June Lana

Background

He was born Rodolfo Lana, Junior. in Makati.

Education

Lana attended local schools.

Career

Interested in writing from an early age, he began to write and submit plays in Filipino language to competitions. He has adopted June Lana as his pen name. With his fifth First Prize, Lana was inducted into the Palanca Hall of Fame.

Since 1998, Lana has written screenplays for such directors as Marilou Diaz-Abaya Mel Chionglo and Maryo J. de los Reyes.

In 2005, Lana"s Palanca-award winning play Mga Estranghero at ang Gabi (1994) was adapted for film by Rody Vera. Renamed Pusang Gala and directed by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, the film was nominated for several FAMAS awards, including a Best Story nomination for Lana.

Lana made his film directorial debut with Gigil (2006), starring Katrina Halili. The following year, he wrote and directed Roxanne.

Since 2006, Lana has been employed by Global Media Arts Television Network, where he functions as a creative consultant for the drama department, and as head writer of Magpakailanman and other shows.

Lana also directs for television, sometimes in collaboration with actor Cesar Montano. Lana has also directed television episodes for Love2Love, Wag Kukurap, and Fantastikids. His 2012 film Bwakaw was selected as the Filipino entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy, but it did not make the final shortlist.

Achievements

• The winner of 11 Palanca for Literature, he became the youngest member of the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2006. At age 19, he received an "Honorable Mention" citation in the 1991 Palanca in the category Dulang May Isang Yugto (One-Acting Play in Filipino), for his play Eksodo. The following year, Lana won Third Prize in the same category for Churchill. In the next eight years, Lana won nine more Palanca for his Filipino-language screenplays and teleplays, including First Prizes for the screenplays Karinyo-Brutal (1995) and Mga Bangka sa Tag-araw (1996). And for the teleplays Sa Daigdig ng mga Taksil (1995), and together with Peter Ong Lim, for Pula (1997). In 2006, Lana"s teleplay Milagrosa won his fifth First Prize Palanca Award and his 11th overall. His screenplay for Diaz-Abaya"s Sa Pusod ng Dagat (1998) won Lana the Best Screenplay award from the Brussels European Film Festival|Brussels International Film Festival in 1998. He has won two FAMAS Best Screenplay awards — in 1998 for Jose Rizal (shared with Ricky Lee and Peter Ong Lim and in 1999 for Soltera (shared with Jerry Lopez Sineneng). His screenplay for Jose Rizal also won awards from the Metro Manila Film Festival and the Star for Movies. Foreign Global Media Arts Network, he directed his Palanca Award-winning teleplay Milagroso, which was aired as a television special and became a finalist at the 2006 Asian television

Works

More photos

• book

  • Ang Screenplay ng José Rizal Jose

    (History of Josâe Rizal, 1861-1896, a Filipino hero.)