Raymond Francisco bagged the Best Actor award for his performance as a gay thief with a heart in Joel Lamangan’s Bhoy Intsik during the Sinag Maynila 2017 Awards Night on March 12 at the Samsung Hall of SM Aura.
In his acceptance speech, Raymond literally cried with happiness as he admitted that after all these years in the acting profession (he’s theater actor before becoming a TV commercial director and actor for film and television), this Sinag Maynila trophy is his very first acting award, so it was so special to him and felt so overwhelmed that his triumph to bag the Best Actor award did not immediately sink in, forgetting many people to thank for in his emotional speech onstage.
He even personally checked the envelope that read his name as the winner, “Baka mamaya, ma-LaLaLand ako, na nag-i-speech na, hindi pala ako ang winner! This is a big deal for me since it’s my firs time to win an award. I was already acting since prep, in school stage plays,” says a tearful Raymond.
Raymond said the award would give him more inspiration to hone his craft as an actor.
“I also dedicate this to my superb director Joel Lamangan, all the hardworking staff of Bhoy Intsik, my staff in Frontrow Entertainment, as well as my tribute to the LGBT community,” he added.
Bhoy Intsik also won the Sinag Box Office Award for being the most blockbuster film among the entries, and had numerous nominations in various categories. Raymond tied as Best Actor with Kristofer King for Kristo.
The jury members of the Full Length Competition of the three-year indie film festival were composed of French film critic and historian Max Tessier, Filipino film critic Oggs Cruz, and Film Development Council of the Philippines Chair Liza Diño-Seguerra.