Lumad film wins big at Sinag film fest
Tu Pug Imatuy director pleads for peace in Mindanao
A FILM which tackled the threats lumad or indigenous people of Mindanao face due to militarization and mining of their ancestral land, won the night’s biggest prizes at the third Sinag Maynila Film Festival.
Tu Pug Imatuy (“The Right to Kill” in Manobo) directed by Arbi Barbarona won both Best Film and Best Director among a slew of other technical awards including Best Screenplay, Cinematography and Music during the awards night of the film festival held on March 12 at the Samsung Hall of SM Aura Premier in Taguig City.
Mr. Barbarona, during his acceptance speech for Best Film, pleaded that the peace talks in Mindanao continue as his debut film was inspired by true events in the region.
“A film for me is a narration of my story, our story and the story of the world. I pray the peace talks continue,” he said in Filipino. Meanwhile, Kristofer King of the film Kristo and Bhoy
Intsik’s Raymond Francisco shared the Best Actor trophy with Mr. Francisco double-checking the winner’s envelope to confirm his win — he said he didn’t want his win to become like La La Land’s at the Oscars.
During the recently held 2017 Academy Awards, a mistake on the part of the Film Academy’s accountants resulted in the wrong film, La La Land, being named Best Picture. It was La La Land’s producer, Jordan Horowitz, who declared that the Barry Jenkins-directed Moonlight actually won the award.
Sinag Maynila is an independent film festival created by Solar Entertainment Corp., together with acclaimed director Brillante Mendoza. The festival runs until March 14 in the cinemas in the following Metro Manila malls: Gateway in Cubao, Quezon City; Glorietta in Makati City; SM Megamall in Mandaluyong; and SM North EDSA in Quezon City.
Here is the list of the evening’s winners. • Best Film: Tu Pug Imatuy • Best Director: Arbi Barbarona ( Tu Pug Imatuy) • Best Actress: Malona Sulatan ( Tu Pug Imatuy) • Best Actor: Kristofer King ( Kristo) and Raymond Francisco ( Bhoy Intsik)
• Best Supporting Performance: Julio Diaz ( Kristo) • Best Screenplay: Arnel Mardoquio ( Tu Pug Imatuy) • Best Production Design: James Arvin Rosendal ( Kristo) • Best Cinematography: Bryan Jimenez and Arbi Bar barona ( Tu Pug Imatuy)
• Best Editing: Diego Marx Dobles ( Kristo) • Best Music: Arbi Barbarona ( Tug Pug Imatuy) • Best Sound: Albert Michael Idioma ( Kristo) • Best Documentary: Avelino Balmes, Jr. ( Hango) • Short Film: Karl Barit ( Aliens Ata) • Sinag Box Office: Bhoy Intsik • SM People’s Choice: Beyond The Block — Z.B. Chua