All’s well that ends well.
Superstar Nora Aunor finally got to watch her latest work, Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Taklub,” which was the opening movie of the French Film Festival in Manila on June 3.
Aunor likewise got to catch up with Mendoza after the slight “miscommunication” that resulted in the award-winning actress’ failure to attend the Cannes Film Festival, where the Filipino movie competed in the Un Certain Regard section last month.
“We don’t have to talk about what happened. That’s all in the past,” Aunor said. “Let’s discuss how beautiful the film is.”
“It was just a misunderstanding,” Mendoza told the press.
Dignitaries from the worlds of politics and show biz turned up on the red carpet, rolled out at Greenbelt 3 in Makati.
Stargazing
Among those spotted at the event were actors Cesar Montano and Althea Vega, former beauty queen Margie Moran, French Ambassador Gilles Garachon and wife Isabelle, Inquirer columnist Tessa Prieto-Valdes, Chair Briccio Santos (of the Film Development Council of the Philippines), and Sen. Loren Legarda, who was the main proponent of the film which won the Ecumenical Jury Prize-Special Mention at Cannes.
“It is truly a blessing,” Legarda said of the film’s triumph. “This is a great honor for the country. I hope that all this attention … would help achieve the project’s real goal: to inspire … and to learn from the lessons of past disasters.”
“Taklub” was produced by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Presidential Communications Operations Office-Philippine Information Agency.
“He is a good director,” Aunor described Mendoza. “Congratulations kay Direk para sa award.”
For the fest’s opening night, Aunor explained that she wore the same gown (by Albert Andrada) that was meant for Cannes.
Aunor’s glam team (led by stylist Michael Salientes, hairstylist Nelson Cruz and makeup artist Junar Santos of Toni & Guy Philippines) made sure that she looked like a million bucks that night—befitting her stature as the “grande dame of Philippine cinema,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Next stop for the French Film Festival is Ayala Cebu.