IN less than a month, three different films with Max Eigenmann playing the lead bagged best film awards.
T.M. Malones’s Kargo took home the Orient Express Best Film trophy at the Fantasporto International Film Festival in Portugal. Eigenmann played a young wife who seeks vengeance for the tragic death of her husband and daughter.
“The Philippine delegation was so happy when Kargo was announced as the winner for best film. I am glad I was able to join the trip because being in a foreign festival representing both your film and your country is priceless. And to be honored by foreign critics and jury members in an awards ceremony makes any Filipino artist beam with pride!” she enthused.
Eigenmann went to Portugal with Malones, coactor Jess Mendoza, executive producer Sara Santiago, and coproducers Essy Antonano and Ferdy Lapuz. While there, they attended some screenings of the films in competition.
“Portugal is a beautiful country, with so much to see and experience—arts, architecture, history, food and culture. The people are also very warm, and those who were in the audience during the screening of Kargo were very generous with their appreciation of our film,” Eigenmann shared.
“There was also a good number of Filipinos living and working in Portugal who came to our screenings and supported us. Nakakataba ng puso,” she added.
While Eigenmann was in the city of Porto, she received good news that 12 Weeks, another film which she topbilled, won the Best Film from the Society of Filipino Film Reviewers. The film, written and directed by Anna Isabelle Matutina, was cited for effectively distilling complex gender politics and psychology into a personal, humanistic narrative.
Eigenmann also bagged the Best Lead Performance award, and was honored “for her bravura and effortlessly naturalistic performance of a middle-aged woman torn between terminating her pregnancy as a pro-choice advocate, and the call of maternity.”
“I had just arrived in Porto when the news reached me and I couldn’t contain my happiness and excitement for the entire team of 12 Weeks. The film also won awards for screenplay, first feature, supporting performance for Claudia Enriquez and runner-up honors for directing and ensemble performance too,” Eigenmann said.
A few days after she flew back to Manila, Eigenmann welcomed the news that Raging Grace, a film she shot in the United Kingdom, won top honors at the highly regarded SXSW (South by SouthWest) Film Festival in Austin, Texas, bagging the coveted Best Narrative Feature Film Award.
Eigenmann plays the lead character of an undocumented Asian housecleaner in a tense story about a mother who works as the caretaker of a haunted British estate. The film, directed by Paris Zarcilla, also stars David Hayman as a sick old man who is the lone heir to a vast family fortune.
With three consecutive best picture wins for three different films all starring Max Eigenmann, good luck certainly did come in threes for the actress. A few mentioned that Eigenmann must probably be the lucky charm, but there is more to this amazing third-generation actress than just luck and charm. She is not the Asia Pacific Screen Awards best actress for nothing. This lady’s got unfettered talent and superb natural acting skills in her core.
Max Eigenmann is back in town, in her favorite job. She is part of the main cast of GMA Entertainment Network’s newest drama series The Missing Husband, which will air very soon.
