Baby Ruth Villarama Archives

Jul42019 by No Comments

Journ alumna invited to become U.S. Academy member

News

by MARIA CECILIA O. PAGDANGANAN photo by KATHLEEN MAE I. GUERRERO/THE FLAME DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER and journalism alumna Baby Ruth Villarama has been invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the United States. Villarama is joined by the likes of fellow Filipino filmmaker and documentarist Ditsi Carolino, as well as musician Lady Gaga, Emmy winner Claire Foy, "Crazy Rich Asians"’ Gemma Chan, and "Spider-Man: Far From Home"’s Tom Holland in the list of 842 new members of the Academy, which votes on the winners of the annual Oscars. The filmmaker took to Facebook on Jul. 1 to share the good news, saying that it is her honor to represent the Philippines in the film industry. “I guess life can really take this young dreamer from Baliuag ...

Baby Ruth Villarama: Portraying Reality in the Silver Screen

Features

“A WINDOW to the world.” This is how documentary filmmaker Baby Ruth Villarama describes the television features that took up her Saturday afternoons as a child; she was always anticipating the day’s National Geographic Society special. She never truly understood why she was drawn to those 30-minute features. Maybe it was the storytelling, or maybe it was something bigger. But to the young Villarama, they were a “childhood window to the world—parang all of a sudden, you’re part of it na.” In an unexpected turn of events, Villarama eventually became one of the members of the first all-Filipino documentary production team for “Asia’s Titanic,” a National Geographic feature. Years later, the director secured herself a seat at the helm of documentary filmmaking, creat...

JRN alumna’s Sunday Beauty Queen wins big in MMFF

News

ARTLET ALUMNA'S Sunday Beauty Queen bagged four awards, including Best Picture, in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2016 Gabi ng Parangal held Dec. 29. The documentary directed by Journalism alumna Baby Ruth Villarama-Gutierrez also won Best Editing, Children’s Choice Award, and the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, which is given to the film that best showcased the Filipino culture to the world. Sunday Beauty Queen follows the lives of domestic helpers in Hong Kong who spend their Sundays off participating in beauty pageants. The pageants help them uplift themselves and raise funds for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in need. Moreover, the documentary—first of its kind to compete in the annual film festival—featured the sacrifices done by OFWs for their famili...