The next Miss Universe pageant might just be held in Manila.
Wanda Teo, the newly appointed chief of the Philippines’ Department of Tourism, revealed discussions were underway for the country to host the pageant later in the year.
The Philippines holds the Miss Universe title, after Pia Wurtzbach won the crown in December in a ceremony in Las Vegas. In a recent interview, Wurtzbach said she was actively campaigning for it to be held in her home country. “The possibility is always there. But is it a done deal? I don’t know,” Wurtzbach said. “I can’t give you an answer. But we do want the pageant to happen here.”
The Philippines hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 1994, when Sushmita Sen took India’s first title in the international beauty contest.
Wurtzbach admitted that Filipinos have a national obsession with beauty pageants, with many skipping work or staying awake into the early hours to watch live broadcasts.
“Us Filipinos, we fight to the death for a crown. We really take it seriously,” she said.
Wurtzbach was the third Filipino to win the crown, and the first in 42 years. She currently lives in New York, where the Miss Universe Foundation is based.
Therese Malvar wins best actress in Moscow
Young Filipino star Therese Malvar won the best actress award at last week's Moscow International Film Festival for her performance in the crime drama Hamog (Haze). The 15-year-old plays a homeless child kidnapped and forced to work as a maid.
Ralston Jover, the film’s director, told Philippine newspapers that he was “extremely proud” of Malvar’s achievement. He also said their movie was well-received at the festival: “They compared it to award-winning films from Europe. They were really interested in the plight of street children.”
Last month, Hamog won the Golden Goblet Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Malvar was not able to attend the Russian festival because she was at the New York Asian Film Festival, where she was being honoured with a Screen International Rising Star Award. She is the fourth Filipino to win a best actress award at a major international film festival, after Nora Aunor won for The Flor Contemplacion Story (Cairo, 1995), Eugene Domingo for Barber's Tales (Tokyo, 2013) and, most recently, Jaclyn Jose for Ma' Rosa at this year's Cannes.
The Moscow Festival jury, which included Indian actor and director Randhir Kapoor, awarded the Grand Prix for Best Film to the Iranian movie Daughter by Reza Mirkarimi. The film's lead Farhad Aslani won best actor.
Galen Chu directs new Ice Age film
Filipino-American filmmaker Galen Tan Chu shares directing credits with Canadian filmmaker Mike Thurmeier for the forthcoming animated movie Ice Age: Collision Course. The fifth instalment in the Ice Age film series is a sequel to 2012's Ice Age: Continental Drift. Chu was born and lived in the central Philippine province of Cebu until his family immigrated to America when he was a teenager. He was lead animator on 2005's Robots and supervising animator on several films, including Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Rio (2011) and Epic (2013).
"I still have a connection to the Philippines," Chu told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "Definitely there's a lot of stories that I want to be able to share to the world from that perspective."
Ice Age: Collision Course features the voices of a star-studded ensemble that includes Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Simon Pegg, Jessie J and Nick Offerman. The film is scheduled to be released in the UAE on August 4.
Pinoy Big Brother all set for new season
The 13th season of Pinoy Big Brother will debut on July 11, broadcasting worldwide, including in the UAE, on The Filipino Channel.
No announcement has been made on whether the latest edition of the reality programme will feature celebrity or non-celebrity contestants ("housemates", as they are called in the Big Brother franchise). But five celebrities have been confirmed to enter the house on the show's first episode: teenage pop star J K Labajo, South Korean radio presenter Jinri Park, actress Yassi Pressman and dancers McCoy de Leon and Nikko Natividad.
This season of Pinoy Big Brother will be presented by returning hosts Toni Gonzaga, Bianca Gonzalez and Robi Domingo. Mariel Rodriguez will also return as presenter, after leaving the show in 2010.
artslife@thenational.ae