Cultural invasion by UK, Venezuela, Japan, Chilé, The Netherlands

A two-week celebration showcasing "All Things British" at the Mandarin Oriental Ballroom with "Through the Looking-Glass". This will point up UK training and Filipino creativity via the latest designs of Rajo Laurel, Patrice Ramon diaz, Mich Dulce and Leslie Mobo.

A festival of select feature films, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, will be held at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall. Philippine-based London chef Philip John Golding will give a lecture/demonstration on Feb. 1 at the Pen. Multi-awarded Indian-born novelist Atima Srivastava and Chinese-born fictionist Hong Ying will make special appearances in Remedios Circle and Shangri-La Plaza Mall on Feb. 7 and 8, respectively. The UK Education Fair and Computer Gaming will follow on Feb. 8 and 9 at the Pen. The UK Fortnight is sponsored by the British Council headed by dynamic Jill Westaway.

Venezuelan Ambassador Milena Santana Ramirez announces the prestigious International Romulo Gallegos novel contest named after the eminent Venezuelan novelist. Ending Aug. 2, 2003, the contest has the following rules (translation supplied by RLO): A prize of $100,000 (US), a gold medal and diploma are at stake. First-edition novels published between Jan. 1, 2001 and Dec. 30, 2002 may be submitted. Entries of ten copies each should be sent to Casa de Romulo Gallegos, Luis Rocha Ave., Altamira, Caracas 1062, Venezuela.

Entries finished Feb. 28, 2003 may still be submitted if verified by the date mailed. The list of participants will be published by the Center on April 3, 2003. Judges are Fernando Ainsa (Uruguay), Christopher Dominguez Michael (Mexico), Marcela Serrano (Chilé), Enrique Vila-Matas (Spain), and Victor Bravo (Venezuela). The winner will be chosen by unanimous vote; his place cannot be declared vacant. The jury will explain and justify its choice of winner.

The prize will be given publicly on Aug. 2, 2003, the date marking Gallegos’s birth, at the RG Center of Latin-American Studies. The winner gives the Foundation the right, though not exclusively, to publish a popular edition of his novel in Venezuela. Impliedly, the participants shall abide by the rules. Incidentally, Dr. Salvador Malig will be an excellent translator for Filipino novelists.

On Feb. 1, the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, the NCCA and the Chinese Embassy Cultural Office will open "Fiesta Tsinoy 2003" at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center in Intramuros. The "Fiesta" offers a year-long series of cultural events jointly with the Tourism Department’s "Visit the Philippines Year 2003".

Events of the widest imaginable variety will be presented by the Phil-Japan Festival which opens Feb. 12 with the concert of Shigeko Suzuki, a Jazz and Bossa Nova vocalist who has performed in New-York, and her four-man band. Venue is the CCP Little Theater.

The Festival will include a kimono show, a Nihonggo speech contest, Bonsai, Suiseki and Ikebana exhibits, a staging of the Kabuki-Kanjincho (a theater form dating back to the 17th century), a display of Kokeshi dolls, a performance of folk and Bon-Odori dances which are performed in towns and villages throughout Japan.

The tauted organizational skill and efficiency of the Japanese, needless to add, are behind the Festival.

The current historical Anne Frank exhibit at the San Agustin Museum under the sponsorship of Dutch Ambassador Theo Arnold and curator Fr. Pedro Galende is a "must" for all, especially historians and humanists. The 13-year old Dutch-Jewish Anne Frank never dreamed that the daily record of her two-year stay in the secret annex of her father’s office in Amsterdam during WWII would inspire millions of readers throughout the world. I read The Diary of Anne Frank soon after it was published, and recently saw a dramatized version of her diary which, staged by the Iloilo Arts Council, starred Farida Kabayao as the precocious Anne.

The Franks – Otto, Edith and their two daughters – shared the tiny annex with another family. At night, they would hold their breath as they heard the heavy-booted Nazi soldiers roaming the streets. The most quoted entry of Anne in her diary – "I don’t believe that the war is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. Oh, no, the common man is every bit as guilty; otherwise, people and nations would have rebelled long ago!" – is the theme of an essay contest which has been launched.

Chilean Ambassador Carmen Lynam is holding the Amati Music Festival at her official residence on Jan. 30. It will feature eminent Chilean violinist Alejandro Mendoza, his Korean violinist-wife Si-Nae Shim, and outstanding Filipino instrumentalists Jo-vianney Emmanuel Cruz, Renato Lucas, and Geraldine Gonzales. The music of Beethoven, Franck and Rachmaninoff will be rendered.