Ladies and gentlemen, there is still hope for Philippine Cinema! Last night, the winners for this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) were announced and good filmmaking prevailed. Nagwagi ang hari ng Tondo. Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story bagged major awards for the 2011 MMFF which include:

• Best Festival Picture
• Best Screenplay
• Best Director (although this one is a little tricky because of the whole Tikoy Aguiluz issue)
• Best Supporting Actor – John Regala (So happy with this! I really loved his performance in this film)
• Best Production Design
• Best Editing
• Best Musical Score
• Best Sound Recording
• Best Original Theme Song (La Paloma by Eli Buendia)
• Best Cinematography
• Gatpuno Villegas Cultural Award

These results are a testament to how well-made The Asiong Salonga Story is. The sweep is also a well-deserved pat on the back to its filmmakers who risked pitching a black and white, action, period film against the usual festival giants.

Let’s all hope that this will set a trend for future festival entries and inspire them to prioritize artistry over box-office numbers. The Filipino people needs to be served healthy doses of great movies every now and then (if not all the time). It’s about time that we add more options to the palate of the masses and not just give the usual rom-com and teleserye-flavored storylines.

May this movie inspire other filmmakers to actually pay attention to great cinematography and not rush production, just to make money right away. (I’ve seen local films recently with really awful production value)

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