Cinemalaya X Winners, Prediction, Reaction

Usually, the anxiety is about the nominees, not in Cinemalaya X.  In a tension-filled awards night, the filmmakers did not stay silent over the recent furor on the Youtube upload of 2012 & 2013 Cinemalaya films.   But the awards night has to go on.  Here are the winners, our reaction and how well we did against our prediction.

Best Poster Design: Justin Besana for Asintado

We actually classified this in our "Crazy awards", together with Best Hero, Best Villain, Best Diva - you know those type of fun awards.  So we were surprised that there really was Best Poster.  We actually chose the poster for Short Film Lola, and Asintado was our   runner-up.  A little bit disappointed that Short Films were excluded from this category.  Nevertheless, we are OK with the Asintado win.  

SHORT FILM

Best Screenplay - Kevin Ang Tan, Lola

Our prediction was Paolo O'Hara for Nakabibinging Katahimikan.  But we also love Lola, so we are totally fine with this win.

Best Director - Kevin Ang Tan, Lola

Yes, we got this right.

Best Film - Asan si Lolo Me

We predicted Nakabibinging Katahimikan, as this is usually the type of short film that wins Cinemalaya.  But we are find with Asan si Lolo Me, a film which the whole family can watch and could get different insights.  This does not happen very often.  

Special Jury Prize - The Ordinary Things We Do

How we got this right, nobody knows.  But we are really happy that we did.

Audience Choice – Lola

We also got this one right, primarily based on the audience reaction when the movie was shown at GB3.

Our score for SHORTS:  3/5.  Not bad.  

************************

NEW BREED CATEGORY

Best Sound - Children's Show

We got this right.  In our minds, nothing comes even close.  Maybe Bwaya, but a distant 2nd place.

Best Musical Score - Erwin Fajardo, Bwaya

This was a shocker for us.  We thought either Dagitab's mystical music or K'Na the Dreamweaver's indigenous music would win.  Or maybe even Mariquina.  We actually could not remember the score for Bwaya, so we might need to watch this again to appreciate.

Best Editing - Gerone Centena, Children's Show

We got this right.  We were impressed by Children's Show's fast pace and how the fights become more interesting and not exploiting.

Best Production Design - Toym Imao, K'na, the Dreamweaver

There was no doubt in this category, so we got this one too.  Maybe the easiest to predict.

Best Cinematography - Neil Daza, Bwaya

We are happy that we correctly predicted this, and we are happy that Neil Daza received a well-deserved recognition.  To us, the script is not fully-developed, but the shots were purely majestic.  Our favorite scene was the aerial shot where 3 boats converged to the place where Rowena's body was found.

Best Screenplay - Giancarlo Abrahan, Dagitab

With intelligent lines, brilliant settings, we loved Dagitab's screenplay and correctly picked this Giancarlo Abrahan masterpiece.  We will work to compile all of the quotable quotes from the films - there are just so many!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Miggs Cuaderno, Children's Show

Whoever got this right, must be the ballsiest prediction!  We loved Miggs Cuaderno in Children's Show.  Our only problem is that we were smitten by Dante Rivero's restrained performance in 1st ko si 3rd.  We would have never thought that his Alejandro was the lead role in the film.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Barbie Forteza, Mariquina

We loved Barbie's performance as the teenage Imelda in Mariquina.  We should have followed our gut in predicting her, given it was Jasmine Curtis Smith last year for Transit.  We were just obsessed with Bing Pimentel's Tita Tess.

Best Performance by a Lead Actor - Dante Rivero, 1st Ko Si 3rd

Wow.  This was a shocker for us.  We loved Dante Rivero's Alejandro as we discussed above.  We thought his portrayal was intelligent. Does he know about 3rd? Is he really happy with his marriage? 

However, we thought Ricky Davao was a lock in this category.  Our question, had we known Dante Rivero will be classified as Lead Actor, would we have unanimously picked Ricky Davao?  We don't know the answer, especially now that the awardee has been named.

Best Performance by a Lead Actress -Eula Valdez, Dagitab

Yes Yes Yes!  We picked Eula Valdez's Issey despite the strong challenge from Angeli Bayani's Divina, Nova Villa's Corazon and Mylene Dizon's Imelda.  

Special citation for Ensemble Acting - #Y

We were pleasantly surprised on how the 5 major stars in the film delivered.  So we are fine with this special citation for Miles, Janna, Lia, Ping, and Abby.

Special Jury Prize - K'na, the Dreamweaver

We got this one right too.

Best Director - Giancarlo Abrahan, Dagitab

Abrahan deserved the award, and we deserve our correct prediction.

NETPAC Award: Bwaya

We did not have a prediction for this award.  But we were surprised that this award was not given to K'Na the Dreamweaver.

Audience Choice Award: Sundalong Kanin

We did not have a prediction for this award.  But this was a surprise.  When we saw Sundalong Kanin, we were impressed but pleasantly surprised with the turnout.  Equally surprised with the audience reaction after the film.  We loved the film, and thought that the final scenes must have left very strong connections with the audience, inspiring them to vote for this film.

Best Film - Bwaya

What?!?  We also loved Bwaya, but not that much.  At least not for Best Film.  We were impressed by the cinematograpy, the acting and maybe 70% of the script.  But we thought the film was unsure on how to pursue the documentary aspect, so we found it short.

There you go, the winners and our reaction.  Our saddest concern, after everything that's happened and one camp calling each other names, will there be a Cinemalaya next year?