DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 July) — Moro filmmaker Gutierrez “Teng” Mangansakan’s film, Qiyamah (The Reckoning) tied for the Grand Jury Prize with “Qwerty” at the 1st Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival awards rites here Sunday night.
Qiyamah was also won for best cinematography while Sue Prado, the lead actress for the movie “In Bangka Ha Ut Sin Duwah Sapah” (The Boat Between Two Rivers) won the Best Actress award.
Before handing the award, a member of the jury explained they unanimously decided to award the Grand Jury Prize to both Qiyamah and Qwerty.
Qwerty, a film by Eduardo Lejano Jr. of Manila, is based on a story about a Youtube video that went viral last year, implicating some members of a Manila precinct. It captured on camera how some uniformed men subjected a suspected drug pusher to cigarette burns as they tied his genitals with a string.
Qiyamah is one of six Mindanao films which were among the 18 finalists in the festival that kicked off Friday and will end Tuesday.
The other Mindanao films are “Tambara” by Orvil Bantayan of Davao City; “Duwaya” (Polygamy) by Najib Alyhar Benito-Zacaria of Marawi; “Malan” by Agustin “Don” Pagusara, Jr. of Davao City; and “In Banka Halit Sin Duwa Sapah” by Fyred Alsad Alfad III of Jolo, Sulu;
The sixth entry from Mindanao, a documentary entitled “Tagurih: The Kites of Sulu,” explores the kite culture in its attempts to unveil the “Orang Suluk“ (People of the Way), their way of life and perspective amid a landscape of bias and negative perception.
“In Banka” is a story inspired by an episode of the television program, “Wish Ko Lang,” entitled “Nanay Langoy” which is about a mother, Maryam (Sue Prado) who swims from one end of the river to the other using a makeshift bangka made out of banana stalks just to put her two kids, Abdel (Jermaine Patrick Ulgasan) and Amir (Malik Bunyi) to school in a remote village in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat.
But the Grand Festival Prize, the highest award in the competition, was won by “Ang Mga Kidnapper ni Ronnie Lazaro” by Sigfried Barros-Sanchez. The actors in the film were also named as Best Actor.
Sanchez said the story is about the abduction of veteran actor Ronnie Lazaro, a popular indie film actor. “Paano kung mawala si Ronnie Lazaro, anong mangyari sa indie films?,” he asked during the opening of the film festival on Friday.
Other awardees: Best in Animated Short Film: “Pagong at Matsing” by Anaylne D. Pineda under the Animation Category while the “Walay Tumo’y ng Punterya” (No End in Sight) by Cierlito Espejo Tabay from Cebu was adjudged Best Documentary.
The documentary is about a gunsmith in Danao, Cebu.
The five-day festival was organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
For P50 ticket, viewers may watch the movies at the participating cinemas in Abreeza Mall, Gaisano-Mall, NCCC Mall and SM City until July 3.Schedules can be downloaded at the Davao City website (http://www.davaocity.gov.ph/davao/view.aspx?type=news&id=101) (Keith Bacongco / MindaNews)
