TOPAKK has set the bar high for a high-caliber quality action packed film after bagging three awards in 50th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Gabi ng Parangal last Friday evening due to its own original storyline.
Topakk’s main actor Juan Carlos “Arjo” Atayde and the rest of the casts made their way at the red carpet of the grand ball room in Solaire Resort & Casino, winning the Best Float, Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence, and the Jury Prize Award aside from its 12 nominations.
“Given that we are the most action-packed film this Christmas, may we give all genres a reason to comeback this Metro Manila Film Festival,” Atayde, also the Quezon City’s first district congressman, said after receiving the award in memory of the great Filipino actor FPJ which started in 2012.
The FPJ Memorial Award for Excellence is not only about action films, but it is also for its content, creative execution, mass appeal, redeeming values, and love for family and the oppressed that was shown in the movie starred by Atayde and actress Julia Montes.
“Thank you very much MMDA [Metro Manila Development Authority], MMFF, and all the juries for the recognition. I am so happy to see everyone it is like a big reunion so happy to be on stage again thank you for supporting Topakk and all Filipino movies,” Atayde added.
Topakk directed by award winning veteran director Richard Somes was also the first and only Filipino action film entry to the annual MMFF in 2024 with international recognition since 2022 Mamasapano: Now it can be told.
Jury Prize Award was then handed to Topakk for its superb excellence and achievement in creating a masterpiece that exemplifies the Filipino talents in film making, and for reviving a lost genres in Philippine cinema and providing magic to the action movie.
Sylvia Sanchez-Atayde, co-producer Will Fredo, Arjo Atayde, and director Somes, among other movie casts, went to the stage to receive the Jury Prize Award and thank everyone for the valuable recognition.
Nathan Studios took a gamble for producing a thrilling action film in May 2023 that made it also international on its first screening in 78th Cannes Film Festival in France, then at the 76thLocarno Film Festival in Switzerland in August 2023, followed by other international film festivals in Austin, Texas, and Catalonia, Spain both in September 2023 before coming home this year to the MMFF.
Topakk’s Miguel, an ex-military with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) played by Atayde in the film, met and saved Weng (Julia Montes) against a corrupt police death squad involved in a drug cartel headed by Sid Lucero and Bernard Palanca behind the nonstop action saga movie.
The film was nominated in Best Actor (Arjo Atayde), Best Supporting Actor (Kokoy De Santos), Best Cinematography (Louie Quirino), Best Actress (Julia Montes), Best Original Theme Song (Darkness calls), Best Editing (Jaime Dumancas), Best Director and Best Production Design(Richard Somes), Best Musical Score (Jose Antonio Buencamino), Best Supporting Actor (Sid Lucero), Best Sound (Wild Sound) and Best Visual Effects (Rance Cariño) categories of the MMFF.
