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AWARD-WINNING filmmaker Aureaus Solito again emerged as
the big winner at the 3rd Cinemalaya Independent Film
Festival awards night, held Sunday at the Main Theater
of the
Cultural
Center
of the Philippines (CCP).
Solito,
who triumphed at the Cinemalaya two years ago with
Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, won the Best
Director award for the movie Pisay (a contraction
of Philippine Science High School), written by Henry
Grageda. The movie follows the lives of several students
who qualified as scholars at the esteemed educational
institution, from the time they entered the school in
1982 until they graduated in 1986.
The
movie not only takes a look into the lives of the
students but also follows the volatile periods in the
country’s recent history, including the assassination of
Ninoy Aquino and the Edsa People Power revolt that
ousted Ferdinand Marcos.
Pisay
also won the Audience Choice Award for Best Film, along
with the plum for Best Production Design.
But it
was Jim Libiran’s Tribu which won the Best
Picture award, as well as the Best Actor honors, given
to the ensemble cast of nonactors featured in Libiran’s
take on life in Tondo. His film speaks from the heart of
someone who lived and breathed day in and day out in the
infamous, poverty-stricken and violence-ridden district
of Manila.
Tribu
also picked up the award for Best Sound Design for Mark
Langcay.
Yna
Feleo won the Best Actress plum for Endo, a movie
that speaks about love in an uncanny
situation—middle-class workers faced with work contracts
ending after a few months. Will love end just the same?
The movie is directed by Jade Castro, who also wrote the
script of Star Cinema’s First Day High.
Endo,
which features an endearing portrayal from newbie actor
Jason Abalos, also won the Special Jury Prize.
Kadin,
a story about a child’s search for a missing goat set
against the backdrop of the Batanes Island, won the
honors for Best Cinematography for Jun Aves and Best
Musical Score for Jerrold Tarog. Written and directed by
Adolf Alix Jr., Kadin featured young child actors
who speak Ivatan, the native dialect in Batanes.
Dennis
Marasigan’s Tukso, featuring Irma Adlawan in the
title role, won the award for Best Screenplay.
“Ang
mga bata pong hinuhuli ninyo ay mga best actor na
ngayon,” said Libiran in his acceptance speech, as
he accepted the Best Picture award for Tribu,
referring to the local government agencies that
routinely round up young gang members from Tondo. He
made an appeal to authorities to not be so harsh on the
youngsters, as, say, a future national artist might
emerge from their ranks.
In an
interview with Libiran after the awards night, he said
the triumph of Tribu is a vindication of the
disenfranchised and troubled youth whom society normally
would not give a thought to.
“This
movie is for the small people who need to work doubly
hard and sacrifice so much so they could enjoy the
benefits that the privileged many take for granted,”
said the director.
He added
that the Tondo residents were inside the CCP, and that
alone was already like a trophy for them. The fact that
his unknown and inexperienced actors won the acting
award as an ensemble greatly validates not only their
talent as actors but their capacity to bring positive
contribution to society. |
