After a dearth of victories, it took a lovely Cebuana named Karla Paula Henry to win in the international beauty contest circuit. Crowned Miss Earth 2008, Karla Henry won over 85 delegates from all over the world who flew to the Philippines to be part of the pageant that was held last November 9 at the Clark Expo Amphitheater in Angeles City, Pampanga. This Cebuana lass won over Miss Tanzania, Miriam Odemba as Miss Earth-Air (1st runner-up), Miss Mexico Abigail Elizalde as Miss Earth-Water (2nd runner-up), Miss Brazil Tatiane Alves as Miss Earth-Fire (3rd runner-up).
Prior to joining Miss Earth, Karla Henry was one of those gorgeous contestants who did not make it to the finals of this year’s Binibining Pilipinas. She was in the same batch where the controversial Jenina San Miguel made that highly buzzed (and blogged) question and answer portion, and yet she bagged the most coveted title of Bb. Pilipinas-Universe. (By the way, as of this writing, Jenina backed out of representing the country and she was replaced by her runner-up.)
Based on this writer’s list of Filipinas who became international beauty titleholders, Karla Henry is considered the 11th Filipina to win another title of this kind. If we are going to enumerate the names in chronological sequence, we have Gemma Cruz-Miss International 1964, Gloria Diaz-Miss Universe 1969, Aurora Pijuan-Miss International 1970, Margie Moran-Miss Universe 1973, Melanie Marquez-Miss International 1979, Ines Zaragozsa-Miss Asia Pacific Quest 1982, Bong Dimayacyac-Miss Asia Pacific Quest 1983, Lorna Legaspi-Miss Asia Pacific Quest 1989, Michelle Aldana-Miss Asia Pacific Quest 1993, Precious Lara Quigaman-Miss International 2005 and finally, Karla Paul Henry-Miss Earth 2008.
Speaking of international recognition, Judy Ann Santos’ starrer, Ploning, is taking a big shot at being nominated for the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars early next year. Filmed entirely in Cuyo, Palawan, the film revolves around the a barrio maiden’s love, hope, forgiveness and healing as told from the point of view of a young boy. This movie was shot a la indie style but was megged in 34mm film stock and live sound making it viable to be Oscar bound. But this is a long shot since the production group headed by Judy Ann herself and her close friend and director of the film, Dante Nico Garcia will have to create awareness to promote the film against the other 67 entries worldwide. The electoral college of the Oscar Academy will have to screen and whittle down the list to five films that will be announced come January 22, 2009 and the awarding ceremony will be on February 22, 2009.
If Ploning makes it to the final five, this will be the first for the Philippines since the closest chance we had was when Gil Portes’ film made it only to the top 10 nomination. Panoramanila, the production team, is tapping all possible means to get all the financial help they can get to allocate for their campaign scheme. This is almost a Herculean task, but with the help of the bigwigs of the film and TV industry, and those who support and believe in this almost elusive dream of getting the Oscar nod, it could be possible.
Hats off to the young filmmakers and staff of Panoramanila and of course, to the Judy Ann, one of the great actresses in the movie industry today, for taking this big leap. May you conquer your vision to make this Oscar dream a reality.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
