1st Summer MMFF offers sole horror entry ‘The Missing’

Allen Dizon got a double nomination as Best Actor in the forthcoming Gawad Pasado. He earned the nod for “Alpha, The Right to Kill,” where he played a corrupt cop, in the Brillante Mendoza film that was shown early last year.

His other nomination was for “Mindanao,” where he played a soldier in the Brillante Mendoza film that swept the awards at the 2019 Metro Manila Film Festival.

Competing with Allen for the best actor plum are Alden Richards (“Hello, Love, Goodbye”), Louise Abuel (“Edward”) and Julius Sobenorio (“Guerrero Dos”).

Allen is the most awarded actor among his batch. He has won many awards not only locally but internationally as well. One of Allen’s favorite movie is “Magkakabaung” for which he won a Gawad Urian, the prestigious critics group. It was also the film for which he won several acting trophies during the award season.

It came as a surprise to him when he was named Best Actor at MMFF 2019 for “Mindanao” as all predictions say it will be Aga Muhlach who will bag the best actor trophy for “Miracle in Cell No. 7.”

Curiously though, Aga is not nominated in Gawad Pasado, same with Jansen Magpusao, the lead actor in “John Denver Trending” who won the Best Actor at the Cinemalaya 2019.

We are wondering why Aga and Jansen failed to earn nominations and Gawad Pasado.

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In light of recent news related to the confirmed novel corona virus (COVID-19) cases, the organizers of the Sinag Maynila 2020 have postponed the independent film festival.

Sinag Maynila 2020, which was set to open on March 17 and set to run until March 24, had lined up four full-length features, six documentaries, and ten short films in competition. Moreover, six movies were to be featured in its showcase section which included Lino Brocka’s “White Slavery,” the classic Filipino romance “Maalaala Mo Kaya” (1954) by Mar S. Torres with Carmen Rosales and Rogelio de la Rosa, Berlinale’s Silver Bear awardee for best screenplay La paranza dei bambini by Claudio Giovannesi, and Berlinale FIPRESCI Award winner Dafne by Federico Bondi.

The screening of all these will be deferred to a still undetermined date. The organizers have also postponed the parallel events such as the film appreciation talks, post-production lectures, filmmakers’ fellowship, and the Gabi Ng Parangal at Conrad Hotel.

The documentary on Imelda Marcos entitled “The Kingmaker” by Lauren Greenfield was supposed to be screened during Sinag Maynila 2020 from March 18-24. With this development, the film will be available to the public beginning March 25 in select cinemas.

Sinag Maynila’s distributor Solar Pictures would like to thank all of the festival’s sponsors and partners for supporting the decision to postpone the festival at this time. The company assures the participating filmmakers, film enthusiasts, Sinag Maynila followers, and the Filipino film community that the independent filmfest will definitely be held at a more opportune time.

For updates, please visit the Sinag Maynila Facebook page or log on to www.sinagmaynila.com.

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It was one peaceful night when Iris (Ritz Azul), a 28-year-old architect, lost her younger sister Nicole to a kidnapping syndicate, which developed her PTSD and hallucinations. One day, her ex-lover Job (Joseph Marco) called her for a restoration job in Saga, Japan. It was for Riku Watanabe’s century-old house in Karatsu, Saga. She agreed and flew right away. Riku introduced Iris and Job to his six-year-old son Aki. Iris also met the intern Len (Miles Ocampo), a Filipina student.

As soon as they started working, Iris began to experience hauntings in the house, particularly of angry looking yureis. Job dismissed it saying it might be her hallucinations, resulted by her trauma and her stopped medication. Though she agreed, Iris still thinks there is something wrong with the house. She kept convincing herself that she needed the job and the peace of mind. Her suspicions grew when Fumio, one of the local workers, told her about Hitobashira, or the act of human sacrifice.

“The Missing” is the entry of Regal Entertainment to the 1st Summer Metro Manila Film Festival. It is the lone horror film entry and it should make a good showing at the box-office since most scare flicks attract big crowds at the festival.