MRS, a film by Adolfo Alix, Jr., won four major awards during the recent Sinag Maynila 2016 Film Festival’s Gabi ng Parangal held recently at the Samsung Hall at SM Aura Premier.
A portrait of a woman and a mother trying to juggle the sad realities of life, MRS won the festival’s Best Picture and Best Director awards for Alix; as well as Best Actress for Elizabeth Oropesa and Best Cinematography for Albert Banzon.
Expressway, an action film by Ato Bautista, won three awards including Best Actor for Alvin Anson, Best Editing for Benjamin Tolentino, and Best Musical Score for Francis de Veyra. Joselito Alatrejos’s T.P.O. received the Best Sound and Best Screenplay Awards for Drew Millanos and Archie del Mundo and Altajeros, respectively.
Lila, a psychological thriller by Gino Santos, won the Best Production Design Award for Marielle Hizon. An audience favorite, it garnered the Blink Box Office award, as well as the SM People’s Choice Award, which is based on the results of a poll held among moviegoers during the festival.
A distinguished board of judges led by multi-awarded and internationally acclaimed filmmaker Lav Diaz selected the winning films in Sinag’s Main Competition. Other jurors included Kenji Ishizaka, Japanese programming director, film critic, producer, and professor of the Japan Institute of Moving Image; Philip Chea, film critic, programming consultant, and adviser to different film festivals in Singapore; and Roger Garcia, film critic, author, producer, and executive festival director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
This year’s Sinag Maynila also introduced two new categories to the festival – the Short Film Category and the Samsung Cinefone Category. The finalists in these categories were gathered from numerous entries from students, and up and coming filmmakers.
The Samsung Cinefone category showcased the transformative power of technology to inspire. John Paolo S. Barcena’s 99% won the first place, and was awarded by Samsung Mobile Head Rhinn Piczon. Barcena is a student of Mapua Institute of Technology.
Conceptualized and spearheaded by the festival’s Founder and CEO Wilson Tieng and festival director, the multi-awarded filmmaker Brillante Mendoza, Sinag Maynila is a joint project of Solar Entertainment, Center stage Productions, SM, and Samsung. The festival seeks to inspire, educate, and enlighten the viewing public, and has showcased its first batch of films in international film festivals, where some have won award.