Comedy reigns supreme at the 2010 MMFF

The 36th Metro Manila Film Festival awards night held Sunday at the Meralco Theater was a triumphant night for comedians. For the first time in the history of the MMFF, comedy films reigned supreme in a turf that is usually dominated by drama movies.

Comedy King Dolphy and Comedy Concert Queen Ms. Ai Ai delas Alas took home the top acting honors, winning the Best Actor and Best Actress awards for their respective film entries.

The Comedy King won for his role as a priest in the movie “Father Jejemon” which he produced under RVQ Productions. Ai Ai, on the other hand, won for her role as the loving mother who’d do anything for her children in the Star Cinema movie “Ang Tanging Ina Mo

(Last Na ‘To)”, said to be the last in the successful franchise.

Copping the Best Picture trophy was also “Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)” which also won for Wenn Deramas his first-ever Best Director award from the MMFF. The comedy film won a total of nine awards, including the Gender Sensitive Film award given by the QC government cultural affairs office.

Ai Ai beat Marian Rivera (nominated for “Super Inday and the Magic Bibe”) and Carla Abellana (nominated for an episode in “Shake, Rattle and Roll XII”).

Kris Aquino failed to get an acting nomination for “Dalaw”, ditto with Jennylyn Mercado for the highly-touted “Rosario.” Even before the festival awards night, predictions had pointed to Jennylyn as the sure winner of the best actress trophy. Alas, she didn’t even get a nomination.

The new filmfest criteria stated that only the top three contenders would be announced, unlike the previous festivals where there would be a kilometric list of contenders as all stars of the various entries were deemed finalists. It came as a surprise to many that Jennylyn

failed to muster enough votes to enter the Top 3 and make it as best actress contender.

Also a big winner at the awards night was Direk Wenn Deramas. “I didn’t expect to win. I wasn’t expecting anything. We are here to

support the MMFF, but we are happy we won,” said the comedy director. “Sobra akong nagpapasalamat kasi binigyang halaga ang comedy. Alam mo naman dito sa atin, lagi na lang hindi nabibigyan ng attention ang comedy kaya naman sobrang nagpapasalamat ako dahil binigyan nila ng importance ang ‘Ang Tanging Ina’,” he said.

Were you expecting to win? “No, definitely, wala akong ini-expect nang pumunta ako rito dahil para lang sumuporta sa filmfest kaya kami nandito. Sabi ng Star Cinema na suportahan namin ang MMFF. Iyon lang talaga ang dahilan sa pagpunta ko rito,” Direk Wenn said.

In fact, he was already happy with the twin victories of his writer Mel Mendoza-del Rosario who won Best Story and Best Screenplay

for “Ang Tanging Ina”. Plus, one of his film’s stars, Eugene Domingo, also won Best Supporting Actress. Direk Wenn said his win felt like a bonus.

When he heard his name called as best director, his mouth felt dry. He couldn’t say anything out of shock. “Hindi ko na alam kung sino ang mga napasalamatan ko o kung napasalamatan ko ba kung sino ang dapat na pasalamatan. Hindi naman talaga ako ready na manalo pero salamat sa Diyos sa biyayang ito,” he said.

He was also glad that his wish for Ai Ai to win the best actress award came true.

Tito Dolphy beat Vic Sotto (“Si Agimat at si Enteng Kabisote”) and Yul Servo (“Rosario”) for the top acting plum.

The Comedy King was a double winner as he also won the Best Supporting Actor for “Rosario,” beating Alwin Uytingco for “Ang Tanging Ina”, Sid Lucero for “Rosario” and Roy Alvarez for “Father Jejemon”.

Eugene Domingo, for her role as Ai Ai’s best friend in “Ang Tanging Ina Mo (Last Na ‘To)”, beat Alessandra de Rossi and Gina Pareño, who were both nominated for “Dalaw”, for the best supporting actress plum.

Ai Ai cried unabashedly when she accepted her best actress trophy, which she shared with her best friend Kris Aquino and with Jennylyn, whom Ai Ai said was her toughest competitor for the award, not knowing that the lead actress of “Rosario” didn’t even merit a nomination.

Aside from the Best Picture trophy, the Star Cinema film also won awards for Gender Sensitive Film given by the QC government, Best Child Performer for Xyril Manabat and Best Musical Score for Jesse Lasaten.

Cinemabuhay’s “Rosario” was named Second Best Picture. Directed by Albert Martinez, it also won the Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Award, plus Best Production Design (Joey Luna and Nikki Hann), Best Editing (John Wong) and Best Cinematography (Carlo Mendoza). It also won the award for Best Float during the MMFF parade.

The animated film “RPG Metanoia” from Ambient Media and Star Cinema was named Third Best Picture. It also picked up awards for Best Sound Recording (Ronald de Asis) and Best Theme Song (Kaya Ko). It also got a citation for best gender

sensitive film.

Winning also an award for Best Sound Recording was Ditoy Aguila for “Super Inday and the Magic Bibe,” while “Si Agimat at Si Enteng Kabisote,” scooped up the awards for Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects.

The jurors of this year’s MMFF were Sec. Edwin Lacierda (chairman), Ricardo “Butch” Trofeo, Butch Francisco, Deedee Sytancgo, Robert Arevalo, Emmanuel Borlaza, Mae Paner, Marie “Baby” Villegas, Arnold Cabaluna (a public school teacher from Mandaluyong City), Justin Jarod Binos (a student from Makati City), and Milton Medina (a bus driver from Muntinlupa City). They underwent a selection process before being designated as jurors. They also took a seminar on film appreciation.

Some sidelights: In fairness, the awards night was star-studded as the stars from the various film entries came in full force, in support of the MMFF.

Zyrene Parsad, runner-up in the “Are You the Next Big Star” contest, sang the theme song of the MMDA but this segment was not shown on TV. Many were surprised when this song was served as the pre-opening number. According to a source, this number was not really included in the program. Good thing it was not shown in the TV telecast aired on GMA 7.

Dennis Trillo and Jennylyn Mercado were named Best Dressed Male and Female Stars of the Night but they were erroneously awarded the MMFF’s best supporting trophies when they were just supposed to get P10,000 each from the awards’ sponsor. Said segment did another take, where Jennylyn and Dennis got their cash prizes. The trophies in turn were handed to the rightful awardees, Dolphy and Eugene Domingo, although both of them were absent from the awards night.

“Why me?” This was the reaction of Senator Bong Revilla when he was named Male Face of the Night. Sam Pinto won the Female Face of the Night.

People were asking why there were some congresswomen who went up onstage to be award presenters. The Congress has no link to the MMDA, much more to the film industry.

According to MMDA Chairman Atty. Francis Tolentino, they broke the record of the festival opening gross by making P90 million nationwide. The festival grossed P77 million in its opening day last year.