Nora, Yul win top honors at Manila Filmfest awards

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza last night congratulated the producers, director, scriptwriter and the cast and crew of Naglalayag by Angora Films, which reaped most of the awards in the 2004 Manila Film Festival.

Naglalayag won the Best Picture award along with the P500,000 cash prize, and also brought home four major awards to superstar Nora Aunor for Best Actress, heartthrob Yul Servo for Best Actor, veteran actress Jaclyn Jose for Best Supporting Actress and Best Director to Maryo J. delos Reyes, who also directed Kulimlim by Viva Films.

Naglalayag won other plum awards – Best Musical Score went to Lutgardo Labad, Best Theme Song (Pag-ibig sa Gitna ng Buhay Ko) to Rey Valera and Bituin Escalante, and both Best Screenplay and Best Story to Irma Dimaranan. It also won the Best Float award along with the P50,000 cash prize.

Versatile actor Albert Martinez won the Best Supporting Actor award for his sterling performance in Anak Ka Ng Tatay Mo by Magsaysay Films while Joshua Dionisio of Kulimlim won the Best Child Performer award.

The Best Cinematography award was won by Odyssey Flores of Kulimlim, the Best Editor award by Jess Navarro, also of Kulimlim, Best Sound by Ramon Reyes of Sabel, Best Production Design by Gerry Santos of Kulimlim and Best Visual Effect by Dodge Ledesma of Volta by Star Cinema.

This year’s Cinema Top Grosser award again went to SM Manila’s Cinema 11, which posted the highest revenues.

The film festival organizers led by Mayor Atienza also honored highly respected veteran actress Anita Linda with the Gawad Maynila Lifetime Achievement Award for her achievements in her acting career spanning five decades and for leading an exemplary personal life, which continues to be an inspiration to her colleagues in the local movie industry.

"The history of Philippine movies would not be complete without Ms. Anita Linda, who continues to serve as an inspiration and a good example to her colleagues and Filipino movie aficionados," Atienza said as he conferred the award to the veteran actress.

Atienza thanked the producers, cast and crew of the six official entries and the members of the 2004 MFF executive committee for their efforts to make this year’s edition of the film festival a resounding success, even as he vowed that the City of Manila would continue to work for the promotion of the Philippine movie industry.

"We made sure that as in past years, this year’s Manila Film Festival would be educational and entertaining for Filipino viewers, especially the youth. This is also our contribution to the enrichment and further growth of the Filipino movie industry," declared Atienza, who has initiated various measures to make the local movie industry more viable, such as the lowering of the amusement tax on local movies by half from 30 to 15 percent.

Other special awards were also given out, such as the Male Star of the Night won by Robin Padilla and the Female Start of the Night that went to Lorna Tolentino.