Filmmaker wins acting award in Los Angeles
BLESSINGS continue to pour over award-winning filmmaker Romm Burlat who starred in his latest horror production, Tutop (Covered Candor), directed by Marvin Gabas. Performing in front of the camera, he was notified this week by a Los Angelesaward-giving body called Actors Awards that he won
Best Actor for his role.
This great news came just days after Caveat reported that Burlat — who will soon be an entertainment host for The Manila Times TV — and the said film also won two international awards namely Best Supporting Actor and Best Horror Film from the Oniros Film Awards in Italy on May 6.
Just like the Oniros Film Awards, the Actors Awards in the US is a monthly competition for actors worldwide. Every month, their jury will award main category winners through private screenings.
Burlat is now hoping that more accolades will come after his other film projects have reached several other film fests abroad.
These recognitions will give him the chance to be an honoree at next year’s annual Film Ambassadors Night of the Film Development Council of the Philippines ( FDCP) forfilm makers who have earned recognition for the country abroad.
Caveat found it hard to ignore the reaction of Movie and Television Review and Classification Board ( MTRCB) deputy officer and film director Tony Aguilar regarding the films directed by the late Luis Nepomuceno, son of the “Father of Filipino Movies” Jose Nepomuceno.
Aguilar alleged that the renowned two films “Dahil Sa Isang Bulaklak” and “Igorota” were not made by Nepomuceno even if he disclosed that those films were from him during his last interview with Caveat when he was still alive. According to Aguilar, those mentioned films were in fact directed by the late Cirio H. Santiago, son of the late Ciriaco Santiago and founder-director of Premiere Productions.
Aguilar referred me an IMDb page that virtually bore the name of Cirio H. Santiago as the director of the two films.
Ever since, Aguilar maintained director Cirio has told him of the truth about this issue. Aguilar and Cirio were in fact as close as they can be. Aguilar in the past has collaborated with Cirio at least in some film-related projects. He also worked for a time as Cirio’s Information Officer for the Task for Film immediately after Edsa then under the Office of the ex-president Corazon Aquino.
As production designer, Aguilar has designed at least two international post-apocalyptic genre films for Cirio, namely “Hell Train” and “Dune Warriors” produced by Roger Corman.
Director Cirio has also lent Japanese costumes and weapons to Aguilar who directed “Ianfu (Comfort Woman),” a short film that won respectively the unprecedented Jury Prize and Star of the Festival awards for the latter at San Francisco International Film Festival.
However, to be fair with the late director Nepomuceno, Aguilar suggested that a rigorous research and thorough investigation should be done in order to know who really is the director of this two films.