Peque awards young visionaries of 3rd Bakunawa Film Festival

MANILA, Philippines – Iconic film director Peque Gallaga handed out to Renzo Grijaldo the third Bakunawa Film Festival’s highest award ­— the Best Director of the Summer Film Challenge — for his science-fiction short film DTH 60606, last April 29 in Bacolod City.

Showcasing films produced by the Mass Communication students of the University of St. La Salle (USLS), Bakunawa is positioned as the film festival of young visions and young perspectives.

The colorful awards night was held at the Main Atrium of SM City Bacolod. USLS president, Brother Manuel Pajarillo, FSC, PhD. and Julia Javellana, SM Bacolod’s assistant mall manager with Masscom Department chair Hannah Mariveles also graced the event complete with film screenings, fashion show and top-notch performances.

With six strong dramatic films, the two sci-fi films dominated the awards night.

DTH 60606, about two outlaws on the run with a twist ending, won Best Actress for Lorje Singson. It also swept the technical awards: Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Use of Sound. It also swept the Instructor’s Choices, winning Best Short Film and Best Director.

Helen Strong’s sci-fi entry, Mentis, about a man who is always pestered by his wife and psychologist in a world that is not what it seems, won Best Film and Best Director for Strong, Best Actor for Bryce Jareño and Best Supporting Actor for Kurt Soberano, now a two-time Bakunawa winner.

Mentis also received the Audience Choice Award and Imaginarium Award, a special Jury Prize for its evocation of a near-future world, created ingeniously by means of minimalist production values.

Mary Jane Quilisadio’s Tinion (Time and Remembrance), a period romance directed by Reniel Botnande, won Best Supporting Actress from both the Jury and the Instructor’s Choice. It also won for Best Use of Music.

Best Screenplay went to Handum Kag Dumot (Passion & Hatred) by Caryl Fritze Macaya and Shaina Gemina while Best Use of Music went to Laragway (Portrait).

NCCA OIC-chair of the Committee on Cinema Teddy Co headed this year’s Board of Jury with production designer/visual artist Adrian Torres, filmmaker Sari Dalena and cinematographer Yoke Weng Ho of Singapore.

The festival also featured Kolorete, the culminating show of the make-up class with the Inter-Disciplinary Studies Program by top-notch Bacolod make-up artist, Carlos Durana, and featured the clothes of the Bacolod Circle of Young Designers. Durana gave out awards for Best in Beauty Make-up, Best in Stage and Film Make-up, Best in Prosthetics and Most Promising Make-Up Artist.

Hosted by Lyzabeth Dilag, the Bakunawa Awards Night handed out painted art trophies based on the Bakunawa, the dragon-like creature in Visayan mythology, by Grupo Letras Y Figuras headed by Olive Gloria, Mirriam May Flores and Keanu Joseph Rafil. 

Prior to the awards night, a series of film screenings was held at the Mutien Marie Auditorium of the USLS.

Co-festival directors were filmmaker Elvert Bañares (who is also the visiting instructor of USLS’s summer film production classes) and theater director Tanya Lopez.

The Mass Communication students of University of St. La Salle