MANILA, Philippines—Director non-pareil Quark Henares shared these stories about his Berlin sojourn. He did our country proud. “Prost!” to him and his obra maestra, ‘Keka.”

“Berlin Asian Hotshots Film Festival is a film and video art festival dedicated to Asian filmmakers. Apparently, Germans are into Asian cinema, and what the three lovely organizers — Laura Gerber, Tina Lange and Maria Romer — wanted to do was promote Asian cinema that wasn’t just Korean, Chinese or Japanese.

First time

“This is the first time in the festival that the featured country was the Philippines. In line with that, they showed everything from classic films (‘Nunal sa Tubig’ and ‘Himala’) to films from the ’80s’ independent movement (‘Oliver’ by Nick de Ocampo) and to a retrospective on the great Kidlat Tahimik (‘Mababangong Bangungot,’ ‘Turumba’) and the new digital cinema (‘Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,’ ‘Squatterpunk,’ ‘Todo Todo Teros’). A number of Filipino filmmakers were there, most notably Kidlat Tahimik and Nick de Ocampo. Khavn dela Cruz and John Torres later followed.

“I actually didn’t expect ‘Keka’ to get accepted, since it was neither an old film nor a new film. So I was initially shocked, then thrilled, that the film was chosen to open the festival. The scary thing about opening night is that usually half the people leave after the ceremonies. I was pleasantly surprised that everyone stayed.

Quiet audience

“I was also fearful at first because the audience was just really quiet; they weren’t even minding the jokes. After a while, though, they really got into it, and started clapping at the weirdest moments. I attribute it to German love of camp, but I was genuinely touched by their reaction.

“Also, the Q&A afterwards was really fun. Some people said they wanted to go to the Philippines after watching the movie because it seemed such a nice country. I thought to myself, ‘Wait — this film is about a faulty legal system, corruption, murder and fraternities. They want to visit?! That’s great!’ I never got such a response before.

“A lot of people also came up to me asking where they could buy the soundtrack, because they loved the local alternative music featured in the film from bands like Sugarfree, Narda and Ciudad. They asked a lot of questions and were really interested to learn about the film industry here and other Filipino films. After the screening, Jorg Buttgereit, director of the cult classic ‘Nekromantik’ (one of the most bootlegged films in history) chatted with me and bought me a beer.

“Also, it’s really great that Philippine Ambassador Delia Domingo Albert was very supportive of the film com munity. She said it’s her main goal to promote Philippine culture, and that the best way to do that is to promote our films. The day after the premiere, she invited all of us to lunch at her lovely home, where she keeps a ‘dirty ice cream’ cart as centerpiece.

“She treated the German guests to sinigang, wurst and adobo while discussing Philippine-German relations and the new Philippine cinema.

“There was a panel discussion about the Goethe Institute’s role in developing Philippine cinema, featuring films that the Goethe Institute funded like classics from Nick Deocampo, Roxlee and Raymond Red. A book entitled ‘Kino-Sine: Philippine-German Cinema Relations’ edited by Tilman Baumgärtel was also launched.

“Finally, Germany-based Filipino production designer Trinka Lat hosted the Filipino night, which was a blast. A jazz band with Filipino musicians played, I spun some Filipino alternative classics, and everyone ended up singing on videoke. At first, only Filipinos were holding the mic, but in the end, the Germans joined the fun. At one point they had me sing the Eraserheads’ ‘Ligaya’ and ‘Pare Ko,’ except I had to translate the videoke text to English. Fun!"

Makeup? Markup!

An ad agency exec lamented, “I was shocked to find out that the makeup artist of an award-winning actress is charging 200K a day to fix her up for the TVC of a pain reliever. Just because the stars request for their services, some makeup artists take advantage by jacking up their fees unreasonably. I doubt if the celebs are aware of this abusive practice which has been going on for years.

“Advertisers don’t have much of a choice but to give in to the makeup artist’s demands because they need the endorsement of the actress badly.”

At the rate they’re going, makeup artists should be called markup artists instead!

New twist

Ethel Booba, Alex Crisano and Boobita were spotted in Face Shop SM North Edsa. Not too long ago, Ethel was fuming mad at Alex for flirting with Boobita. Now it seems their love-hate drama has taken a new twist. Menage a trois a la Three “Gimikeers?”

ESP girl

Iza Calzado top-bills GMA 7’s suspense thriller-drama ESP, which premieres Feb. 7. She plays Cassandra, an ambitious investigative journalist who will do whatever it takes to get a scoop.

After a near-death experience, she acquires ESP. Does she somehow use ESP in keeping track of her BF Jerry who’s based in the US?

If only

“It would be great if I really had power. That would make our long-distance relationship easier,” she said, laughing. “Our setup works because we keep ourselves busy that we have no time for petty quarrels and jealousy attacks.”

Isn’t that a timely Valentine reminder for lovers who are far apart, that absence should not make their heart grow fonder for another?

Jade strands

Miladay Jewels, celebs’ fave source of their bling blings, is giving away jade strands to welcome the Year of the Rat. Branches in Jupiter, Glorietta 4; Alabang Town Center; Waltermart-Makati; SM Mall of Asia; SM The Block; The Podium; The Jewellery in Greenhills; Robinsons Galleria; and TriNoma.

Any day is a good day to spoil yourself ‘RATten’ at Miladay.

E-mail wateringholeshangrila@yahoo.com.