Lotlot de Leon cited at India film fest
Two independent films from the Philippines won top honors at the All Lights India International Film Festival at Hyderabad, India.
The family comedy-drama “1st Sem” won Best Debut Feature for directors Dexter Paglinawan Hemedez and Allan Michael Ibañez. The film is about an incoming college freshman who gets homesick pretty quickly and returns to his hometown.
The film’s lead actress, Lotlot de Leon, also won a special acting citation for her performance as the mother who cannot understand her son’s reluctance to pursue his college education in the big city.
“One of the jury members said the festival doesn’t really give acting awards for they only give one award per category. But he said they can’t simply let Ms. Lotlot’s exceptional performance go unrecognized. So they created an award for her,” Hemedez said.
Winner of the 2014 Metro Manila Film Festival Best Supporting Actress award for “Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2,” Lotlot is one of the country’s soughtafter character actors.
Louie Ignacio’s poverty drama, “Laut” also won Honorable Mention for Best Feature Film in the same festival’s Main Competition.
Early this year, the film previously won a Special Jury Mention and Best Actress honors for lead star Barbie Forteza at the 36th Fantasporto International Film Festival in Portugal as well as the Jury Prize for Best Direction in the Asean Skies section at the World Premieres Film Festival in Manila.
Together with the Indywood Film Market, the All Lights India International Film Festival is dubbed as South Asia’s biggest international film market and film festival. The festival is geared towards providing “a unique platform for global film industry to portray excellence in filmmaking and integrate the entire Indian Cinema industry.”