MANILA, Philippines — The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) honored a total of 83 directors, actors and producers during its second staging of the Film Ambassadors Night on Feb. 9 at the Sampaguita Gardens in Quezon City.
The country’s lead agency for film particularly paid tribute to works that won awards in foreign festivals this past year. These included technicals and creatives, shorts and full-length films, documentaries and acting performances.
According to FDCP chair Liza Diño, the event was not an awards night but rather, a fellowship and celebration.
“It’s more of FDCP’s way of giving recognition to what they’re doing as film ambassadors because as film ambassadors they’re promoting cinema not only in the country, but in other countries as well. So, it makes us happy to meet foreigners or foreign audiences that know the Philippines because of them,” she told reporters at the event.
She said that a lot of these victorious filmmakers come home to little if not zero fanfare. “Majority of them who won overseas, when they come home, people are not aware of (what they’ve achieved), but despite that... they are so proud to be Filipinos. That’s why this night is for them. We’re celebrating them.”
Main highlights of the Film Ambassadors Night were the recognition of the A-Listers, also known as the winners in top international film festivals; and giving of the Camera Obscura Artistic Excellence Award, described as the highest award from FDCP for “exceptional members of the film community.”
Comprising the roster of A-Listers were Allen Dizon and Angelie Sanoy, Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, for Bomba at the 33rd Warsaw International Film Festival 2017, Poland; Bianca Balbuena, Producer of the Year at the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia (organized by the International Federation of Film Producers Association); Pailalim, Fedora Award winner at the 65th San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain; and Pauwi Na, the Golden Goblet awardee at the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival in China.
For this year, there are three recipients of the Camera Obscura (previous honorees were directors Brillante Mendoza and Lav Diaz, among others): Saving Sally for its international recognition as an original full-length animated film; Kita Kita for being the No. 1 indie film ever; and film producer Ferdinand Lapuz “for reintroducing Philippine cinema to the global scene, paving the way for numerous films to be recognized in various prestigious international film festivals.” Lapuz has produced over 50 films to date, including Die Beautiful, Pamilya Ordinaryo, Barber’s Tales, Ekstra, Quick Change, Babagwa, Bwakaw, Lola, Kinatay and Serbis.
For Baby Go, who produced Laut and Area (both directed by Louie Ignacio) under her film outfit BG Productions, the FDCP recognition is a source of inspiration for independent producers like her. To recall, Area scored the special jury prize at the Eurasia filmfest in Kazakhstan, the Best Actress award for its lead actress Ai-Ai de las Alas at the Queens World filmfest in New York, the special jury prize at the Worldfest Houston Texas, as well as the Best Actress and Best Director awards at the ASEAN International Filmfest in Malaysia. Laut, on the other hand, received the special jury prize and Best Actress award for Barbie Forteza at the Fantasporto filmfest in Portugal.
Baby, who entered the film business in 2013, said, “Ito na ang passion ko talaga. I didn’t dream of (getting involved in showbiz) but this is where God has led me to, so I will continue doing this.”
She is producing five more films this 2018, including one topbilled by Charo Santos and based on a book by multi-awarded novelist-screenwriter Lualhati Bautista.
Iza Calzado, who was recognized for winning the Yakushi Pearl Award (Best Performer) at the Osaka Filmfest for her role in Bliss, said of the event: “It’s nice because it gathers people from the industry together. And of course, it’s a good feeling to be honored by your peers, by an organization that’s in charge of the movies.”
Such recognition is also a validation for doing roles that are a departure from the usual. “I’m always inspired to do things that are out of the box. That’s what I’m always looking for although they rarely come.”
The actress also took the opportunity to share what she’s been up to while waiting for two new projects, including an ABS-CBN teleserye, to start. “I am part of a group of women She Talks Asia, (we’re on) Instagram and Facebook. We have a women’s conference in March — that’s March 10 — because it’s women’s month. We have a whole day of talks and discussions on women’s issues, and I will be leading a panel on body love.”
Meanwhile, FDCP said that the Film Ambassadors Night served as the kick-off to a series of activities to incidentally mark Philippine cinema’s centennial year.
Liza noted that they have expanded the international grant assistance program to cover other film festivals, which may not be part of the A-list but are nonetheless giving a platform to Asian cinema. The films FDCP is supporting this year include Lav’s Ang Panahon ng Halimaw, the country’s official entry to the 68th Berlin International Film Festival happening this month. A rock opera set in the Martial Law era, the film stars Piolo Pascual, Shaina Magdayao, Angel Aquino and Bituin Escalante.
In addition, FDCP has come up with an international film studies assistance program for Filipinos participating in film labs, talent labs and project markets. They are also looking to further develop documentary filmmaking in the country through the SineSaysay docu film lab and showcase in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. For those interested in creating historical documentaries, a P700,000 grant will be given to two amateur docu filmmakers and P1M for a professional filmmaker. Deadline for the submission of applications is on March 31.
Also expanded is Planting Seeds, a development-educational program, where faculty members and teachers are trained to use film as a medium to teach. There are basic filmmaking workshops every last weekend of the month from February until December.
Three classic films are also being restored, especially since the “archiving facility has been given a budget by the government,” said Liza.
Preparations, on the other hand, are underway for the second Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino in August, plus film markets and networking opportunities for the Pinoy filmmaker.
Liza said, “My personal goal (as FDCP chair) is to bring out films that are representative of who we are and hindi lang kung ano yung sanay sila (foreign audiences). Of course, we all know the films they are used to watching, but there are so many facets, so many stories that are not just dealing with a certain social issue. Napakarami pa, and I think this is the time to continue the beautiful curation of different films.”