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In celebration of the 100 Years of Philippine Cinema, “Habambuhay” is a new, insightfully entertaining documentary series that commemorates the lives and efforts of the people behind and in front of the camera who helped shape the Philippine Movie Industry for a very long time.

It features exclusive interviews, rare archival footages, clips and photos that will help illuminate the fascinating stories behind the industry’s most significant contributors and biggest names in Philippine Cinema.

“Habambuhay” boasts a star-studded list that includes screen legends like Anita Linda, Luis Nepomuceno, Eddie Mesa, Rosemarie Gil, Gloria Romero, and Eddie Garcia, in the actor’s last in-depth interview before his untimely passing, as well as industry pillars such as Mother Lily Monteverde (Regal Entertainment), Charo Santos-Concio (Star Cinema), and Marichu Vera-Perez (Sampaguita Pictures).

Renowned filmmakers Peque Gallaga, Laurice Guillen, Lav Diaz, Brillante Mendoza, Jerrold Tarog, screenwriters Ricky Lee, Raquel Villavicencio, Rody Vera, and Philippine...

The Lopez-Aranda family has fallen far from grace. Gaspar (Tony Mabesa) was a promising statesman during his younger years but his political ambitions were thwarted by Ferdinand Marcos' sudden rise to power. Celia (Fides Cuyugan) was an opera star whose sudden marriage to an inutile man stalled her career.   The second generation didn't fare any better. Celia's daughter, Merced (Shamaine Buencamino), is unmarried and takes care of the affairs of the household. Her son, Mombic (Art Acuña), haunted by a failed marriage and business, is seeking employment abroad. Gaspar's only daughter, Raquel (Raquel Villavicencio), displaced from the Philippines for decades, has had three marriages. The third generation, represented by Reinhardt (Joaquin Valdez), Raquel's teenage son, and Antony (Jhiz Deocareza), Mombic's five year old...

Kim Homer Garcia's Magkakapatid (Blood Ties) opens in a shack, disheveled and ominously in disarray from a previous bloody incident. Clues and remnants of what happened are littered everywhere. A bowl of dinuguan, a stew made of pig's blood, meat and innards, is being feasted on by flies whose distinct buzzing complements the hurried reporting from the disembodied voice coming from the transistor radio. Human blood decorates the lowly walls and other furnishings in the house. A bloodied blade, presumably the weapon used in the hinted violence, menacingly rests on a tree stump.

 

Garcia, in the tightly conceived opening sequence previews the near-comical grandiosity of his film's central encounter with the most of absurd of the realities persisting in the Philippines. The previewed violence, a murder of Cane and Abel proportions that sadly does not have the biblical story's deeply rooted hate since the film's murder stems from the...