Max Eigenmann, who played a single woman navigating the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy in Anna Isabelle’s Matutina’s film 12 Weeks, was adjudged Best Actress at the awards ceremonies of the 18th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival held Sunday night at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
Filmmaker Zig Dulay emerged a big winner with a haul of four awards: Best Editing for Carlo Obispo’s The Baseball Player, and Best Screenplay, NETPAC Award and Best Film-short film category for his own entry, Black Rainbow.
Young actor Tommy Alejandrino won Best Actor for The Baseball Player, receiving the award from fellow young performer Jansen Magpusao, who won in the same category in the 2019 Cinemalaya film John Denver Trending.
It was also a trailblazing night for women filmmakers: Young writer-director Gabriella Serrano won two trophies — Special Jury Award and Best Director — for her short-film debut Dikit, while her counterpart in the full-length feature category, Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan, was hailed as Best Director for Blue Room, which likewise bagged the Special Jury Award.
Blue Room would add three more awards under its belt: Best Production Design (by Marxie Maolen Fadul), Best Cinematography (by Paul Daza) and Best Supporting Actor (Soliman Cruz).
The Best Supporting Actress award went to Ruby Ruiz of the film Ginhawa .
Below is the full list of winners:
- Audience choice, short film: Mga Handum Nga Nasulat Sa Baras, by Arlie Sweet Sumagaysay and Richard Jeroui Salvadico
- Audience choice, full-length feature film: Kargo, by TM Malones
- Best Sound Design: PEPE MANIKAN, Bula sa Langit
- Best Original Musical Score: ISHA ABUBAKAR, Retirada
- Best Production Design: MARXIE MAOLEN FADUL, Blue Room
- Best Editing: ZIG DULAY, The Baseball Player
- Best Cinematography: NEIL DAZA, Blue Room
- Best Screenplay, short film: ZIG DULAY, Black Rainbow
- Best Screenplay, full-length feature film: CARLO OBISPO, The Baseball Player
- Best Supporting Actor: SOLIMAN CRUZ, Blue Room
- Best Supporting Actress: RUBY RUIZ, Ginhawa
- NETPAC Award, short film: Black Rainbow, by Zig Dulay
- NETPAC Award, full-length feature film: 12 Weeks, by Anna Isabelle Matutina
- Best Actor: TOMMY ALEJANDRINO, The Baseball Player
- Best Actress: MAX EIGENMANN, 12 Weeks
- Special Jury Award, short film: Dikit, by Gabriella Serrano
- Special Jury Award, full-length feature film: Blue Room, by Ma-an Asuncion Dagñalan
- Best Director, short film: GABRIELLA SERRANO, Dikit
- Best Director, full-length feature film: MA-AN ASUNCION DAGÑALAN, Blue Room
- Best Film, short film: Black Rainbow, by Zig Dulay
- Best Film, full-length feature film: The Baseball Player, by Carlo Obispo
The Cinemalaya awards ceremonies capped the successful return of the country’s premiere independent film festival to live on-site screenings at the CCP after two years of streaming its entries online due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Held from 5-14 August in various screening venues at the CCP and in select Ayala Malls cinemas and SM theaters, this year’s festival featured 11 full-length films and 12 short films that played to sold-out houses and enthusiastic crowds (around 25,000 this year, according to festival director Chris Millado). Film fans who had been deprived of the live cinema experience for the last two years also packed related activities such as film retrospectives, documentary premieres, book launchings and talkbacks with filmmakers.
Since 2005, the Cinemalaya film festival and competition has continued “to discover, encourage, and support the cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity,” as the festival said in a media release.
This year’s theme, “Breaking Through the Noise,” “announces that Cinemalaya is alive and kicking, is making a homecoming to a live theater, and looking forward to a brighter future.”
The Cinemalaya 2022 films will go to Dapitan next — the first city in northern Mindanao to host the festival — before they are streamed later this year, on 17-31 October.