Whenever I see and look at multimedia artist Laurice Guillen I always associate her with a chameleon.
Chameleon, which has never been a derogatory analogy or symbol to a human being.
Actually, it is a compliment.
We liken a chameleon to a versatile person who can easily adjust to any situation and still manages to be true to oneself.
The versatility in Laurice can be traced back when she was still with the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).
The training in PETA can make a person or a theater artist strike anywhere.
As a matter of fact, the discipline instilled in every PETA member, especially in the 60s and 70s, and even in the succeeding decades is one of multitasking when the word wasn’t a popular expression yet.
Ask any PETA member and the organization’s theory and practice of multitasking is a part of professionalism.
One has to understand and do many things all at the same time without failure or with a mistake to be rectified later.
Entertainment journalist Art Tapalla is a product of PETA in the 60s and according to him, he was able to do all production works in theater.
“Puwede akong (I could be anything) messenger, utility, props man, lights man, aktor (actor), script continuity etcetera. Ganyan ang training at natutunan ko sa PETA at nagagamit ko hanggang ngayon sa buhay ko lalo na sa (That was the training and education I learned from it and I amble to apply in my daily life especially in) showbiz,” happily admitted Art.
It can also be said of Guillen who was also an actor, production staff off-stage.
Then Laurice initially ventured into the movies in most National Artist for Film Lino Brocka like “Tinimbang Ka, Ngunit Kulang,” “Lunes, Martes, Miyerkules, Huwebes, Biyernes, Sabado, Linggo,” among other titles.
After movie acting, Guillen became a television actress and a once-in-a-while director.
Until the present-day when she could dabble in acting and directing films and TV shows.
She also had stage directing chores.
And now, arts manager and producer.
At the moment, she occupies the presidency of the Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc. (CMI) after she was the Festival Director of the annual fiesta of Philippine movies.
In my past interviews with her, she looked back on the old ole’ days of her theater work and the benefits she earned from it.
The vision she imbibed from her upperclassmen in theater, Laurice now applies in the running of Cinemalaya both as an art movement and an enterprise.
The nitty-gritty of governing Cinemalaya is no joke for Guillen but as time went by, she is able to face up challenges, adjust to new ideas, and welcome all possibilities to make the festival more invaluable not only to the film community but to the outside society as well.
In her speech at the recently concluded press conference for the 2025 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival held at the Shangri-La Plaza in Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City, she ran through the laborious preparation for the fest, year in, year out.
Choosing the finalists from hundreds of entries was not a walk in the park even if the festival has a Selection Committee.
Official line-up for the Full-Length Feature and Short Film Categories require rigorous manner of selection because of the outstanding features of many entries.
But the festival has to trim down and come up with the best of the bests.
No, the entries to this year’s edition don’t overlap with the 2026 prospective entries.
They are two different bunches.
In the Full Feature section, while the ten selections for 2025 were announced last year at the Closing Ceremonies, there was also a program that culled from among submissions for the 2026 line although they are not yet the finalists for next year.
“…At that time, the finalists for the Main Competition had already passed the entire selection process—which started with a call for entries in November 2023; submission of more than 200 entries; one on one interviews and deliberations by a selection committee which came up with 20 semi-finalists; the 3-month Film Lab after which the selection committee came up with 10 finalists with finished screenplays, and finally, 20 months for the entire film-making process…,” she explained.
Selection, therefore, is always a continuing process.
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