Hannah Espia’s Transit was named Best Film and swept up nine other
awards in the New Breed Full Length Feature category while Jerrold
Tarog’s Sana Dati won Best Film and seven more awards in the Directors
Showcase of the 9th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and
Competition. This was announced at the Cinemalaya Awards night on
August 4 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor
Abelardo.
New Breed Full Length Feature category Best Film Transit, a film
about the struggles of a Filipino migrant family in Israel, won for
Hannah Espia the Best Direction Award. Irma Adlawan was named Best
Actress for her role as a Filipino migrant mother while Jasmine Curtis
Smith earned the Best Supporting Actress award. The cast of Transit
which included Ping Medina, Mercedes Cabral and Marc Justine Alvarez
received a Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting. In addition, Transit
won the NETPAC Award and was named the Audience Choice. It also won
the awards for Best Original Music Score (Mon Espia), Best
Cinematography (Ber Cruz & Lyle Nemenzo Sacris) and Best Editing
(Benjamin Tolentino & Hannah Espia).
Transit was cited “For its very powerful rendition of a Filipino
migrant family in Israel whose members face threats of cultural
dislodgment and capricious immigration policies, for treating
sensitively the problems that confront them without mawkish melodrama,
and for its highly competent use of the language of cinema to paint the
challenging world of the Filipino OFW in the Middle East.”
Hannah Espia, the only woman director in the New Breed Full Length
category, was cited “for poignantly capturing the dilemmas and struggles
of Filipino migrant families abroad as they undergo not only economic
hardships but social and cultural dislocation as well, for effectively
employing all the resources of film to tell a compelling and very
relevant story, and for emerging as a new voice in Philippine
independent cinema.”
Directors Showcase Best Film Sana Dati, a love story about a woman
whose wedding is thrown into disarray when a mysterious person arrives
and reminds her of the man she really loves, won for Jerrold Tarog the
Best Direction award and for TJ Trinidad the Best Supporting Actor
award.
Sana Dati also bagged the awards for Best Sound (Roger TJ Ladro),
Best Original Music Score (Jerrold Tarog), Best Editing (Pats R. Ranyo),
Best Production Design (Ericson Navarro), Best Cinematography (Mackie
Galvez).
Vilma Santos was named Best Actress for her role in Jeffrey
Jeturian’s Ekstra in the Directors Showcase. She was cited “for her
bold decision to deglamorize herself and take on the lowly role of the
TV and movie bit player, for her moving portrayal of the unsung hero of
show business, for the polish and aplomb with which she essayed the
role, and for her powerful cinematic presence.”
Ekstra won the Special Jury Prize “for its poignant take on the lowly
bit player, the unheralded hero of show business, whose contributions
are often ignored in movie and TV credits, for its bittersweet evocation
of the magic of cinema, and for its humor, pathos and sheer humanity.”;
the NETPAC Award for its “comedic but insightful and touching treatment
of a day-in-the-life of a movie bit player, seamlessly woven in the
production of a TV soap opera.”; and the Audience Choice Award.
Ekstra also won for Ruby Ruiz the Best Supporting Actress award and
for Zig Dulay, Antoinette Jadaone and Jeffrey Jeturian the Best
Screenplay award.
There was no Best Actor award given in the Directors Showcase.
The Best Actor award in the New Breed Full Length Feature category
went to Mimi Juarez for his role in Quick Change. Juarez was cited “for
his effective depiction of a dark character belonging to the criminal
underworld, for his bold take on a gender-bending role, and for endowing
his portrayal with the right mixture of repulsion and sympathy.”
Quick Change, a story about a middle aged transsexual looking for his
niche amidst the complexities of the world he is in, won Special Jury
Prize in the New Breed Full Length feature category “for its coruscating
take on the criminal underworld, its effective employment of the
resources of film language in evoking the dark world of illegal cosmetic
surgery, and for its gripping tale of corruption and personal
redemption.” Quick Change also won the Best Sound Award (Michael
Idioma), and Best Screenplay (Eduardo Roy Jr.).
In the New Breed Full Length Category, Joey Paras won Best Supporting
Actor for his role in Babagwa. He was recognized “for his effective
portrayal of the accomplice of a con artist in an elaborate Internet
scam, and for effectively endowing his character with the correct
balance of repugnance and empathy.”
Rekorder by Mikhail Red won the Best Production Design award in the New Breed Full Length Category.
In the Short Feature category, Paolo O’Hara’s The Houseband’s
Wife won Best Film and Best Screenplay while JE Tiglao won Best
Direction for Onang. Adi Bontuyan’s Tayawon Special Jury Prize and a
Special Citation was given to Nica Santiago’s Sa Wakas.
Cinemalaya is a project of the Cinemalaya Foundation, Cultural Center
of the Philippines (CCP), Econolink Investments, Inc. and Film
Development Council of the Philippines. It is an all-digital film
festival that aims to discover, encourage and honor cinematic works of
Filipino filmmakers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the
Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity.
Cinemalaya was held on July 26-August 4, 2013 at the CCP, TriNoma,
Greenbelt 3 and Alabang Town Center. Cinemalaya featured about 70 films
on exhibition with twenty five in competition.
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