THE SUMMER METRO MANILA FILMFEST awards night was held at New Frontier Theatre last Tuesday. We were part of the jury who chose the winners, along with Dolly de Leon as chair, Director Joey Reyes, actor Victor Neri, Rep. Rachel Arenas, Rep. Aloy Lim, Rep. Toff de Venecia, Urian’s Rolando Tolentino, former MMDA Manager Tim Orbos and Atty. Rochelle “Cheche” Ona.
Here are the nominees in the various categories and the winners. Best picture: “About Us But Not About Us”, “Here Comes the Groom”, “Love You Long Time”. Winners: "About Us" as best picture, "Love You Long Time" as second best picture and "Here Comes the Groom" as third best picture.
Best director: JP Habac for “Love You Long Time”, Chris Martinez for “Here Comes the Groom”, Jun Lana for “About Us”. Winner: Jun Lana for “About Us”.
Best actor: Carlo Aquino in “Love You Long Time”, Elijah Canlas and Romnick Sarmenta in “About Us”, Enchong Dee in “Here Comes the Groom”, Gerald Anderson in “Unravel”, and Yon Min Goon in “Ang Libro sa Napanood Ko”. Winner: Romnick Sarmenta in “About Us”. Elijah Canlas got the Special Jury Prize also for his acting in "About Us".
Best actress: Gladys Reyes in “Apag”, Kylie Padilla in “Unravel”, Bela Padilla in “Ang Libro”. Winner: Gladys Reyes in "Apag".
Best screenplay: Jun Lana in “About Us”, Chris Martinez in “Here Comes”, Gena Tenaja in “Love You Long Time” and Senedy Que in “Unravel”. Winner: Jun Lana in “About Us”.
Best supporting actress: Ana Abad Santos in “Love You Long Time”, Kaladkaren and Maris Racal in “Here Comes the Groom”. Winner: Kaladkaren in “Here Comes”
Best supporting actor: Aljur Abrenica in “Single Bells”, Ariel Rivera in “Kahit Maputi na ang Buhok Ko”, Keempee de Leon, Nico Antonio and Xilouete all nominated in “Here Comes”. Winner: Keempee de Leon in "Here Comes the Groom"
Best editing: “About Us”, “Here Comes the Groom”, “Love You Long Time”, “Yung Libro”. Winner: Lawrence Ang in "About Us"
Best production design: “About Us”, “Here Comes”, “Unravel”, “Yung Libro”. Winner: Marxie Fadul in "About Us".
Best Sound: “About Us”, “Here Comes the Groom”, “Love You Long Time”, “Unravel” and “Yung Libro”. Winner: Armand de Guzman in "About Us"
Best cinematography: “About Us”, “Love You Long Time”, “Unravel”. Winner: Neil Daza in "About Us"
Best musical score: “About Us”, “Love You Long Time”, “Unravel”, “Yung Libro”. Winner: Teresa Barrozo in "About Us".
Best original theme song: “Paralaya” by Andy Alvis from “Apag”. No other nominee.
Best float: "Love You Long Time"
Special Jury Prize for best ensemble acting: the cast of “Here Comes the Groom”.
Here’s praying the awards they won will help their respective movies to gain more mileage at the box office.
