COURTESY OF HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS "Ang Tanging Ina" kicks off the Filipino Film Festival at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

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Glimpse the
Philippines

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Films from the Philippines will screen at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts during the Filipino Film Festival, running today through Dec. 6. Tickets are $5 per screening, $3 for academy members.

The opening-night film is "Ang Tanging Ina," the Philippines' biggest box office hit of the year, by director Wenn Deramas, which has been turned into a TV sitcom. Ai-Ai Delas Alas stars in this wacky comedy about a woman with three dead husbands who's frustrated between going out to earn a living or staying in to take care of her kids. Screens at 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow, and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. In Tagalog with English subtitles.

The rest of the schedule is as follows. All are in Tagalog with English subtitles and playing at Doris Duke, unless otherwise noted.

>> "Gatassa Dibdib Ng Kaaway (In the Bosom of the Enemy)": Gil Portes delivers a story about a beautiful woman whose allegiance is torn during wartime between her husband and a kind man who is also the enemy, a Japanese officer with an all-too-human heart. Screens at 1 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 7:30 p.m. next Friday.

>> "Yamashita: The Tiger's Treasure": Jobert receives his grandfather's coded wartime diaries in this film by Chito Roño, unwittingly inheriting clues to a treasure. He and his teen friends get caught in a dangerous adventure involving a syndicate boss and a double-crossing treasure hunter. The winner of 11 Manila Film Festival awards, including best director and film, screens at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 23 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 24.

>> "Mano Po": This film, winner of 11 awards at the Metro Manila Film Festival 2002, deals with the Chinese-Filipino experience, in relationship to each other and their environment. In Tagalog, English, Hokien and Mandarin with English subtitles. Screens 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25 and 28, and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26.

>> "Tanging Yaman": Laurice Guillen, the director of "American Adobo," delivers the story of a Filipino family that must balance provincial values and urban survival instincts. The film won 25 festival awards in the Philippines. Screens at 4 p.m. Nov. 30 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 and 2.

>> "The Debut": Gene Cajayon's Filipino-American coming-of-age film will be screened under the stars at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu, 94-428 Mokuola St. Pre-sale tickets are available by calling 680-0451.

For more information about the film festival, call 532-8768.

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