Ricky Lee
Encyclopedia
Ricky Lee is a Filipino
scriptwriter. He has written more than a hundred film
scripts since 1979, earning for him more than 50 trophies from award-giving bodies. A writer with modern and realistic tones, he has worked with the best Filipino
directors (Lino Brocka
, Ishmael Bernal
, Marilou Diaz-Abaya
, Chito Rono
, Joel Lamangan
, Laurice Guillen
, Gil Portes
, Oliva Lamasan, Rory Quintos
, and Mel Chionglo), and most of his films have been shown in Cannes
, Toronto Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and other foreign festivals. Lee is also a fictionist
, a journalist
, and a playwright
. He won several awards in fiction (Philippines Free Press, Palanca
, National Book Award
, etc.). In 2000, he was one of the 100 Centennial Awardees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines
, and a Gawad-Balagtas Awardee from UMPIL.
Lee grew up with his relatives in an obscure town in Daet, Camarines Norte
. His mother died when he was 5 years old and only saw his father on few occasions. He studied primary and secondary school in the same town. It was said that Lee often sneaks into movie houses and bury himself in books at the school library, tearing away pages with striking images. An intelligent student, he consistently topped his class from grade school on to high school. His promising writing career took a first step when he won his first national literary award for a short story he wrote when he was still in high school. Driven by his passion to pursue dreams, he ran away from home and took a bus to Manila. He roamed the streets, taking on menial tasks as a waiter during the day and asking his town mates to accommodate him during the night until he collapsed one day in Avenida out of hunger. He was accepted at University of the Philippines
Diliman as an AB English Major but never got his diploma from U.P. where, ironically enough, he now teaches. He lived as a fugitive during the Martial Law
years and was later incarcerated. All these experiences would prove to be a wealthy source of inspiration from which to draw his stories and characters.
for Literature for two years in a row. Thereafter, he never joined any literary contest believing that writers should not compete with each other. His two stage plays Pitik-Bulag Sa Buwan ng Pebrero and DH (Domestic Helper) played to SRO crowds. DH, starring Nora Aunor
, has toured the US and Europe in 1993. He has written more than seventy produced scripts, earning for him more than thirty trophies from all the award-giving bodies in the Philippine movie industry. He has never and will never write any literary work in English, a conviction he holds to this day, even if that would mean going hungry.
(the first book of screenplays in the Philippines), Moral and Bukas May Pangarap. His screenplay for Salome has been translated into English and published by the University of Wisconsin–Madison
in the U.S.
as part of its textbook in film studies.
Ricky Lee has likewise published a screenplay manual, Trip to Quiapo, which is a required text in most communications courses.
In November 2008, Lee launched his first novel entitled "Para Kay B (o kung paano dinevastate ng pag-ibig ang 4 out of 5 sa atin)" at the U.P. Bahay ng Alumni.
, or a bargirl in Ermita
, or a squatter in Smokey Mountain
, even for one day, with hilarious results. One leaves the exercise a bit shaken but full of life-sustaining insights.
, Director
of the Mowelfund Film Institute(1989–2008) and Center for New Cinema (2008–present) announced the holding of a Ricardo Lee Film Festival from February 4 to 10, 2008 - the World Arts Festival under Mayor Tito Sarion, in Daet, Camarines Norte
. Lee’s scripts
became Philippine cinema
classics
of Philippine cinema, which made the 2nd golden age of 1980 Filipino movies. 5 films will be shown in the festival: Gina Alajar
's "Salome
," "Anak
," "Muro Ami
," "Gumapang Ka sa Lusak", and "Memories of Old Manila".
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
scriptwriter. He has written more than a hundred film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
scripts since 1979, earning for him more than 50 trophies from award-giving bodies. A writer with modern and realistic tones, he has worked with the best Filipino
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
directors (Lino Brocka
Lino Brocka
Catalino Ortiz Brocka is known as one of the greatest film directors of the Philippines. Brocka was openly homosexual and many of his films incorporated LGBT themes into their often dramatic storylines....
, Ishmael Bernal
Ishmael Bernal
Ishmael Bernal was an acclaimed Filipino film, stage and television director. He was also an actor and screenwriter...
, Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Marilou Diaz-Abaya is a multi-awarded film director in the Philippines.She is the founder and current president of the Marilou Diaz Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, a film school based in Antipolo City, Philippines....
, Chito Rono
Chito Roño
Chito Roño, also known as Sixto Kayko, is a Filipino multi-awarded TV and film director. He is the director of the blockbuster films Feng Shui and Sukob...
, Joel Lamangan
Joel Lamangan
Joel Lamangan is a Filipino film director, television director and actor. He rose to fame in the early 1990s as an auteur dramatic filmmaker. His award-winning films includes Sidhi, Deathrow, Hubog, Aishte Imasu 1941, Blue Moon and Mano Po.On August 19, 2008, Lamangan directed his first indie movie...
, Laurice Guillen
Laurice Guillen
-Early life and acting career:Guillen studied at St. Theresa's College, Cebu City, before working on a Masters in Mass Communication at Ateneo de Manila University, followed by a television production course under Nestor Torre, in 1967. She then began work as an actress, starring in productions of...
, Gil Portes
Gil Portes
Gil M. Portes is a Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter.-Early life and education:He was educated at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines; and received a master's degree in theater from Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York....
, Oliva Lamasan, Rory Quintos
Rory Quintos
Rory B. Quintos , is a Filipino TV and Film Director. She is the director of Land Down Under, to be released this January, 2009 in Philippine theaters.-Personal life:...
, and Mel Chionglo), and most of his films have been shown in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, Toronto Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and other foreign festivals. Lee is also a fictionist
Fictionist
Fictionist is a indie pop rock band currently from Provo, Utah, with origins in Salt Lake City, Utah and Sacramento, CA. The band's line-up is Stuart Maxfield , Robbie Connolly , Brandon Kitterman , Jacob Jones , and Aaron Anderson...
, a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and a playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. He won several awards in fiction (Philippines Free Press, Palanca
Palanca
Palanca may refer to:*Palanca Awards*Palanca, Angola a comune in Luanda Province, Angola*Palanca, a commune in Bacău County, Romania*Palanca, a village in Floreşti-Stoeneşti Commune, Giurgiu County, Romania...
, National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, etc.). In 2000, he was one of the 100 Centennial Awardees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines
Cultural Center of the Philippines
The Cultural Center of the Philippines is a government-owned and controlled corporation established to preserve, develop and promote arts and culture in the Philippines. The CCP was established through Executive Order No. 30 s. 1966 by President Ferdinand Marcos...
, and a Gawad-Balagtas Awardee from UMPIL.
Life
ako ay c BUDOY!Lee grew up with his relatives in an obscure town in Daet, Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Daet and the province borders Quezon to the west and Camarines Sur to the south.-Demographics:...
. His mother died when he was 5 years old and only saw his father on few occasions. He studied primary and secondary school in the same town. It was said that Lee often sneaks into movie houses and bury himself in books at the school library, tearing away pages with striking images. An intelligent student, he consistently topped his class from grade school on to high school. His promising writing career took a first step when he won his first national literary award for a short story he wrote when he was still in high school. Driven by his passion to pursue dreams, he ran away from home and took a bus to Manila. He roamed the streets, taking on menial tasks as a waiter during the day and asking his town mates to accommodate him during the night until he collapsed one day in Avenida out of hunger. He was accepted at University of the Philippines
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
Diliman as an AB English Major but never got his diploma from U.P. where, ironically enough, he now teaches. He lived as a fugitive during the Martial Law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
years and was later incarcerated. All these experiences would prove to be a wealthy source of inspiration from which to draw his stories and characters.
Literary career
His body of works has spanned over twenty years which include writing short stories, plays, essays, teleplays, and screenplays. A rare achievement for a writer, two of his short stories won first prizes at the Palanca AwardsPalanca Awards
The Palanca Awards or Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is the Philippines' most prestigious and most enduring literary awards and is dubbed as the "Pulitzer Prize" of the Philippines...
for Literature for two years in a row. Thereafter, he never joined any literary contest believing that writers should not compete with each other. His two stage plays Pitik-Bulag Sa Buwan ng Pebrero and DH (Domestic Helper) played to SRO crowds. DH, starring Nora Aunor
Nora Aunor
Nora "Guy" Aunor is a multi-awarded Filipino actress, singer and producer. Aunor has also topbilled several stage plays, television shows, and concerts. She is regarded as the "Superstar in Philippine Entertainment Industry"...
, has toured the US and Europe in 1993. He has written more than seventy produced scripts, earning for him more than thirty trophies from all the award-giving bodies in the Philippine movie industry. He has never and will never write any literary work in English, a conviction he holds to this day, even if that would mean going hungry.
Books
Among the books he has published are: Si Tatang at mga Himala ng Ating Panahon (an anthology of some of his works), Pitik-Bulag Sa Buwan Ng Pebrero, Brutal/SalomeSalome
Salome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
(the first book of screenplays in the Philippines), Moral and Bukas May Pangarap. His screenplay for Salome has been translated into English and published by the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as part of its textbook in film studies.
Ricky Lee has likewise published a screenplay manual, Trip to Quiapo, which is a required text in most communications courses.
In November 2008, Lee launched his first novel entitled "Para Kay B (o kung paano dinevastate ng pag-ibig ang 4 out of 5 sa atin)" at the U.P. Bahay ng Alumni.
Mentor
Since 1982, Lee has been conducting scriptwriting workshops for free at his home. He challenges his students to go to the edge, to explore the limits of their imaginations until they feel like drowning. In one of his workshops in Tagaytay, the participants were stuck in a concept that didn't seem to work. He refused to let the group eat until the concept was finished. Hunger, he says, does wonders to one's creativity: it makes you imagine things. To help them come up with three-dimensional characters he encourages his students to inhabit their characters by immersing themselves in the characters' world, either as observers, participants or by acting out the roles of these characters in their own milieu. Thus, the more intrepid students may opt to act as a beggar in QuiapoQuiapo, Manila
Quiapo is a district and city square of Manila. Referred as the "Old Downtown", Quiapo in known for where cheap buys or goods are being sold at rock-bottom prices and was the home of the Quiapo Church, where the feast for the Black Nazarene is held, with over millions of people attending...
, or a bargirl in Ermita
Ermita
Ermita may refer to the following:*Ermita, Manila, a place in the Philippines.*Ermita: A Filipino Novel, a novel by F. Sionil José.*Ermita "Ermi" Rojo, the protagonist in F. Sionil José's novel Ermita: A Filipino Novel....
, or a squatter in Smokey Mountain
Smokey Mountain
Smokey Mountain was a Filipino singing group formed by musical director, composer, conductor Ryan Cayabyab and executive producer Judd Berlin...
, even for one day, with hilarious results. One leaves the exercise a bit shaken but full of life-sustaining insights.
Daet festival
On January 22, 2008, filmmaker Nick DeocampoNick Deocampo
Nick Deocampo is a Filipino film producer, author and the director of the Center for New Cinema.-External links:**-References:...
, Director
Director-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
of the Mowelfund Film Institute(1989–2008) and Center for New Cinema (2008–present) announced the holding of a Ricardo Lee Film Festival from February 4 to 10, 2008 - the World Arts Festival under Mayor Tito Sarion, in Daet, Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Daet and the province borders Quezon to the west and Camarines Sur to the south.-Demographics:...
. Lee’s scripts
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
became Philippine cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
of Philippine cinema, which made the 2nd golden age of 1980 Filipino movies. 5 films will be shown in the festival: Gina Alajar
Gina Alajar
Regina Alatiit also known as Gina Alajar was born on in Manila, she is a FAMAS and Gaward Urian Award winning Filipino film actress and television director.-Present Career and Issue:...
's "Salome
Salome
Salome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
," "Anak
Anak
According to the Book of Numbers, during the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, Anak was a well known figure, and a forefather of the Anakites who have been considered "strong and tall," they were also said to have been a mixed race of giant people, descendants of the Nephilim...
," "Muro Ami
Muro Ami
Muro Ami is a Filipino film that depicts one of the worst forms of child labor in the illegal fishing system. Fredo is the ruthless captain of 150 Muro Ami divers. The illegal fishing is done by pounding and crushing corals underwater to scare the fishes and drive them towards the nets...
," "Gumapang Ka sa Lusak", and "Memories of Old Manila".