Tight race ahead for Gawad Urian nominees - STAR BYTES by Butch Francisco

The Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino is staging the 24th Gawad Urian on March 24 at the UP Theater. The proceedings will be shown live over RPN-9 through the facilities of Airtime Marketing, Inc.

Like last year, the competition will again be tight in the various categories. Below are the nominees in this year’s Urian Awards.

Competing for Best Picture are GMA Films’ Deathrow, Star Cinema’s Tanging Yaman and Regal Films’ Laro sa Baga and Tuhog.

For Best Actress, there are five nominees: Irma Adlawan (Tuhog), Alessandra da Rossi (Azucena), Ina Raymundo (Tuhog), Gloria Romero (Tanging Yaman) and Vilma Santos (Anak).

From my end, I pushed for two more names to be included in the Best Actress race: Pops Fernandez (Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya) and Lorna Tolentino (Sugatang Puso). Unfortunately, they lacked one vote each to get into the finals and were eventually taken off the list.

The list of nominees for Best Actor is quite long with seven names: Johnny Delgado (Tanging Yaman), Dolphy (Markova: Comfort Gay), Cogie Domingo (Yakapin Mo ang Umaga), Eddie Garcia (Deathrow), Carlos Morales (Laro sa Baga), Piolo Pascual (Lagarista) and Dante Rivero (Azucena).

Teen heartthrob Cogie Domingo was also in the running for Deathrow where he gave a noteworthy performance. After all the votes were tallied, however, he ended up getting nominated just for Yakapin Mo ang Umaga where he plays the part of the drug dependent son of Lorna Tolentino and Christopher de Leon. The other actors who were also considered to join this list but ran short of votes in the final tally were Ricky Davao (Azucena), Mark Anthony Fernandez (Biyaheng Langit), Patrick Garcia (Sugatang Puso), Albert Martinez (Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya) and Eric Quizon (Markova).

Nominated for Best Supporting Actress are Angel Aquino (Laro sa Baga), Dina Bonnevie (Tanging Yaman), Cherie Gil (Sugatang Puso), Jaclyn Jose (Tuhog), Hilda Koronel (Tanging Yaman), Janet McBride (Tanging Yaman) and Monique Wilson (Laro sa Baga).

Glydel Mercado, who scored a grand slam in the Best Supporting Actress category last year (for Sidhi), unfortunately, failed to get the critics’ nod this time because of the inconsistency of the character she plays in Azucena (crazy in one scene, lucid in the next). But in spite of this setback, she still gave a strong fight to get into the list of nominees. Too bad, she lacked one vote to get into the finals.

Vying for Best Supporting Actor this year are Baron Geisler (Anak), Pen Medina (Lagarista), Nante Montreal (Tuhog), Jeffrey Quizon (Markova), Jericho Rosales (Tanging Yaman) and Rey Ventura (Deathrow).

Before it was trimmed down to six, the list of nominees for Best Supporting Actor was quite long. Also considered in this category were the performances of Christian Alvear (Mark Anthony Fernandez’ sidekick in Biyaheng Langit), Carlo Aquino (Sugatang Puso), Edu Manzano (Tanging Yaman), Bojo Molina (Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya) and the other supporting players in Deathrow: Nanding Josef, Spanky Manikan and Pen Medina.

For Best Director, the nominees are Tikoy Aguiluz (Biyaheng Langit), Laurice Guillen (Tanging Yaman), Jeffrey Jeturian (Tuhog), Joel Lamangan (Deathrow), Maryo J. de los Reyes (Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya) and Chito Roño (Laro sa Baga).

In the other categories, here are the other nominees:

For Best Screenplay – Tikoy Aguiluz, Myrna Medina Bhunjhun, Ianco de la Cruz and Rey Ventura (Biyaheng Langit), Armando Lao (Tuhog), Edgardo Reyes (Laro sa Baga), Jose Javier Reyes (Sugatang Puso), Shaira Mela Salvador, Raymond Lee and Laurice Guillen (Tanging Yaman).

For Best Cinematography – Romulo Araojo (Azucena and Biyaheng Langit), Ely Cruz (Lagarista), Neil Daza (Laro sa Baga), Monino Duque (Deathrow), Videlle Meily (Tanging Yaman), Richard Padernal (Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya) and Boy Yniguez, Shane Clemente and Sherman So (Tuhog).

For Best Editing – Myrna Medina Bhunjhun and Liza Banaag (Biyaheng Langit), Ron Dale (Tuhog), Manet Dayrit (Laro sa Baga), Danny Gloria (Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya), George Jarlego (Tanging Yaman) and Jess Navarro (Deathrow).

For Best Production design – Rey Abano (Markova), Michael Guison (Laro sa Baga), Ron Heritas (Tuhog), Edgar Martin Littaua (Lagarista and Tanging Yaman), Joey Luna (Deathrow) and Ben Payumo (Biyaheng Langit).

For Best Music – Ryan Cayabyab (Azucena and Deathrow), Jay Durias (Tuhog), Jesse Lasaten (Laro sa Baga), Jesse Lucas (Sugatang Puso) and Joy Marfil (Markova).

For Best Sound – Ross Diaz and Ric Loresto, Jr. (Tuhog), Albert Michael Idioma (Deathrow and Lagarista), Albert Michael Idioma and Rudy Canzalan (Laro sa Baga), Ramon Reyes (Biyaheng Langit and Tanging Yaman).

This year’s recipients of the Natatanging Gawad Urian are the Manahan sisters (Ateng, Tinay and Nitz) for their lifetime dedication in the field of makeup.