Himala

Himala ("Miracle") is a 1982 Filipino drama film directed by Ishmael Bernal and produced by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines. The film's script was written by Ricky Lee based on the story of a teenage girl on Cabra Island in the province of Occidental Mindoro between 1966 and 1967.

Himala was filmed entirely in the Philippine province of Ilocos Norte in just three weeks with a budget of only ₱3 million. The film premiered at the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival, and in 1983, became the first Filipino film to be included in the "Competition Section" of the Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, Himala has been exhibited in a number of film festivals around the world.

On 11 November 2008, Himala won the Viewer's Choice Award for the Best Film of All Time from the Asia-Pacific Region in the 2008 CNN Asia Pacific Screen Awards beating out nine other films voted by thousands of film fans around the world. The ten finalists were chosen by critics, industry insiders and actors—including Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.

Rico Blanco

Rico Rene Granados Blanco (born March 17, 1973) is a Filipino singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur.

Early life

Rico Blanco was born at Manila Doctors Hospital in Ermita, Manila on March 17, 1973 to Rene Aldeguer Blanco of Iloilo City and Purita Crisostomo Granados of Leyte, Leyte.

Career

Rico was one of the founding members of the Filipino rock band Rivermaya, in varying roles as vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, and main songwriter from 1994 to 2007.

Aside from his songwriter credits in his solo album and in Rivermaya, Blanco also arranged and wrote music for various side projects such as the United Nations MDG theme "Tayo Tayo Rin", The Philippine Department of Tourism theme "Biyahe Tayo", both of which were performed by veteran Filipino musicians, such as Freddie Aguilar, the APO Hiking Society, Lea Salonga, and Sharon Cuneta. He also co-wrote "Posible", which has been used as a theme song for the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

Rico Blanco is also a stage, film, and television actor. He starred in ABS-CBN's Imortal alongside John Lloyd Cruz and Angel Locsin, and May Isang Pangarap alongside Carmina Villaroel and Vina Morales. He also starred alongside Noel Cabangon and Joey Ayala in the Music Museum and 1970s Bistro production of Jesus Christ Superstar and also starred alongside Epy Quizon and Christopher de Leon in the independent film Nasaan si Francis?. He also directed several music videos, won an award for his work as advertising musical arranger. Blanco also dabbles in painting and photography.

The Band

The Band was a Canadian-American roots rock group, originally consisting of Rick Danko (bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboards, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel (piano, baritone, drums, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, percussion, vocals). The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins's backing group, the Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963.

In 1964, they separated from Hawkins, after which they toured and released a few singles as Levon and the Hawks and the Canadian Squires. The next year, Bob Dylan hired them for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. Following the 1966 tour, the group moved with Dylan to Saugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes, which forged the basis for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink. Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own. The group began performing as the Band in 1968 and went on to release ten studio albums. Dylan continued to collaborate with the Band over the course of their career, including a joint 1974 tour.