Allen Dhaka Fest Best Actor

MANILA, Philippines -  Allen Dizon was declared Best Actor for his role as an ill-fated deaf mute in Ralston Jover’s Bomba (The Bomb) besting 15 other actors in the main competition of the 16th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) in Bangladesh. 

It is Allen’s second Best Actor trophy for the same film, the first having been in the 33rd Warsaw Film Festival in Poland in October last year where he won a Special Jury Prize.

Other awardees in the main competition:  Zer by Kazim Oz, Turkey (Best Film); Onur Saylak for Daha (More), Turkey (Best Director);  Parinaz Izadyar and Mina Sadati for Tabestan-e-Dagh (Searing Summer), Iran (Best Actress); Onur Saylak, Dogu Yasar Akal and Hakan Gunday forDaha (Best Script); and Masoud Salami for Asphyxia, Iran (Best Cinematography).

Dizon was accompanied by producer Dennis C. Evangelista (leftmost below, with Ambassador Vicente Vicencio Bandillo and DIFF director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal). They were the guest speakers in the “Reel Life in Real World Series Episode 1: Merging Passion and Career in Filmmaking,” a symposium hosted by the Bangladesh Film and Television Academy.

Two days before the closing ceremonies, the Philippine Embassy in Dhaka headed by Ambassador Bandillo hosted a cocktail reception in honor of the Filipino delegates also the reps for Bacanou (Sea Serpents) directed by Joseph Israel Laban and Nabubulok (The Decaying) directed by Sonny Calvento; and Zamal.