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ALBERTO S. FLORENTINO
And Philippine Cinema, TV, & Theater
M O V I E S :
COMMERCIAL MOVIES A.F. SCRIPTED
MASIKIP, MASAKIT, MAHAPDI, '98. dir. by Behn Cervantes; producer Good Harvest/Regal Films (Lily Monteverde); based on 3 FLORENTINO one-act plays (THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, Cadaver & Cavort w/ Angels); w/Jaclyn Jose, Rita Avila, Julio Diaz, Joel Torre.
BULAKLAK MAN AY LUPA RIN, '75. prod./dir. by Art Guzman w/ Be-Men; based on 3 Balintataw scripts: first script by FLORENTINO loosely based on the chapter "The Guest" in Stevan Javellana's Without Seeing the Dawn, dir. by Art Guzman, w/ Dante Rivero, Elizabeth Oropesa, Lito Legaspi; 2nd script by FLORENTINO, "Mapait na Dugo," loosely based on Arthur Millers View from the Bridge, dir. by Eddie Mayo, w/Dante Rivero, Hilda Koronel, Charlie Davao, Divina Valencia; 3rd script by FLORENTINO, original script inspired by the guitar piece Romance, w/Dante Rivero, Pilar Pilapil, Eddie Garcia.
BABAE: NGAYON AT KAILANMAN, '78. prod./dir. by Joey Gosiengfiao, based on 3 Balintataw scripts (Lumnay, script by FLORENTINO, based on Amador Daguios story "The Woman Who Looked Out the Window," w/ Charito Solis & Dindo Fernando; Agueda, script by Jose Lacaba, based on Nick Joaquin's story "May Day Eve," w/ Gloria Diaz & Ronaldo Valdez; Alma, script by Wilfrido D. Nolledo, based on his own play Juego de Prenda, w/ Tommy Abuel & Chanda Romero.
ANG DAIGDIG AY ISANG PATAK NA LUHA, '76. prod. by Gemini (Natalie Palanca), based on 3 Balintataw scripts: Anak ng Digmaan, original script by FLORENTINO, dir. by Pierre Salas, w/ Pinky de Leon, Lilia Dizon, Melissa de Leon; Odi et Amo, original script by FLORENTINO, dir. by Art V. de Guzman, w/ Christopher de Leon; Zita, script by FLORENTINO, based on Arturo Rotor's story "Zita," dir. by Manuel Cinco, w/ Gil de Leon, Marianne de la Riva & Joey Bundalian.
TV DRAMA ANTHOLOGIES A.F. SCRIPTED AND (SCRIPT-)SUPERVISED:
WEEKLY TV DRAMA SERIES---
BALINTATAW I (host Robert Arevalo, dir. Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara)
Obra Maestra (host Charito Solis, dir. Nick Lizaso)
Katha (dir. Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara)
Dahong Ginto (dir. Nick Lizaso)
Dulambuhay (host Eddie Rodriguez, dir. Fred Gonzalez)
Roco! (host Bembol Roco, dir. Fritz Ynfante)
Ala-ala (host Pilar Pilapil, dir. Fred Gonzalez)
Limbo (dir. Pierre Salas)
Paghawi ng Tabing (prod. Percy Cruz)
Philip Morris Show (host Fred Montilla, dir. Fred Gonzalez)
TV DRAMA SPECIALS A.F. SCRIPTED:
Caltex Star Caravan: FLORENTINO's THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, the first Filipino play on Phil. TV, dir. Jaime de la Rosa, drama coach Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, '56.
Our Very Own: FLORENTINO's script based on Jose Garcia Villa's "The Man Who Looked Like Rizal," dir. James Reuter SJ, host Gilda Cordero Fernando.
Tatluhan: FLORENTINO's script based on Andres C. Cruz' "Rosemarie Blue & Magdalena/White Wall".
Aawitan Kita: Paglubog ng Araw. Script by FLORENTINO based on Narciso Reyes' "The Stream," w/ Alma Moreno.
Lent Special: I.N.R.I. (Passion of Christ). Script by FLORENTINO, dir. Pierre Salas.
Dahong Ginto Special: Anak ng Araw. FLORENTINO's script based on Amador Daguio's "The Woman Who Looked Out the Window," w/ Susan Roces & Fernando Poe Jr. (shelved after editing).
Paghawi ng Tabing: Tabak at Sampaguita. FLORENTINO's script on Rizal & Josephine Bracken at Dapitan ca. 1896, dir. Jesse Ramos, w/ Tommy Abuel & Linda Grey.
Balintataw II: Kabalyerong Tanso. FLORENTINO's script based on Wilfrido Nolledo's story "Rice Wine."
Balintataw II: Unos sa Bawat Panahon. Based on FLORENTINO's 3 plays, THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, Oli Impan, & Cavort w/ Angels, dir. Frank Rivera, w/ Nora Aunor.
Balintataw II: Panagimpan sa Malayong Pasigan. FLORENTINO's script based on Ben Santos' story "The Day the Dancers Came," dir. Nick Lizaso, w/ Leila Florentino & Mike Braganza.
THE CRITICS & REVIEWERS,
ON A.F. & HIS PLAYS
Leonard Casper:
"These plays are prayers, more than social pleas in the bureaucratic sense; their appeal is not to organized charity nor to the social welfare agency, but to any man with self-respect and self-knowledge who would be lessened by the symbolic death of any other man. Everyman is a squatter; the world is someone else's apple." ... "The implied protest is against inhumanity in the largest sense, the betrayal of Christ and the divine in man, through lovelessness, lack of basic hospitality. Whoever treats another man like a beast becomes that beast." ('66, a review of "THE WORLD IS AN APPLE" in New Writing from the Philippines)
Francisco Arcellana:
"FLORENTINO is a born playwright---if there ever was one: I realized this as soon as I read 'Oli Impan,' which play shows he is something of a poet, too." ('72, preface to From Book to Stage)
Miguel A. Bernad, SJ:
"FLORENTINO has looked squarely at life in the slums. He tells us what he has found there. He has found Good battling with Evil, and the Good is often handicapped in such surroundings. He has told us the truth. He has told it with restraint, he has not soiled his lips or his mind in the telling, and I do not believe that he is likely to soil ours." ('60, a review of "Oli Impan," THE WORLD IS AN APPLE the book, etc., in Phil. Studies)
Severino Montano:
"A poetic vision of social protest FLORENTINO has written-vividly and movingly-about one sector of humanity: the disposessed and the miserable life they lead. Between his lines is expressed his characters', as well as his own, rebellion against such a life." ('59, in preface to THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, the book)
Jose Ma. Sison:
"A poet of the city slums FLORENTINO seems to be the most remarkable one-act playwright in the country today." ('59, a review of THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, the book, in UP Collegian)
Jean Edades:
"ALBERTO FLORENTINO's plays set forth, with incontrovertible realism, the plight of the unemployed. The characters have been conditioned by their environment and their conflicts stem from the mode of life forced upon them by poverty. 'Where is the uplift?' some spectators asked, 'Where the moral lesson?' But writers are not preachers. The playwright sets down in terms of drama what he has seen. The true literary artist who is moved by injustice sets it forth in relief, using artistic selection. He need make no comment. The audience is to draw its own conclusions and demand its own reforms." (ca. '60, a review of THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, the book, in a Manila daily)
Teodoro A. Agoncillo:
FLORENTINO's three one-act plays (Anak ng Digmaan, Lunsod, and Marianna) presage what perhaps is the resurgence of (Filipino) drama that for long has been in lethargy since the coming of the movie talkies to the Philippines." ('72, preface to Sangyugto by ALBERTO FLORENTINO, written in Tagalog, tr. into English by Buenaventura S. Medina, Jr.)
Rosalinda O. Orosa:
"FLORENTINO is generally conceded the most promising of the younger playwrights His plays manifest, in varying degrees, his obsession with social inequality If the book is a trifle depressing in its entirely, it nevertheless is an impressive augury of what he might produce." ('60, review of THE WORLD IS AN APPLE, the book)
Ninotchka Rosca:
"'THE WORLD IS AN APPLE' strikes out along a new direction. FLORENTINO's one-act plays are concerned with socially relevant themes. They are extremely playable on the stage and are highly theatrical. They possess also the capacity to bring the spectator into a confrontation with reality, leading him to the shock of recognition as he realizes that the plays are not concerned only with events occurring to particiular persons but are also comments upon certain aspects of human relations in Philippine society." ('78, an essay in Philippine Heritage, a 10-vol. encyclopedia)
Petronilo Bn. Daroy:
"FLORENTINO's plays were virtually ignored in their most essential aspect His plays are always as timely as newspaper headlines; in a profound sense, they also represent a form of intellectual investigation into the anomalies of contemporary Filipino life." (ca. '70s, foreword to Memento Mori by ALBERTO FLORENTINO)
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