cineplexes, but they generally don’t do all that well with the general movie audience, so those mainstream venues are thinning out, which is why we’ve urged the formation of an alternative, school-based circuit.

The problem with that is its lack of regularity. We feel that indies should be available for viewing on a regular basis—otherwise, even people who want to support them will eventually lose interest, if they have to keep chasing them all over town.

For that reason, we’ve supported the rise of new indie screening venues, like Fully Booked and the Teatrino. Personally, we’ve also used our contacts to interest other venues to regularly screen indie productions. How successful have we been?

Tough row to hoe

Candidly, it’s been a tough row to hoe. We’ve even enlisted the help of a media VIP to use his connections with mainstream circuits, but not much success there, either. Those mainstream venues say that they want to support indie movies, but have learned from sad experience that many of them are thematically and stylistically “inaccessible” to the general audience, so they have done poorly at the box office.

In addition, they bewail the penchant of some indie filmmakers for using private and “symbolic” language that further limits communication and alienates them from the mainstream audience.

A different kind of downer is presented by overly exploitative filmmakers who push their production’s “shock value” by coming up with graphic gay and sex flicks, thus giving the indie movement a negative reputation, as far as some viewers are concerned.

For our part, we want to look beyond these occasional problems and irritants and just focus on getting more new venues to agree to screen indies on a regular basis. The good news is that we’ve found a supportive indie lover in Rose Cabrera, who runs the Mabuhay Restop Theater Café at Rizal Park, which seeks to promote Philippine arts and culture.

She has agreed to make her theater café and indie venue every other Thursday, and is working with indie stalwarts like Doy del Mundo and Albert Almendralejos to draw up a screening list of classics and new films to appeal to indie film buffs. Their new program, Cine Mabuhay, starts screenings this February, so we hope that indie film buffs will show their support by joining the new film club. (Call 353-8752 or 0917 810-8194 to 95.)

With more regular screening venues opening in town, indie lovers will now have an easier time to connect with indie producers and directors, and the exciting but problematic alternative film movement in this country will have a better chance of flourishing, finding a larger audience and ending up in the pink—and in the black!