ARE comediennes Marietta Subong and Ai-Ai de las Alas headed for a face-off in next year’s acting award derbies?
Subong, who is popularly known as Pokwang, bagged the best actress award at the recently concluded QCinema International Film Festival, where she played the lonely embalmer in Dwein Baltazar’s Oda sa Wala (Ode to Nothing). The film, which also won the top festival prize, was a last-minute entry in the Main Circle competition of the festival after Giancarlo Abrahan pulled out his film Sila-Sila.
A few months ago, de las Alas was declared best actress at the Cinemalaya Film Festival for her difficult role in Louis Ignacio’s School Service. She played a mean, one-eyed syndicate head who kidnaps children and trains them as street beggars.
Both Subong and de la Alas were not present during the awards ceremonies where they won the plums. When she won, Subong was in the US with her partner Lee O’Brian and their daughter Malia to meet her in-laws. At the Cinemalaya awards night, de las Alas was not able to attend due to a previous work commitment. De las Alas personally went to the Cultural Center of the Philippines last week to receive her Balaghai trophy from CCP bigwigs Chris Millado and Nick Lizaso.
Subong was reported to have defeated another comedy veteran actress, Gina Pareño, who gave a powerful performance in Dan Villegas’s Hintayan sa Langit. Meanwhile, de las Alas bested early favorite Glaiza de Castro, who also showed grit as the titular character in Kip Oebanda’s Liway.
Both comediennes have been supportive of the thriving independent cinema landscape for some years now. Prior to Oda sa Wala, Subong has starred in Jason Paul Laxamana’s Mercury is Mine for Cinemalaya and Roman Perez’s Sol Searching for ToFarm Filmfest.
For her part, de las Alas also starred in Ignacio’s Area, where she won at least two best actress nods—one at the 2017 Los Angeles Philippine International Film Festival and the other at the 2017 Asean International Film Festival in Kuching, Malaysia. She also played the lead policewoman character in Nick Olanka’s Ronda for Cinemalaya, where she scored an Urian best actress nomination.
Both actresses have gone through many challenging periods in their personal lives and professional careers, and they have taken many leaps of faith to reach their respective comfort levels at the moment The good news is that both Marietta Subong and Ai Ai de las Alas continue to remain steadfast, resilient, grounded and real in an industry where many have succumbed to the bait of temporary breakthroughs and hollow successes.
This early, we feel that at least one award-giving organization will announce a tie for the exceptional performances of these two comediennes turned serious film actors.