STAR FOR ALL SEASONS: Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, and Society

Title: Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, & Society

About the book: With a career spanning six decades across film, television, and other media, Vilma Santos has built an unparalleled legacy of award-winning performances. This book pays tribute to her remarkable contributions to Philippine cinema and beyond. Santos’s films have consistently achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim. In her more daring roles, she has delivered bold, original, and often controversial performances—works that are not only entertaining but deeply thought-provoking. Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, & Society offers a scholarly yet accessible exploration of her extensive body of work, focusing primarily on her achievements in cinema while also acknowledging her vital contributions to television and public service. The essays in this volume analyze her most significant performances, highlighting their cultural and social relevance.

Year: 2025

Category: Film Criticism

Language: English, Filipino

Page count: 278

Word count: 92,319

Dimensions: 15 x 23 cm

ISBN: 978-971-506-944-1 (SB); 978-971-506-945-8 (HB)

Keywords: Recto, Rosa Vilma T. Santos, Actors and actresses–Philippines, Motion pictures

Retail Price: ₱850.00 (SB); ₱2,200.00 (HB)

Where to Buy: The University of Santo Tomas Publishing House (USTPH), Shopee, and Lazada

What does the media says about this book?

19 Academic Essays "...Sixty years in show business is no small feat. Santos has done it all, from being a child star and a box office queen to becoming an award-winning actress and public servant. She’s played a burlesque dancer (“Burlesk Queen”), a rape survivor (“Rubia Servios”), and even a serial killer (“Tagos ng Dugo”). Each role, Zulueta pointed out, adds to a “canon of characters that chart the modern evolution of Philippine womanhood.” The book is a collection of 19 essays by academics and scholars from top universities. “It’s an intensive study of Ate Vi’s work,” said Aguila. “Only articles by authors with master’s and doctorate degrees were included. It is hoped that these essays by leading academics would provide not only a guidepost to navigate through Santos’ extraordinary body of work across six decades, but also define more fully her legacy as an actress, artist, and cultural icon,” Zulueta added. His own contribution to the book analyzes Santos’ roles in “Burlesk Queen,” “Rubia Servios,” and “Tagos ng Dugo” through the lens of abjection, a concept by Bulgarian-French philosopher Julia Kristeva. The idea is that society often rejects what it finds unclean or threatening, and women have been unfairly cast into this marginalized space. But abjection, Zulueta argued, can also be a source of power. “Vilma’s portrayals show how strength can emerge from struggle,” he explained. “Her daring performances exemplify what Kristeva calls the ‘singularity of genius’—the blending of life and thought, the ability to renew oneself. It’s a quality found in icons like political thinker Hannah Arendt and writer Colette. It applies to Santos, too..." - Marinel Cruz, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 15 March 2025 (READ MORE)

Star Book for All Seasons - "THE UST Publishing House (USTPH) is set to unveil four new titles at separate book launches and signings, with plans afoot for a grand book launch. New titles include “Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, and Society,” “Celebrating More: The St. Thomas More Lectures,” “The Dominican Rite of Solemn Profession: History, Theology, and Spirituality,” and new soft and hardcover editions of “The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus.” USTPH Deputy Director Paul Castillo said the books were selected through careful screening and a peer review and blind review process. “You have [literature], you have star studies, one in religion and ecclesiastical domain, and an anthology of speeches. It’s a good variety of titles and the genres are not the same,” Castillo told the Varsitarian. Asked which of the works he was most excited about, Castillo pointed to “Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, and Society,” a book of critical essays on the films of iconic actress Vilma Santos, dubbed the “Star of all Seasons.” The book was edited by the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) co-director, Prof. Augusto Antonio Aguila, and journalism faculty and Varsitarian adviser, Asst. Prof. Joselito Zulueta..." - John Kobe S. Balod, The Varsitarian, 02 March 2025 (READ MORE)

Three Books - "...Sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Letters, the event was attended by students and faculty members, members of the media and fans of the veteran actress. Tirso Cruz III, though not a part of the movie’s cast, joined Vilma at the talkback after the film screening. Christopher de Leon played her leading man in Dekada ’70. It was also announced during the talkback that three books on Vilma Santos will soon be published by the UST Publishing House. One of these, according to project head, Prof. Augusto Antonio Aguila, is titled “Vilma Santos: Icon, Cinema, Culture, Society,” a compilation of 90 scholarly articles on some of the critically acclaimed films of the award-winning actress. The book promises to be an exhaustive study of Vilma’s films, including ‘Ekstra,’ ‘Sister Stella L.,’ Dekada ’70, and ‘Relasyon. A second book, a yet untitled coffee table edition, is being co-written by Aguila and arts journalist Lito Zulueta of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. The third book will be a catalog of all her films, beginning from 1963 when Vilma was nine years old and launched as a star via Trudis Liit by Sampaguita Pictures..." - Nestor Cuartero, Manila Bulletin, 11 Dec 2024 (READ MORE)

Women Empowerment - "...The book, titled “Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, and Society” is edited by UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) Co-Director Prof. Augusto Antonio Aguila and Asst. Prof. Joselito Zulueta, Varsitarian adviser and a journalism faculty member. “I wanted to show that the characters actually [present] women empowerment, you know, that the characters she portrays somehow uplift the status of women in society,” Aguila told the Varsitarian. The book collected essays from 24 contributors, including CCWLS resident fellows Paul Castillo, Joyce Arriola and Joselito Delos Reyes, Creative Writing instructor Louie Zaraspe, Filipino instructor Mark Angeles, UST Publishing House Director Benedict Parfan, and Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan. Scholars from Monash University of Australia and other foreign universities also wrote chapters. “We found out that there are many Thomasian scholars who have seen her films and have admired her as an artist,” Aguila said. “And we found out that there are many professors of UST and other universities who actually would want to write about Ate V,” he added, using a moniker for the Filipina movie star..." - John Kobe S. Balod, The Varsitarian, 16 March 2025 (READ MORE)

Cultural Icon - "...The coverage of the book would be all facets of Vilma Santos. She was a child actress and a teenage actress, [and she] evolved into adult roles [as a] broadcast superstar. And then, of course, box office star, both [in] cinema and in film,” Zulueta told The Flame. According to him, the focus of cinema studies rarely explores the actors themselves since it often leans toward the filmmaker, writer’s intent and the historical context behind the story’s creation. “So most of the time in cinema studies and cultural studies, the actors and performing artists are overlooked. Maybe because in cinema studies, the most prominent is the auteur. Auteur studies,” Zulueta said. “There [is a] lack of studies on Vilma Santos as a cultural icon, an actress, performing actress and a filmmaker, a popular culture artifact,” he added. Santos-Recto is known for her performances in ‘80s and ‘90s Filipino films, most notably Sister Stella L (1984), Bata bata paano ka ginawa? (1998), Relasyon (1982) and Anak (2000), where she played her iconic role Josie Agbisit. Santos-Recto’s performances, Aguila said, are not only authentically her own but also represent the everyday struggles and triumphs of Filipinos. “And she [Vilma Santos] has made a lot of movies and films that have a huge impact on culture, cinema, and our society. She has portrayed characters who are strong. And I mean she has portrayed a wide variety of characters, and her films have won numerous awards,” Aguila said. “When you talk about longevity and its impact on popular culture, Vilma has always been in our consciousness. She never disappears within us,” he added..." – Jaila Marjaan Abdul, March 2025 (READ MORE)

Extensive Body of Work - "...The book, titled “Vilma Santos, Icon: Essays on Cinema, Culture, and Society,” is edited by UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) Co-Director Prof. Augusto Antonio Aguila and Varsitarian adviser Asst. Prof. Joselito Zulueta. It features critical essays from Thomasian writers and faculty members on Santos’s extensive body of work, while exploring her cultural and social significance as the “Star for all Seasons.” “This anthology is a celebration of her exceptional artistry and enduring legacy. Her status as an icon of cinema, culture, and society is well-deserved,” UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P., said in the book’s introduction. Aguila, apart from being the book’s editor, also contributed to the compilation with his essay, “From ‘Darna’ to ‘Sister Stella L’: Feminist resistance in Vilma Santos’s fantasy and social realist films.” Zulueta also took part in the collection with his essay, “Vilma Santos’s Cinema of Abjection in ‘Burlesk Queen,’ ‘Rubia Servios,’ and ‘Tagos ng Dugo..." - John Kobe S. Balod, The Varsitarian, 15 March 2025 (READ MORE)