Danny Zialcita’s world is full of beautiful women and unfaithful men. They collect art and antiques and meet in secret places — where they are dropped off by private choppers. They dine under chandeliers, attended by maids in uniform. They’re obsessed with virility and virginity, destiny and stature, and the pursuit of great love.

And they like to talk. A lot. “Ang sala sa lamig, sala sa init, iniluluwa ng langit, isinusuka ng Diyos,” said Vilma Santos in T-Bird at Ako. “You were supposed to be the concerned father of a sick boy and not the willing husband of his mother!” said Hilda Koronel in Gaano Kadalas Ang Minsan. “Masasabi mo ba sa araw wag ka nang sumikat? Sa hangin, huwag ka nang dumaan? Sa alon, huwag ka nang humalik sa Lupa? You just can’t,” said Ronaldo Valdes in Karma.

Archivo 1984 is transformed into the world of Danny Zialcita, blockbuster director, scriptwriter, art collector, entertainer. The man behind glossy domestic dramas like Bakit Manipis Ang Ulap, love stories like Dear Heart, and sex comedies like May Daga Sa Labas ng Lungga. Through photographs from his sets, rare posters and print ads, lobby cards (rarer still), and clips from his movies, the tribute exhibition called “Ang Baliw Na Baliw na Daigdig ni Danny Zialcita” — inspired by the title of his 1975 film “Ito’y Isang Baliw na Baliw na Daigdig” starring Pinky de Leon, Gina Pareño and Rosanna Ortiz — will attempt to evoke the filmmaker’s universe. The exhibit features a sound work of artist Ian Jaucian which will make use of select quotable quotes from the Zialcita oeuvre.

- Jerome Gomez