"Sixty" a Nora Aunor film unrealized.

Sixty in the city is a Lualhati Bautista novel which Ms. Nora Aunor was interested to adapt into a film according to Marie Cusi.

This is interesting news because Lualhati Bautista was a multi-awarded and renowned writer who received three Palanca Awards (Gapo (1980), Dekada '70 (1983) and Bata, Bata..Pa'no Ka Ginawa? (1984)"), Gawad CCP Para Sa Sining (2020), Diwata Award for Best Writer (16th International Women's Film Festival of the UP Film Center in 2006) and a recognition for her screenplays, including the Bulaklak sa City Jail film winning Best Story and Best Screenplay at the 1984 Metro Manila Film Festival and many more awards.

Incidentally, Nora Aunor who plays Angela Aguilar in the Lualhati Bautista screenplay "Bulaklak sa City Jail" (Flowers of the City Jail) won the Best Actress award at the same 1984 Metro Manila Film Festival for her performance as a nightclub singer who was imprisoned for the frustrated murder of her lover's wife, got pregnant while in prison and whose challenges for survival within a harsh prison environment highlighting themes of injustice and female empowerment in a patriarchal society.

Nora Aunor's archrival in the Philippine cinema Ms. Vilma Santos also starred in a Lualhati Bautista novel-to-film "Bata, Bata..Pa'no Ka Ginawa" did award Lualhati Bautista for her screenplay. The film version, directed by Chito S. Rono won numerous awards, including a YCC Award for Best Screenplay and another recognition for her writing from the Feminist Centennial Film Festival in 2005.

Here is an AI overview of what "Sixty in the City" by Lualhati Bautista is all about. Read below.

"Sixty in the City," a novel by Lualhati Bautista, tells the story of three middle-aged women, Guia, Roda, and Menang, who navigate life in their mid-60s. The novel explores their realization that a fulfilling life can be found in being a wife, mother, and homemaker, and it also examines their experiences with sex and sexuality, challenging societal expectations. The story portrays the characters as "fighters" who "cheerfully break through life's rigid parameters," particularly regarding the traditional notions of women's roles and their sexual needs.

Indeed, it is unfortunate that Nora's pleading to get funding to adapt into film "Sixty in the City" fell on deaf ears because she has now left us mortals with her passing on April 16, 2025.

Lualhati Torres Bautista unfortunately also passed away on the 12th of February, 2023. She was born on December 2, 1945 and is also known not only as a writer but also a liberal activist and a political critic.

We have lost two treasures namely Lualhati Bautista and Nora Aunor for their untimely death have disadvantaged us as a society with more beautiful contributions they could have made but will now never achieve. Perhaps more stories to tell, more social injustice to highlight, more potential to be realized and just simply more contribution and opportunity for cultural development of our society.

Collage above is that of the book cover of Lualhati Bautista's "Sixty in the City" and Francis Tanseco painting with Nora Aunor as muse.

Here below is a song created, written and produced by Francis Tanseco in honor of Nora Aunor.

Here below are some artwork of Francis Tanseco giving tribute to Nora Aunor.