‘Walay Kahumanang Adlaw’ wins big at Mindanao Film Fest

Taking six of the 19 awards given during the 9th Mindanao Film Festival (MFF) Monday evening at Gaisano Mall Cinema 5 in Davao City, “Ang Walay Kahumanang Adlaw” emerged as the most recognized film among the 55 nominated entries.

An entry from Iligan City, “Ang Walay Kahumanang Adlaw” was named Best Film and Glenmark Doromal, the man behind it, Best Director.  It also won for Best Production Design, Best Musical Score, and two acting awards: Best Actor and Best Actress.

The other nominees for Best Film were “Ika-3 Putahi,” “Diskonek,” “Timora Talli Apuera si Ramil,” and “Sugat.”

The other nominees for Best Director were Mariechelle de Ramos for “Sugat,” Albert Egot, Jr. for “Wig ni Happiness,” Roberto Oquias Jr. for “Timora Talli Apuera si Ramil,” Xeph Suarez for “Con Enfermedad y Buen Salud,” Samantha Solidum for “Diskonek,” and Jamir Mallari for “Karakterwrayter.”

Phoebe Fernandez of “Ang Walay Kahumanang Adlaw” defeated five other nominees in the Best Actress category: May Flor Juntong for “Lamaw,” Mary Joy Estrella for “Estrella,” Dayana June Adtoon for “Panalipod Onlyn,” SJ Lu for “Halin,” and Catherine Astudillo for “This Ring.”

Only three were recognized in the male acting category and Eliz Razo (“Ang Walay Kahumanang Adlaw”) emerged the winner over Rusty Quintana (“Ika-3 Putahi”) and Ryanne Murcia (“Hele ni Ryanne”).

There were two awards given to those who participated in the “Best Guerrilla, The Filmmaker” division. “Panalipod Onlyn” from Step Films Production won the Best Guerrilla Workshop Film, while named Best Guerrilla Film was “Diskonek” from Samantha Solidum.

All nine entries for the “Animation ni Bay” division were nominated for Best Animated Film, with the winning entry being “Timora Talli Apuera Ramil” by Roberto J. Oquias, Jr.

In the Best Documentary Film, “Allaisah” by Orvil Bantayan won over “Bugsay” by Lovely Rosenil Dumagan.

Among the entries from students, three films were recognized: “Karakterwrayter” by Jamir Mallari (which won the award as Best Student Film), “Parisukat” by Catherine Abe, and “Uli” by Kikko Kalabud.

“Con Enfermedad y Buen Salud” won the Best Sound, while Pepe Manikan of “Ang Walay Kahumanang Adlaw” took home the award for Best Musical Score.

Davao’s “Halin,” however, won two awards: Best Cinematography (for Bagane Fiola and Rafael Meting) and Best Production Value (for Gary Bautista).

Aside from winning the Best Animated Film, Roberto J. Oquias Jr. also received the Best Screenplay trophy for “Timora Talli Apuera si Ramil,” while Samantha Solidum (“Diskonek”), however, won for Best Editing.

The sixth award which “Ang Walay Kahumanang Adlaw” won was for Best Production Design, while Aristotle Pollisco’s “Katulad ng Iba” of “Sugat” won the Best Soundtrack.

Albert Egot, Jr., the man behind the much-talked “Wig ni Happiness,” got the Best Shout Out Award (including having a good trailer).  “Sugat” got a special citation as the only feature film exhibited during the festival.

The jurors for this year’s festival were McRobert Nacario, an award-winning cinematographer from Davao City, Jay Rosas, a respected film critic, and Remton Zuasola, a multi-awarded director from Cebu.

The 9th MFF exhibited the highest number of films in its 10-year history. “We have 55 films which will be exhibited in the festival these includes three feature length productions and 52 short films,” said MFF director Rudolph Alama.

The 55 films eclipsed last year’s number of 39 films. There were a record number of submissions from different parts of Mindanao.

Just like last year, MFF featured films from Davao City, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Butuan and Zamboanga. “This goes to show that regional filmmaking is growing and that growth is being sustained,” Alama said. — BM, GMA News