DAVAO CITY—A young boy’s search for opportunity at a coastal village in the Philippines’s southernmost island and a girl’s survival efforts at an evacuation center in Central Mindanao bagged the two top awards in the 2018 Moro Film Festival in Cotabato City.
The short film Manis Ma Pikilan was handed the Best Short Film during the awards night of the festival’s Short Film Competition on December 6 held at Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City.
The Manis Ma Pikilan captures the personal struggles of Pahad, a boy from a small coastal community in Tawi-Tawi, the information office of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) said.
“This film would like to tell the people, especially those people outside the Armm that Mindanao is not just about war, that people have their own personal struggles in life,” said Bhas Abdulsamad, director of the film.
Another short film, the White Flag, depicts the story of Omaimah, a young girl who had to weave her way through difficult times at an evacuation center in Marawi City to escape the war last year.
The Manis Ma Pikilan romped away with P300,000 in cash prize as the competition grand winner. The White Flag, on the other hand, won a total of P150,000 in cash prize as the Grand Jury Prize winner.
The White Flag director Najib Alyhar Zacaria was emotional during the awards night. Zacaria said he can’t explain how he was feeling at the moment but expressed his joy.
“This is for my Princess,” he said citing his daughter who died of an ailment while staying inside an evacuation center during the Marawi siege.
Aside from Manis Ma Pikilan and White Flag, the other short films that entered the competition’s top 10 finalists were: Identity, Kyuga, Battle of Tampakan, Inged, The Last Kill, Juramentado, Khalil at Manuelito and Sarimanok.
The competition also handed out the following special awards: Audience choice for Inged (P100,000); Best Director, Najib Alyhar Zacaria, for White Flag (P50,000); Best Screenplay for White Flag (P30,000); Best Cinematography for Manis Ma Pikilan (P30,000); Best Editing for Manis Ma Pikilan (P30,000); Best Actor, Abraham Nupuran, for Manis Ma Pikilan (P15,000); and, Special Citation for Ensemble Acting for The Last Kill (P15,000).
The films were critiqued by filmmakers from Mindanao, including Bagane Fiola of Davao City who has been doing films over the last decade, and Xeph Suarez, who just won a Cinemalaya best director award this year.
Both of them served as members of the jury.
Award-winning Moro filmmaker and author Gutierrez Mangansakan II said the jury he chaired was looking for films that tell the stories of Bangsamoro.
“A good story is something that comes from within, and these two movies, Manis Ma Pikilan and White Flag, were really able to surface this type of films,” he added.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman noted the films’ effort to correct the past stories about the Bangsamoro and the rest of Mindanao.
“This is the challenge to all filmmakers, win or lose. This is our challenge,” Hataman said in Tagalog.
The Armm Bureau of Public Information said this was the first time the ARMM organized a competition of short films highlighting the history, culture, and tradition of the Bangsamoro. It also showcased the talents of aspiring artists, actors and filmmakers in the region.
The competition would form part of the celebration of Pakaradjaan 2018. Public screenings of the top 10 films were held over the weekend at the Al Nor Cinema 2 in Cotabato City.