The Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, the esteemed critics’ group, never fails to amaze us whenever they give their annual Gawad Urian. They are always full of surprises like when they voted for Abra as Best Actor.
While they did not surprise us when they named Nadine Lustre as Best Actress for “Never Not Love You” (as we were hoping for her to win), we felt sorry for the Viva talent because she was absent at the awarding ceremony held Tuesday night at the UP Film Center.
The girlfriend of James Reid failed to savor her winning moment. She was taping for a reality show in Bulacan and was not given permission to attend the awards night.
The trophy is her first from the Manunuri, an esteemed critics’ group. She earlier triumphed at the Young Critics Circle (which named her Best Performer) and at the FAMAS where she was voted Best Actress.
With her win in Urian, Nadine is being hailed as the Best Actress of her generation. She is also the second youngest winner of an Urian Best Actress award at 25. Nora Aunor won her first Urian Award in 1976 at 23 years old.
Up next for Nadine is the Eddy’s Awards of the Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors set on July 14. Should she win that one, that will make her the winningest actress of the current awards, missing only the PMPC Star Awards which named Kathryn Bernardo and Sarah Geronimo as co-winners of Movie Actress of the Year.
Veteran actor Eddie Garcia won his second Gawad Urian Best Actor trophy for the martial law-inspired film “ML,” where he played a retired Metrocom colonel suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
His first Gawad Urian for Best Actor was for the movie “Death Row” in 2000. Aside from that, he received the Natatanging Gawad Urian, the equivalent of the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2006.
The actor’s trophy was accepted by Benedict Mique, the director of “ML,” who read an acceptance speech from Eddie’s family.
Best Supporting Actress winner Ms. Cherie Gil became emotional in her speech after she was named Best Supporting Actress for Mike de Leon’s comeback film “Citizen Jake.”
Cherie, who co-hosted the awards night with Manunuri member Butch Francisco, is also a first time winner at the Urian although she had already received several nominations. Butch even kidded Cherie that her relatives won the Gawad Urian ahead of her like her brothers Michael de Mesa and Mark Gil, her nephew Sid Lucero and niece Max Eigenmann, just to name a few.
Cherie became emotional when her name was called as winner for the Best Supporting Actress which was one of the earliest awards given that night. What made her triumph even memorable was the fact she was also celebrating her birthday.
In her speech, she said it is the dream of every actor to win an Urian award. In her excitement, Cherie forgot to dedicate her award to her parents Eddie Mesa and Rosemarie Gil.
Winning Best Supporting Actor is Joel Lamangan for “School Service.” Direk Joel crossed over to acting and this is his first acting award from the Manunuri. He was Urian Best Director winner for the “The Flor Contemplacion Story.”
“Buy Bust,” produced by Viva Films and Reality Entertainment, was named Best Picture. The slam bang action film that focuses on the war on drugs also won trophies for Best Cinematography (Neil Bion), Production Design (Michael Espanol and Roma Regla), at Best Music (Erwin Romulo and Malek Lopez).
Best Director is Denise O’Hara for “Mamang,” a Cinemalaya entry last year. Denise said she was inspired to do Mamang for all the strong and empowered women that she knows.
The award for Best Screenplay was won by Rody Vera for “Signal Rock.”
The other winners are May-I Guia Padilla (Best Editing – “Tabanata’s Wife”), Jonathan Lee, Steff Dereja and Miguel Hernandez (Best Sound – “Never Tear Us Apart”), Jewel Maranan (Best Documentary – “Sa Palad ng Dantaong Kulang”) and Shaira Advincula (Best Short Film – “Tembong (Connecting).”
The Natatatanging Gawad Urian, the equivalent of the Lifetime Achievement award, was given to Ms. Gloria Sevilla, the Queen of Visayan Movies.