‘Mindanao’ rules MMFF awards

MANILA, Philippines — Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Mindanao’ bagged 10 of the one dozen awards in the ongoing Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) given Friday night during the Gabi Ng Parangal.

Besides Best Picture and Best Director, Mindanao won for Best Gender Sensitivity, Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, FPJ Memorial Award for Excellence, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Actress for Judy Ann Santos, Best Actor for Allen Dizon and Best Child Actress for Yuma Tangog. Mindanao also won for Best Float.

It was Judy Ann’s second award for the movie, after winning in the recent Cairo International Film Festival for her performance as the mother taking care of her cancer-stricken daughter (Tangog) while waiting for her husband (Dizon) to come home from Southern Mindanao after serving as a combat medic.

The second big winner with seven
trophies was TBA Studios’ Write About Love: Second Best Picture, Best Musical Score (for Jerrold Tarog), Best Best Original Song, Best Editor (for Vanessa de Leon), Best Editing, Special Jury Prize for Full-Length Excellent Film (for director Crisanto Aquino), Best Supporting Actor (Joem Bascon) and Best Supporting Actress (Yeng Constantino) for their performance as lovers on the brink of breaking up.

Third Best Picture was the horror thriller Sunod that also on Beat Production Design and Best Cinematography (Myko David). The movie’s lead actress, Carmina Villarroel, was named Female Star of the Night and Aga Muhlach as Male Star of the Night. Muhlach, star of the much talked about comedy-drama Miracle in Cell No. 7, went home empty-handed but consoled by the fact that his movie, produced by Viva Films, is reported to be the No.2 moneymaker among the eight MMFF official entries. Culion won Best Performance by Ensemble.   Also recognized during the awards night were the Hall of Famers: Actors: Anthony Alonzo (posthumous), Cesar Montano and Christopher de Leon;

Actresses: Nora Aunor, Vilma Santos and Maricel Soriano; Supporting Actresses: Eugene Domingo and Cherie Gil; Directors: Marilou Diaz-Abaya (posthumous), Joel Lamangan and Jose Javier Reyes; Screenplay: Roy Iglesias, Ricky Lee and Jose Javier Reyes; Editors: Vito Cajili, Manet Dayrit, Jess Navarro and Edgardo Vinarao; Sound Engineers: Ditoy Aguila, Michael Idioma and Rolly Ruta; Musical Score: Dionisio Buencamino, Von de Guzman, Jaime Fabregas and Jessie Lasaten;

Visual Effects: Roadrunner Network, Inc.; Art Directors: Rodel Cruz and Joey Luna; and Cinematographers: Rudy Lacap, Carlo Mendoza, Romy Vitug and Lee Meily. The MMFF will last until Jan. 7, 2020.

Summer MMFF

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced Friday that there will be two Metro Manila film festivals next year.

During the awards night at the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City, MMDA chairman Danilo Lim in his speech lauded the country’s filmmakers for their craft.

He formally announced that a summer film festival will be held in 2020 in addition to the annual film festival during the Christmas season.

Lim said adding a summer film festival will encourage more filmmakers to hone their craft and contribute to the Philippine film scene.

“I am happy to announce that there will be a second edition of the MMFF next year, which will be called the Metro Manila Summer Film Festival. I am certain that this will help improve the Filipino film industry,” Lim said.

The MMDA last July announced the conduct of a summer Metro Manila film festival from April 11 to April 21, 2020.

The MMDA executive committee approved the proposal of Sen. Bong Go to hold two film festivals annually. – Marc Jason Cayabyab