ANINO Shadowplay Collective

Tungo sa malusog at masayang bukas para sa mga bata/Towards a happy and healthy future for all children is the first of ANINO’s mashup productions. This 30-minute presentation fuses together some of the environmental pieces produced by the Collective between 1992 and 2005. This visual narrative projects children’s hopes for the future. It begins slow and solemn with the beautiful blue jewel that is Earth floating in space. A young girl wishes to lull a tearful, scarred Mother Earth to sleep in the hope that she re-awakes healed and refreshed. The girl flies with the Philippine Eagle , swims with the sea turtle and the whale shark but each time drama builds up as she witnesses hunting, poaching, the exotic animal trade, urbanization, pollution, and deforestation taking their toll on these creatures. She wonders what will become of all creatures including Man if all forest is gone and air and water have become toxic. She asks when Man will act on what, by his own doing, has befallen Mother Earth. When it is too late? Then deafening silence as children help heal Mother Earth. They clean up their surroundings, plant trees, protect wildlife and support conservation and conversion to renewable sources of energy. And, yes, they play but this time under cleaner sky, in cleaner water, on cleaner earth, surrounded by birds and butterflies and flowers and trees. Mother Earth is replenishing herself.

From the Urban Theatre Projects website:

The Folding Wife is a physical theatre performance integrating rhythmic poetic text with the unique visual language of Manila-based Anino Shadowplay Collective. The performance explores the external and internal landscape that propels people to scatter across the face of the earth and the consequences it has for personal and cultural identity.

Drawing on the recollections of a young Filipina/Australian woman The Folding Wife contrasts the iconic imagery of a fierce and impenetrable Australian landscape with that of the resilient Filipina. It is a deeply moving story about migration and cultural heritage that concentrates on a dispute between three women from the same bloodline, trapped in different eras but anchored and weighed down by the impulse to leave. » read on…

There you have it. An award for the Best Website in the Arts & Portfolio category of the 9th Philippine Web Awards. Here is the complete list of winners.

Although my speech was rather short (4 words), I really wanted to thank a number of people and organizations. Let me take this opportunity to thank the following: Media G8way Corp. , organizers of the Philippine Web Awards; Philweavers , the Philippine Web Designers’ Network; Philippine Center for Creative Imaging , the country’s premier digital arts training center; and last but not the least – the Anino Shadowplay Collective, its members, and its Aninunos – for without inspiring and unique content created by its members, this website wouldn’t have been possible. Content really is king on the internet! This trophy is for you guys!

Every now and then we’ll be highlighting some interesting groups who, like us, are involved in the art of shadow theater. For this first installment we have three companies who produce excellent work. And their respective company websites are well-structured and very informative, to boot.
» read on…

ABS-CBN Interactive / April 18, 2006

Prague, the world capital of puppets, will fittingly host the 2006 World Festival of Puppet Art in June. The event is what the local group of multimedia artists, the Anino Shadow play Collective, has been keeping its sights on, since receiving an invitation to perform and compete in the festival’s 10th year.
» read on…