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, 14 August, at the Main Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Carlo Obispo’s The Baseball Player, about a Moro child soldier who is torn between pursuing an ambition to become a baseball player or fighting in a war, won Best Picture for a Full-length Feature and Best Screenplay.
Filmmaker Zig Dulay emerged a big winner with a haul of four awards: Best Editing for The Baseball Player; and Best Screenplay, NETPAC Award and Best Short Film for his own entry, Black Rainbow — about an Aeta boy chasing his dream of going to school to learn how to read legal documents and understand why his community is being forced to give up their ancestral lands.
The young Tommy Alejandrino won Best Actor for The Baseball Player, receiving the award from fellow youthful performer Jansen Magpusao, a previous winner in the same category in the 2019 Cinemalaya film John Denver Trending.
It was a trailblazing night for women filmmakers. Young writer-director Gabriella Serrano won Special Jury Award and Best Director for her short-film debut Dikit — loosely based on a lost silent film by Jose Nepomuceno that reimagines classic Philippine folklore as a contemporary portrait of feminine bodies, rage and freedom.
Her counterpart in the full-length feature category, Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan, was hailed Best Director for Blue Room, which likewise bagged the Special Jury Award.
The story of a rock band whose members are arrested for drug possession, Blue Room would add three more awards under its belt: Best Production Design (Marxie Maolen Fadul), Best Cinematography (Paul Daza) and Best Supporting Actor (Soliman Cruz).
The Best Supporting Actress award went to Ruby Ruiz of the film Ginhawa.
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: 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: Carlo Obispo, The Baseball Player
•Best Supporting Actor: Soliman Cruz, Blue Room
•Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Ruiz, Ginhawa
•NETPAC Award, Short Film: Black Rainbow, Zig Dulay
•NETPAC Award, Full-length Feature: 12 Weeks, Anna Isabelle Matutina
•Best Actor: Tommy Alejandrino, The Baseball Player
•Best Actress: Max Eigenmann, 12 Weeks
•Special Jury Award, Short Film: Dikit, Gabriella Serrano
•Special Jury Award, Full-length Feature Film: Blue Room, Ma-an Asuncion Dagñalan
•Best Director, Short Film: Gabriella Serrano, Dikit
•Best Director, Full-length Feature Film: Maan-Asuncion Dagñalan, Blue Room
•Best Short Film: Black Rainbow, Zig Dulay
•Best Film, Full-length Feature: The Baseball Player, Carlo Obispo