The UP Film Institute welcomes the New Year with a bounty of screenings for the Manila Pride Fest slated from January 4 (Friday) to January 12 (Saturday).

The initial leg of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) screenings at the UP Film Institute Videotheque for January 4 and January 5 are as follows:

January 4 Friday

4:30 p.m. To Be Happy in Chile (Heidi Lloyd, Chile) with selected shorts (Flowers at the Park, Hollow Bones, Secrets)

6:30 p.m. To Be Happy in Chile (Heidi Lloyd, Chile) with selected shorts (Scarred, Bridge, Secrets, Flowers at the Park)

January 5 Saturday

4:30 p.m. Outing Riley (Pete Jones, United States)

6:30 p.m. Go West (Ahmeda Imamovica, Bosnia)

More screening highlights for the rest of January 2008 include the return engagement for Manoro and Autohystoria (January 14 Monday to January 17 Thursday); the special full run (Thursday to Thursday) of Foster Child beginning January 17 until January 24; the special presentation of Alfred Adlawan's Signos on January 19 (Saturday) and the Cinema One Originals Festival from January 28 (Monday) to January 31 (Thursday).

CONTEND presents the 1982 classic Batch '81 on January 23, Wednesday. To kick off a special program for the Philippine-German relations through film, Noli Me Tangere—directed by National Artist Gerry de Leon based on Jose Rizal's novel—screens on January 30, Wednesday. This Filipino classic will be screened back-to-back with another movie of note from German filmmaker Werner Schroeter—The Laughing Star.