3 Fil-Ams celebrate their Oscar-winning short

LOS ANGELES --- Three Filipino-Americans who produced the Oscar-nominated film, “God of Love," rejoiced when their movie bagged the Oscar in the Best Live Action Short category at the 83rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Writer-director Luke Matheny (left) share his Oscar statuette with his "God of Love" Fil-Am producers (L-R) Gigi Dement, Stefanie Walmsely and Stephen Dypiangco. Photo by Stephen Dypiangco
Producers Gigi Dement, Stefanie Walmsely and Stephen Dypiangco were almost in tears when writer-director-actor Luke Matheny’s “God of Love" was called as the Best Live Action Short, beating “The Confession," “The Crush," “Na Wewe," and “Wish 143."

Los Angeles-based Stephen, who is the son of Filipino immigrants Oscar and Lucila, revealed, “It felt amazing to hear ‘God of Love’ called. I was on the verge of tears, so proud of our team and thankful for all the love of my wife, parents, family and friends."

Stephen, who watched the ceremony at a friend’s house in La Canada Flintridge where they had a viewing party, got together with his producer colleagues Gigi Dement and Stefanie Walmsely at the Vanity Fair party after the awards ceremony.

New Yorker Gigi Dement, who was born in Baguio City, was thankful to fashion designer Oliver Tolentino who did her one-shoulder, fully beaded teal green and purple mermaid gown. Gigi looked like a winner indeed in the gown with purple silk cascading from the shoulder to ruffles along the neckline and matched with a narrow purple belt.

“I was saved by Oliver because I didn’t have anything to wear," she said.


Fil-Am producer Gigi Dement wears a gown by fashion designer Oliver Tolentino to the Oscars. Photo by Oliver Tolentino
Oliver describes his inspiration for Gigi’s gown. “I was inspired by old Hollywood glamor with the fully-beaded, mermaid gown," said Oliver. "Since Gigi has a lovely olive complexion, I chose teal green and purple beads. However, the colors are very subtle and you might not even see them in a photo. I added purple silk as an accent to soften the beaded look."

The daughter of Deane Dement, a sailor in the American Navy, and Manolita Almario Buenaventura Borja, a former actress in the Philippines, Gigi revealed how she got involved in the “God of Love" project.

“It’s so funny, when Luke asked me to come on as the lead producer of the film, one of the first things he used to sell the project to me was that another person he wanted to bring on board was also from the Philippines," she revealed. “I had never met Stefanie at that point, but because the New York Filipino filmmaking community is so tight, we actually knew many of the same people." Then Stephen also came along.

Stefanie, a former host of “Eat Bulaga," was filming the occasion for her blog for GMA-7. “As Filipinos, story telling is in our blood," she said. “At the end of the day, all I really want to do is help tell a truly fantastic story."

As for her attire, Stefanie said, “When I told my friends I didn’t know what I was going to wear, suddenly I got three gowns from the Philippines." She ended up wearing the emerald green gown by fashion designer Martin M. Bautista. “It was a tough choice but I loved Martin’s gown," she said. The gown is made of chiffon with asymmetrical neckline, fluid skirt and a slit. A common friend, Divine Lee, introduced Stefanie and Martin to each other.

Unfortunately, Oscar nominee for Best Cinematography, Matthew Libatique for “Black Swan," lost to “Inception’s" Wally Pfister. However, Matthew won the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on the eve of the Oscars running away with the Best Cinematographer award. “The Indie Spirit Awards for me are more meaningful because I can relate to the indie filmmakers," Matthew said. “Plus, it has been a long time since I won the Indie Spirit Award for one of my earlier films ‘Requiem for a Dream’ with Darren (Aronofsky)," he added.

Oliver Tolentino dressed up Matthew as well for his Oscar red carpet appearance. Matthew wore Oliver’s tux with Oliver’s abaca tie. Oliver said, “For Matty's tux, I created an Italian wool tuxedo with narrow peak labels in duchess satin. I created a grey vest and traditional tie out of abaca so that he would take a little piece of the Philippines at the Oscars."

Part-Pinay Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress, Hailey Steinfeld, who was accompanied at the Oscars by her half-Filipina mom, Chris, her dad and brother, was dressed nicely in her blush-colored Marchesa ballroom beaded dress.

“The Social Network" producer Cean Chaffin, who is the wife of director David Fincher, represented Filipino-American fashion designer Carlyn Nuyda Calloway of Bespoke by Thumbelina at the Oscar red carpet.

Carlyn described Cean’s gown, “In keeping with her minimalist sensibilities, we fashioned for Ms. Chaffin an empire waist silhouette floor length gown with a nude silk charmeuse underlining and contrasting black silk chiffon overlay. The bodice is a sweetheart neckline design with a silk chiffon long sleeved overlay. The skirt is a two-layer skirt with its nude underlining in an A-line silhouette and a trapeze skirt overlay in black. Ms. Chaffin requested no beadwork so we added a thin nude silk band at the empire waist as its only embellishment detail."

Also represented on the red carpet was Cebuana fashion designer Monique Lhuillier who did the alluring nude-colored, top-beaded flowing gown of “Tangled" singer Mandy Moore.

source: gma