Rising star Jeff Moses cemented his place in the industry, taking home the prestigious Best Actor award at the recently held inaugural Puregold CinePanalo Film Festival Awards Night at Gateway Cineplex 18 in Araneta City.
The Sparkle contract artist was recognized for his performance in his leading role debut in the film Under a Piaya Moon, directed by Kurt Soberano.
During his acceptance speech, Jeff reminisced about the time when he only dreamt of becoming an actor.
“I never imagined becoming an actor,” he said. “I come from a simple province, and I’m proud of that. I just had this dream, and now it’s come true. Thank you to Puregold for this opportunity, and I want to thank our director, Direk Kurt, and my co-actors for sharing their talents with me.”
Jeff also took to his Instagram to express his gratitude for getting his first award in his first film.
“First and foremost, I want to thank God for all the blessings and [for] making this dream become a reality, I also want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has made this film a success,” wrote Moses.
“This film has been a labor of love for all of us, and we are thrilled to share it with the world(hopefully). Thank you all once again for your support, and here’s to many more successful projects in the future! Thank you,” he added.
The Abot Kamay Na Pangarap star shared his victory with veteran actor and director Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, who starred in the film entry Pushcart Tales.
On the other hand, Under the Piaya Moon emerged as the grand winner for bagging other seven awards, including the Best Picture award at the film festival.
“This wasn’t an easy journey. Half midway, I was about to quit. This was so challenging–never shoot food again,” said Soberano.
“Thank you so much to all the 500 people who are part of the production. mom and dad, I love you. Thank you so much Puregold, I’m really happy that I got to make my first full-length film and I never expected it to be with CinePanalo,” he added.
Under a Piaya Moon also received awards for Best Supporting Actor for Joel Torre, Best Cinematography for Nathan Bringuer, Best Production Design for Jed Sicangco and Soberano, and Best Editing for Rodney Jarder Jr. and Soberano. Additionally, the film was honored with the Responsableng Paglikha Award from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and a Special Citation award.