‘Mindanao’ hauls major MMFF awards; old issues remain

DILIGIN Mo ng Hamog ang Uhaw na Lupa, the 1975 Augusto Buenaventura film which starred Joseph Estrada and Gloria Diaz, was the Best Picture winner in first-ever annual Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), then known as the Metropolitan Film Festival. The festival superseded the Manila Film Festival of then-Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas following the declaration of martial law in 1972 by then-President Ferdinand Marcos, and the creation of Metro Manila, or Metropolitan Manila, over which Marcos appointed his wife, Imelda, to rule as governor.

Filipinos may never see another film bear as florid a title, as was customary back then. What they are more likely to encounter is another MMFF bedeviled by controversies and issues as old as, well, the festival itself. There was the reported walkout of Lino Brocka in 1977, just two years after the festival’s inception, following the loss of Brocka’s Inay to Celso Ad Castillo’s controversial Burlesk Queen, which took home the lion’s share of the awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor. Reportedly, the awards were recalled following the controversy that erupted.

Then, there was the Ninth Metro Manila Festival awards night in 1983, which saw such acting greats as Charito Solis, Philip Salvador and Vic Silayan go home empty-handed for the Marilou Diaz-Abaya classic Karnal, while Anthony Alonzo and Coney Reyes basked in awards glory for the potboiler Bago Kumalat ang Kamandag.

And who could ever forget 1988, when stuntman-actor Baldo Marro walked away as Best Actor for Patrolman at the awards ceremonies of 14th MMFF, besting Christopher de Leon for his work in Laurice Guillen’s Magkano ang Iyong Dangal. By the way, Patrolman also took the awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (for Dick Israel).

So it should come as no surprise that this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival, in its 45th iteration, saw its awards night last Friday, December 27, punctuated by not-so-veiled protest—mercifully not from those who went home with nary an award in sight, but from the people in front of and behind the film which won the most number of awards, 11 in all, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Director.

That film is, of course, the war drama Mindanao, directed by Brillante Mendoza and starring Judy Ann Santos and Allen Dizon.

Judy Ann punctuated her acceptance speech with a sarcastic aside to her director, although the sarcasm was clearly meant elsewhere: “Direk, pwede naming pagsamahin ang tig-P100,000 naming premyo ni Allen Dizon para sa Best Actor at Best Actress para kumita na ’yung movie natin. Sana bukas madagdagan na ’yung mga sinehan natin.”

For his part, Mendoza said upon receiving his Best Director prize: “Ang hiling lang po sana namin ay madagdagan iyong aming sinehan.”

It is a familiar complaint—and a valid one that has been made countless times throughout the history of the MMFF as the festival increasingly abandoned its much-vaunted raison d’etre: to be a showcase of the best of Filipino filmmaking, and to be a platform for so-called small experimental movies that would otherwise not have a foot in the box-office door in the face of unabashedly and unashamedly commercial fare whether local or foreign.

Judy Ann and company have my sympathies, of course, but their cause—one that is shared no doubt by other film creatives—would be better served if they laid the blame for this continuing sorry state of affairs squarely at the feet of very people responsible for this film festival who, after all, make up the rules.

The 45th Metro Manila Film Festival runs until January 7, 2020. Meanwhile, here is the list of this year’s winners: