‘Indie spirit is alive and well’: Cinemalaya 19 celebrates winners, audience figures
Carl Joseph Papa’s Iti Mapukpukaw (The Missing) emerged as the biggest winner at the just-concluded 19th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. Aside from winning the Best Film in the Full-Length Category during the awards night on Sunday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Iti Mapukpukaw also made a mark as the first-ever animated full-length entry that competed in the annual filmfest. It was also the highest-grossing film in this year’s edition.
Iti Mapukpukaw was cited “for boldly taking on the challenges of technology in crafting a very engaging narrative of a young man confronting the demons of his past, and for its overall cinematic excellence.”
The movie also bagged the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific) Awards and earned cast member, Dolly de Leon, a Best Performance of a Supporting Actress.
Kapuso actor Mikoy Morales was named Best Performance of An Actor for his “compelling performance of a charming but predatory womanizer who gets his just desserts” in the film Tether by Gian Arre. Tether also took home the Balanghai trophy for Best Sound.
Rookie actress Pat Tingjuy received the Best Performance of An Actress for “her refreshing portrayal of a young girl coming to terms with her sexual identity as she comes of age in the exciting world of volleyball.”
Rookie by Samantha Lee and Natts Jadaone likewise got the Audience Choice Award for Full-Length Film Category and Best Editing for Ilsa Malsi. It was the second highest-grossing film in Cinemalaya 19.
Dustin Celestino’s socio-political film Ang Duyan Ng Magiting was given an award for Best Ensemble Performance for its actors. The powerful cast is composed of Dolly de Leon, Bituin Escalante, Agot Isidro, Miggy Jimenez, Jojit Lorenzo, Frances Makil-Ignacio, Paolo O’Hara, Joel Saracho, and Dylan Ray Talon.
The movie was also awarded Special Jury Prize for “its trenchant portrait of the wages of political violence, for its highly discursive and dialectical take on the culture of impunity that seems to have entrenched itself in Philippine politics, and for arousing among audiences awareness on the need to come to grips with the country’s escalating political violence.”
Kevin Mayuga’sWhen This Is All Over won three technical awards, such as Best Cinematography for Martika Ramirez Escobar; Best Original Musical Score for Kindred, composed of Justin Punzalan, Vince Dalida, Luis Montales, Jaime San Juan, Moses Webb, Fern Tan, Jorge Juan Wieneke V, and Othello Intia; and Best Production Design for Kaye Banaag.
Ryan Espinosa Machado, who helmed Huling Palabas, emerged as the Best Director and actor Bon Andrew Lentejas was awarded the Best Performance of a Supporting Actor for the said film.
Machado has effectively summoned “the resources of art to come up with a deeply personal film that evokes fond memories of pre-digital cinema while paying homage to one’s small-town roots, and how all of this contributes to fashioning self-respect and self-identity,” the citation said.
Lentejas, on the other hand, was lauded for his “engaging portrayal of a young man trying to understand his best friend’s difficult ways as the latter comes of age.”
Jopy Arnaldo’s Gitling bagged the Best Screenplay Award.
In the short film category, Januar Yap’s Sibuyas ni Perfecto was chosen as the Best Film for its “quiet but coruscating take on social iniquity and how the poor’s exploitation by the rich is driven by their own denigration and self-abasement.”
Arvin Belarmino’s short film Hinakdal took home the Best Screenplay (with Kyla Romero), NETPAC and Audience Choice awards.
The Best Director in the Short Film Category was Mike Cabarles for Makoko sa Baybay, while Sam Villa-Real and Kim Timan’s Hm Hm Mhm was the Special Jury Award winner.
Jasmine Curtis-Smith served as the host during the awards night.
The jury is composed of actress Shamaine Centenera Buencamino, cinematographer Neil Daza, director-visual artist Raya Martin, festival programmer Park Sungho and film producer-curator Lorna Tee.
The NETPAC Award jury included filmmaker Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, filmmaker-critic Utpal Borpujari, and Cinemalaya founding member Edward delos Santos Cabagnot.
On behalf of Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) president Margie Moran-Floirendo, CCP VP and artistic director Dennis Marasigan celebrated the successful staging of this year’s Cinemalaya amid the decreasing number of theater-goers.
“Your presence and that of the thousands of audience members throughout our 10-day festival this year only validates the beliefs of all those behind the festival that Philippine cinema is alive notwithstanding the dwindling number of cinema viewers nationwide and the budget cuts that pose a threat to the continuation of the Cinemalaya,” he remarked.
Festival director Chris Millado likewise noted the audience reception to the 2023 Cinemalaya. He shared that the audience viewership screenings at the PICC reached 27,000 and 9,000 in the commercial cinemas.
Chairman and CEO of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Tirso S. Cruz III, for his part, vowed the national agency for film’s “continued partnership” with Cinemalaya for its 20th edition next year.
Meanwhile, Cinemalaya Foundation, Inc. president Laurice Guillen declared that “the audiences for independent films are back.”
“This should show that the indie spirit is alive and well. Cinemalaya is back to its old self. If what we are having now is the new normal, it is a new normal of even more independent spirit, greater artistic freedom, and bolder creative vision,” she added.
Cinemalaya competition chairman Jose “Joey” Javier Reyes officially presented the Cinemalaya Class of 2024 who will participate in next year’s competition. The finalists are Jay Burgos’ Alipato; Kat Sumagaysay and Richard Salvadico’s Ang Tumandok; Christopher Gozum’s Aripuen (The Servant); Kip Obenda’s Balota; and BC Amparado’s Gulay lang, Manong.
Joining them are Joshua Caesar Medroso’s Kantil (Trench); Jaime Pacena II Kono Basho (This Place); Jonathan Jurilla’s Love Child; Sarge Lacuesta’s The Errand; and Julius Lumiqued’s The Wedding Dance.
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