What’s up, Kris?

This item about Dear Kris (Aquino) will be as brief as brief can be and I hope it will answer all the current questions most everybody is asking. Oops! Nothing personal, please!

• Yes, the game is over for Kris. I mean, her show Game is Over is, sigh, over. It will have its last telecast next week. Good for Kris so she can rest her vocal chords a little bit. She has been overworking them, you know.

• Yes, she’ll remain on Morning Girls (with Korina Sanchez) and The Buzz (with Boy Abunda), and she’ll continue to expose part of her flawless back in her revealing Inno Sotto clothes.

• Yes, she’ll start in her own teleserye may be in July (but she won’t be, contrary to rumors, taking over from Charo Santos-Concio as host of Maalaala Mo Kaya).

That’s it.

More questions?

Try Edong’s; You’ll Love It!

It’s chow time!

Today and any other day, the two-month-old restaurant simply called Edong’s crawls with hungry souls craving for home-style cuisine shared (usually with friends and officemates) in an airy spacious dining area that is so cool (and so open) that it needs no air-conditioning at all.

"That’s why our prices are very affordable and very reasonable, because we don’t have to spend on aircon," said Eduardo "Edong" Galang, owner of Edong’s which is located on Mother Ignacia St. right behind the imposing ABS-CBN building. You won’t miss it. The "Edong’s" signboard is catchy with a "angel" image that looks exactly like the one at the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. "We serve all fresh food – shrimps, fish, veggies, etc. –because we get our supply from my wife Regie’s family which owns five consignacion (fishing bancas)."

It was ABS-CBN’s Pat-P Daza who invited us to Edong’s for a "taste test" and our group left the place burping to high heavens and rating it a Perfect 10, thanks to Edong’s culinary expertise. Edong (PMA batchmate of Victor Corpus) used to be with the Philippine Navy.

For appetizers, Edong prepared Talaba (P70, fresh; P90, grilled), Inasinang Hipon (Pl50), Sizzling Pusit (P95) and Sisig (P85). Yummy!

Edong guided us how to savor his food to the hilt, including how to roll the shrimp over the home-made sauce.

Came the main course: Tokwa (P50 per order, P70 with baboy), Inihaw na Talong with Kangkong and Burong Hipon, Steamed Bangus, Ulo ng Salmon sa Miso Soup (P150, good for two), Java Rice (P40 per order, good for four) and Paksiw na Plapla (300 grams, P120).

Edong’s is becoming the favorite eating place (open from noon until way past midnight) of people from ABS-CBN, GMA and nearby establishments. It’s also an ideal venue for baptismal parties, birthday parties, wedding reception or some such gatherings.

Try Edong’s. You’ll keep going back.

(Note: For inquiries and reservations, call 926-9971.)

First-Hand Report From Berlin

Here now is Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz on the recently-concluded Berlin Film Festival where Magnifico, directed by Maryo J. delos Reyes for Violett Films, won two awards:

Dear Ricky,

Hi. Just got back from Berlin.

Magnifico was a big hit at the 27th Kinderfilmfest of the Berlin International Film Festival. We were not aware the film won both the Grand Prix and Crystal Bear Awards until a few hours before direk Maryo and I left for Berlin.

Direk Maryo is very grateful to Mrs. Paz of the German Embassy and Ms. Vilma, his travel agent for making the impossible possible. He was able to get a German visa and book a ticket last Friday and he started doing it at 8 a.m. and by 9 p.m., he was already bound for Berlin.

The awards ceremony was held at the Zoo Palast. It was the main theater for the Kinderfilmfest and has a capacity of 1600. On our way from the airport to our hotel, we were told by the festival staff that after the awards presentation, a screening of the Grand Prix winners for feature and short films would follow. This got us excited because we didn’t really know how the German audience reacted in the past three screenings.

After checking in our hotel, we headed for the Zoo Palast in our Barong Tagalog braving the cold winter. The moment Thomas Hailer saw direk Maryo, he was all smiles and could not help but hug direk Maryo to show his gratefulness.

It so happened that even the director of the 14-plus Crystal Bear winner, The Wooden Camera, did not attend the festival. They still had to find him somewhere in South Africa. So the festival organizers were very happy that both filmmakers of the winning films were in attendance.

The first award presented was the Grand Prix from the International Jury. There were five members of the jury from Denmark, Italy, Germany, France and Finland. Direk Maryo and I both went up the stage to get the plaque and some flowers.

Then they presented the awards for the 14-plus category then the Crystal Bear for the Kinderfilmfest section. Eleven children who judged the films in this category. Later in the evening, we found out that the children jurors were more meticulous than the adult jury. They noticed even the smallest detail.

With Magnifico scooping the Grand Prix and Crystal Bear awards (plus 7500 Euros not 10,000 because the 2,500 was given to the short film Crystal Bear winner from Canada), the Philippines became the first Asian country to win both awards. It is also the first Asian country to win the Crystal Bear Award. This is such a big feat because Filipino cinema is not known for children’s films.

In his speech, direk Maryo thanked the festival for the awards might give our ailing industry the boost that we need, Madam Violet Sevilla for having the courage to produce the film, and his staff and the entire cast.

After the awards ceremony, direk Maryo and I went back to our hotel to change our clothes for the Kinderfilmfest party. Then, we headed back to the Zoo Palast to get the audience’s reaction. It was 99 percent German.

The German kids reacted to so many scenes that there were times they clapped very loudly for scenes they truly loved. But the touching moment was when the credits started to roll and roaring applause of the audience lasted for more than five minutes which is a seal of their approval that Magnifico truly deserves the awards. This truly touched the heart of direk Maryo.

While waiting at the lobby, hundreds of German kids sought for direk Maryo’s autograph. Most of them congratulated him for a film well done and there were some who just stayed and asked him questions about the film. Some jury members were convinced that child actress Isabella de Leon was really disabled.

Aside from Magnifico, two young Filipino filmmakers were in the Talent Campus section of the Berlinale. We managed to meet Khavn whose one-minute short film Slasher was screened.

Also in attendance at the awards night were the Philippine Ambassador to Germany Minerva Jean Falcon, Consul Noralyn Baja and Milagros Antonio-Kropp. We are very thankful to them for giving us moral support and keeping us company for our three-day stay in Berlin.

That’s all I have for now. I hope that I will soon have a bigger news for you about Filipino movies in the global scene.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])