Confusion over Nora’s international award

I woke up very late – 40 minutes before show time – last Saturday and this was the first text message I got on my cell phone. "We are here in Provincetown, Massachusetts for the First Provincetown International Film Festival. We are happy to report that Ms. Nora Aunor won the Best Actress award for Naglalayag. She beat Hilary Swank for Million-Dollar Baby hands down. Congratulations are in order. Please spread the wonderful news to everyone and multitude of thanks to Jojo de Vera for spearheading the inclusion of the movie in the festival. This is the exact posting of Leonel Escota, founder of ICON." (ICON is short for International Circle Online Noranians.)

The first thought that came to mind while reading this was Provincetown. I lived for almost a year in Massachusetts, but I never got to visit Provincetown, which is at the tip of Cape Cod. But I do know that it is historically significant because it was the site of the first landing of the Pilgrims. I’ve always wanted to visit Provincetown – now an art colony and a popular tourist spot – except that it’s a long drive from Boston and I never had the means and resources back then.

Realizing that I was going to be late for work, I snapped out of memory lane and returning to my present time zone, I immediately realized that this is going to be good for Nora – especially now that she is going through a dark chapter in her life. But first I had to confirm this – if not from her, probably from somebody close to her. I thought of Lotlot de Leon.

Before hitting the shower, I called up Albert Sunga, one of Nora’s closest friends (he was the one who sent me the text message) and asked for the contact numbers of Nora in the US and Lotlot here in Manila. Albert – efficient as always – immediately forwarded the precious telephone numbers.

When I got to the studio, I showed Startalk executive producer Reylie Manalo the text message and we both agreed that it was just proper to announce such good news in the show that afternoon. But first, we had to confirm the story. A whole team – and I am not exaggerating – was dispatched to dial the numbers. Unfortunately, by the time we did the opening (with Eat Bulaga throwing the show to us), no one in our staff has been successful at getting in touch with either Nora or Lotlot.

During the show’s first gap therefore, all I could say was that there’s this news about Nora Aunor in the States, except that I couldn’t blurt it out yet since we had to confirm the story first.

When we went on a break, the other Startalk hosts – Lorna Tolentino, Joey de Leon and Lolit Solis (her scalp still itchy after wearing that wig – yes, she wore a wig – and frankly she looked good in it) excitedly asked me what that news regarding Nora was all about. I told them about the text message, but again, we had to confirm the story.

In between bites of tuna sandwich, I checked the team dispatched to make the calls. No luck. Lotlot’s cell phone was rejecting the call. In the US, nobody was picking up the phone. I made a time calculation and figured it was close to midnight in California.

After doing a couple of spiels, I dropped the microphone and went to the control booth on the second floor where the landlines were to make the calls myself. Lotlot’s landline just kept ringing, but when redialed, somebody would pick it up and put it down at once. Just when I was about to put the telephone cord around my neck to hang myself with it out of sheer frustration, executive producer Reylie Manalo went to me and said that she was finally able to speak to Nora’s manager Nori Sayo. But Nori wanted me to text her first in the US – I don’t know what for, but comply I did. She did not respond.

I went back to dialing Lotlot’s landline. It just kept ringing, but occasionally somebody would again pick it up – only to put it down. In a text message, Vonnel Mirandilla, another one of Nora’s close friends, told me that Lotlot could be asleep. Okay, so that’s her sleeping hours. I’ll respect that – until I saw her appearing live in The Buzz the following day and I’ll assume she must have gotten out of bed extra early to go to the parlor to get herself all fixed up for the show.

And then it was time for us to wrap up the show and we had yet to get a confirmation regarding this most recent piece of news about Nora Aunor. In the end, I just announced – very tentatively – what was in the text message that was sent to me that morning. I swear my announcement of McDonald’s special delivery of French fries and sundaes got more prominence.

The following day, Nora had a taped phone interview in S-Files – acknowledging her victory in Provincetown. But that same evening, Gorgy Rula of Startalk was frantically calling me up to ask me about that text message. It seemed that even Noranians were having difficulty trying to confirm their movie idol’s Provincetown win since they couldn’t find it in the Internet.

I searched the Internet myself and found out that the last activity there was held in June yet. Middle of this week, Startalk wrote the Provincetown festival organizers and in their response, they stated that Naglalayag, Silent Passage or whatever its international title is, was never submitted to the Provincetown International Film Festival.

So how did this supposed Nora Aunor victory in Provincetown come about? First of all, the Provincetown International Film Festival is not on its first year. It’s actually on its sixth or seventh.

And then, the victory was not in the Provincetown International Film Festival after all, but in a so-called Cape Tip Estates Festival, which according to Noranian Leonel Escota, is "not a commercial filmfest, but mostly a sharing of opinions and favorites by a small community of film enthusiasts."

Okay, this is how I get it: A group of movie aficionados (some of them Filipinos I assume) gathered together – in Provincetown, Massachusetts – and had a discussion of favorite films all over the world and an informal survey was made to determine the best performer of the year. Nora must have topped the list. But there was no awarding of best actor, actress or picture. (They say there is a certificate but I’m still waiting for a photocopy.) Neither was there a formal exhibition of the films discussed. Only video copies that were passed around among the participants, said to be numbering almost 50.

That is the assumption I am making for now because I have yet to get an official statement from the camp of Nora Aunor regarding this issue. Of course, I find it strange that a press release had been issued to some local papers announcing "Nora’s win in the Provincetown International Film Festival?"

I’d like to think that this whole issue stems from an overenthusiastic fan(s) who was so eager beaver to proclaim to the world that Nora had been proclaimed best actress – beating Hilary Swank at that – even if it was just in an informal discussion. I am sure he (they) meant well and everything was just blown out of proportion – except that this could explode on the face of every Noranian and especially Nora Aunor herself. And somebody from Nora’s camp should clarify this matter once and for all (and why such confusion ensued) before people start calling this a filmfest scam on an international level.

I am already absolving Nora Aunor in this case because I am sure she has no hand in it. Besides, she doesn’t need this award anymore. She – along with perennial rival Vilma Santos – could have retired a decade ago and even then, we already knew that Nora is among the finest performers, not only in this country, but in the entire world as well.

But take note, that is only my opinion.