[ad_1]
Now that the result of the 46th The annual Metro Manila Film Festival is finally out of the bag, with the virtual Gabi ng Parangal staging last night, showbiz connoisseurs eagerly await the consequent reactions from various groups involved in this year’s competition. For years, MMFF awards night has always been a rich source of intrigue, scandals and even lawsuits, which actually make the annual tradition not only truly colorful but also something to really look forward to.
The problems and conflicts that often arise after night reconnaissance adopt some consistent patterns, which we will now look at in this article. An incident is something that is quite funny to me, so I prefer to start with it immediately.
PLACE WITH DOUBLE RESERVATION
Thirteen years ago, back in 2007, the awards were supposed to be completed in less than an hour. Breaking the tradition of Gabi ng Parangal, the festival organizers decided to simply announce the winners, leaving aside the reading of the names of the nominees for each category. In what was an event organizer’s nightmare, the program was rushed and interrupted, to make way for a concert by the singer Lani Misalucha in the same place, the same night.
NO ONE DESERVES
The word “deserving” is, of course, subject to the taste and standards of the viewer, or the one who “experiences” the artwork. Throughout the history of the film festival, the word “deserving” has been a totally abused and abused word, not only for those who fail to take home the awards but, on two occasions, from the organizers themselves.
During the 12th Metro Manila Film Festival in 1986, the organizers decided not to award the first and second awards for Best Film, as well as the awards for Best Story and Best Screenplay. Tingting Cojuangco, who sat as one of the jurors, then revealed that: “None of the seven entries deserved these awards…” He also expressed concern about the state of the Philippine film industry at the time.
Similarly, in 1994, the top six awards: Three Best Films; Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Awards; The Best Director and the Best Screenplay were not awarded as the Festival Board President announced that “none of the entries deserved.”
WALKS AND AMARY GRAPES
Still in the big “D” word:
In 1977, the late great Lino Brocka left the award ceremonies when Celso Ad. Castillo’s Burlesk Queen it won eight of the ten awards, including Best Picture during the 3rd Metro Manila Film Festival. Immediately after that, Brocka allegedly invented Rolando Tinio, who was the chairman of the festival’s panel of judges.
A repeat of a director’s strike occurred in 2005, when director Joel Lamangan hastily left the awards venue after losing to José Javier Reyes. Lamangan failed to win Best Director for blue Moon against Reyes Kutob. That same year, Lily Monteverde of Regal Films openly declared her disappointment by lamenting that some of the festival winners did not deserve it.
In 2001, during the 27th Metro Manila Film Festival, the winner of Best Actor, Cesar Montano, expressed his dismay that his film, New Moon it did not receive the award for Best Picture. He says, “For me, New Moon still the best image. No offense, but for others, Yamashita may be the best image. That’s. We just don’t have a trophy anymore. We will simply buy a trophy in Recto. “
WINNERS?
The word “unworthy” is naturally thrown at those who eventually take home the trophies.
In 1983, many were shocked after Coney Reyes won the Best Actress award for the film. Before the blood spreads and Anthony Alonzo received the Best Actor award for the same movie, as they beat out great actors Charito Solis, Phillip Salvador, and Vic Silayan, who were all in the movie. Karnal.
In 1988, during the 14th Metro Manila Film Festival, character stuntman and actor-turned-filmmaker Baldo Marro won the Best Actor award for Patrolman film, which also earned him the Best Director award. Despite being a total stranger before the festival, he defeated award-winning director Chito Roño of Ask the moon. The twin victories sparked an uproar among well-meaning critics and regular local movie watchers.
Equally controversial was the judges’ decision to name newcomer Ara Mina as Best Actress for her role in Mano Po in 2002, beating multi-award-winning Vilma Santos, who was in Decade ’70.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE … COMMERCIAL
Commercial appeal is one of the main criteria for choosing the finalists and winners of the annual festival, or is it? In fact, that depends on the organizing body of a particular year.
In 2006, Octoarts Films and M-Zet Production’s Enteng Kabisote 3: Okay Ka, Fairy Ko: The Legend Goes On And On And On it was declared Best Picture after festival organizers changed the criteria for the award by giving more weight to “commercial appeal.”
However, the rules were reversed when in 2016, the Festival Executive Committee announced the 8 best tickets for the 2016 edition. Unlike previous years, the films from Vice Ganda & Coco Martin’s certified box office drawers The super paternal guardiansBy Vic Sotto Enteng Kabisote 10 and the Abangers, Regal Entertainment’s Hand Po 7: Chinese and Vhong Navarro Mang Kepweng returns they were rejected in that edition, in favor of supposedly high-quality independent films. The box office results for that year ended up being really disappointing.
Let’s see now if any new developments from last night’s awards night will make it to this list in the coming days and weeks.
SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY NEWSLETTER
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
