•Christian gets a ‘Star is Born’ award
Without much fanfare, Christian Bables came home from Chicago with a Bright Star Award in the 2019 Asian Pop-Up Cinema for his performance in Chito Roño’s Signal
Rock which was submitted as entry to this year’s Best ForeignLanguage Film category of the Oscars.
Engraved on the trophy is “Star is Born!,” prompting Christian to quip,
“Ang lakas maka-Lady Gaga,” referring to the hit film starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
It was also Signal Rock that won Christian Best Actor at the 2018 Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF) and at the recent Urduja Film Festival, a yearly event that promotes student short, feature and independent films in Northern Luzon. The title refers to the highest point on a Samar island where residents can get signal when they want to call relatives working abroad.
“They were all nice,” Christian recalled to The STAR about his experience in Chicago where, among others, a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to a Hong Kong director. “As far as I know,” added Christian, “several films were screened for the awards and I’m honored to have been awarded. The founder, Sophia Boccio, was very accommodating. I received a warm welcome from the people of Chicago, especially from the Filipino community.”
Christian is still basking in the boxoffice success of Panti Sisters that topped the recent PPP (Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino) and will soon have a sequel, still with Christian reprising his gay character along with Paolo Ballesteros but minus Martin del Rosario (who won Best Actor) because his character dies in the movie and he is busy with the Kapuso soap The
Gift. The producers are still Perci Intalan and Jun Lana of IdeaFirst Films.
“I’m happy that the LGBT community supported the film,” said Christian who won Best Supporting Actor for Die
Beautiful, the first of the trilogy. “We are proud to become allies of the LGBT community since the film successfully relayed the message.”
Things have been coming up roses since Christian signed up as talent of Boy Abunda’s Abundants PR Evangelists agency.
“I leave it up to Tito Boy who decides what project is good for me,” said Christian.
Aside from the Panti Sisters sequel and Kapamilya soap starring Richard Gutierrez and Bea Alonzo (airing starting early next year), Christian is also set to star in a CCP Tanghalang Pilipino play adapted by Rody Vera from an F. Sionil Jose novel.
“Theater is not new to me,” said Christian. “In La Salle, I did a few plays.”