Eddie Garcia, Alfred Vargas, Gina Alajar win big in 10th Golden Screen Awards

“Bwakaw,” the small-town drama about an aging gay man and his dog, was the big winner Saturday, April 27, at the 10th Golden Screen Awards given by the Entertainment Press Society. The event was hosted by John “Sweet” Lapus, himself a Golden Screen awardee for best actor two years ago.

The movie, produced by Cinemalaya, APT Entertainment and Octobertrain and directed by Jun Lana (who also wrote the story and screenplay) was voted Best Motion Picture (Drama). It also won Best Screenplay, Best Story and Best Direction for Lana.

“I Do Bidoo Bidoo,” produced by Unitel and Studio 5, was named Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). It also won the awards for Best Editing and Musical Score.

Top acting honors went to Eddie Garcia (Bwakaw) and Alfred Vargas (Supremo) who tied for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role- Drama while Gina Alajar won the Best Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role – Drama for the indie film “Mater Dolorosa,” directed by Adolf Alix, Jr. which was an entry at the Cinema One Originals last year.

Gina shared her award with her co-nominees while Alfred said in his speech that he had actually thought of quitting showbiz last year until but his Best Breakthrough Performance award for the movie “Bridal Shower” in 2003 made him change his mind. His win for “Supremo” was Alfred’s best actor award from Golden Screen.

Top acting honors in Musical or Comedy category went to Aga Muhlach and Regine Velasquez who won Best Actor and Best Actress respectively for the romance-comedy movie “Of All The Things” directed by Joyce Bernal.

Tippy Dos Santos, the lead actress of the musical “I Do Bidoo” was the winner of the Best Breakthrough Performance by An Actress while Kapuso star and Starstruck 4 contender Sef Cadayona won the Best Breakthrough Performance by An Actor for the indie film “Gayak.”

Winning the Best Supporting Actress award is veteran actress Ms. Anita Linda for the Cinemalaya entry “Santa Nina.” She, however, was not able to attend the rites after an accident in her own home on Friday night. She slipped in the bathroom and hit her head. She was taken to the hospital and the cut in her head had to be stitched. We got this information from Manny Palo who directed the veteran actress in “Sta. Nina.”

Kapuso teen actor Kristoffer Martin won the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work in the indie film “Oros,” which was shown in Cinemalaya last year.

Almost all awardees were present led by Mother Lily Monteverde of Regal Entertainment who was the recipient of the Gawad Lino Brocka Lifetime Achievement Award.

Among the Dekada Awardees (a special award given to those who have won two or more trophies from the Golden Screen Awards), present were Maricel Soriano, Cherrie Pie Picache, Ara Mina, Iza Calzado, and Judy Ann Santos, Tirso Cruz III, Coco Martin, Sid Lucero and Dennis Trillo.

Fellow Dekada Awardees  Mr. Tony Tuviera, director Jeffrey Jeturian and Ms. Malou Santos sent representatives to accept their trophies.

With their victories that night as joint best actor, Eddie Garcia and Alfred Vargas were likewise recipient of the Dekada Award.

Atty. Joji Alonso of Quantum Films failed to accept her Dekada Award. She was just across the street (at the Music Museum) but did not get the call that the Dekada Awardees were about to be feted. She arrived at the venue some 30 minutes after the awards night, with very few Enpress members left.

But Jun Nardo, the Enpress president, awarded Atty. Joji her Dekada Award just the same. She missed the photo op with her fellow awardees though.

Zsa Zsa Padilla was in Cebu for a show while Eugene Domingo was in Italy for the screening of “I Do Bidoo Bidoo” and missed the event. Aga Muhlach, who is running for Congress, was busy campaigning and failed to attend the awards night.

The list of the winners:

Best Performance by an Actor (Drama) -- Eddie Garcia for Bwakaw and Alfred Vargas for Supremo 

Best Performance by an Actress (Drama) -- Gina Alajar for Mater Dolorosa

Best Director -- Jun Lana for Bwakaw

Motion Picture (Drama) -- Bwakaw

Motion Picture-Musical or Drama -- I Do Bidoo Bidoo

Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role Musical/Comedy -- Aga Muhlach for Of All The Things

Best Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role-Musical/Comedy -- Regine Velasquez for Of All The Things

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role -- Anita Linda for Sta. Nina.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role -- Kristoffer Martin for Oros

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress --Tippy Dos Santos for I Do Bidoo.

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor -- Sef Cadayona for Gayak

Bwakaw also won Best Original Screenplay, Best Story and Best Cinematography (Carlo Mendoza)

Best Editing -- Randy Gabriel for I Do Bidoo and Best Musical Score for Vincent de Jesus

Best Sound Design (Antonieto Carlos) and  Best Production Design (Erin John Martir) and (Adrian Torres) for Supremo

Best Original Song -- Saan Ako Tutungo from Migrante

Best Visual/Special Effects -- Dave Yu from Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles