‘Luna’ is lord at Luna Awards

Story and photo by Alvin I. Dacanay 

Blockbuster biopic Heneral Luna crushed its competition at the 34th Luna Awards of the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) on Sept. 18, garnering all but one of the 11 trophies it was up for during a ceremony that marked the end of the protracted movie-awards season for 2015. 

Heneral Luna, about the final years of the maverick and volatile chief of the Philippine Revolutionary Army, won 10 awards, including best picture, best actor for John Arcilla, best supporting actor for Nonie Buencamino, and best director for Jerrold Tarog, who also won for co-writing, editing and scoring the film.

The historical drama’s victory ended a stellar year that began last September, when it took the local box office by storm, and saw it become the country’s official foreign-language film entry to this year’s Academy Awards and earn three 10th Asian Film Award nominations.

“Just being kissed by four fantastic actresses there is enough, plus this one [award] is a bonus,” Arcilla said onstage upon winning, referring to, among others, Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos-Recto and Jaclyn Jose, two of the night’s pre-announced special awardees.

“Sana patuloy tayo lumikha ng mga pelikula na magre-reflect sa ating bayan o ating kasaysayan upang ang ating bayan ay patuloy na umunlad [I hope we continue to make films that reflect our country or history so that our country will continue to progress],” he said.

“Hindi ko inasahan ito, pero ako’y masaya na andito ako [I didn’t expect this, but I’m happy that I’m here],” Buencamino admitted in his acceptance speech, during which he noted that, though he and fellow stage performer Arcilla have always been set up to fight each other since their early days in theater, they still love each other.

“I offer this [award] to my youngest daughter,” the actor said, referring to Julia Buencamino, an actress on the ABS-CBN teen show Oh My G! who took her own life in July 2015.

“I’m just happy to be making movies,” Tarog said in his speech, thanking co-screenwriter and Heneral Luna co-producer E.A. Rocha, among others, “for the opportunity” and the FAP “for the recognition.”

“I share this award with my entire team, because I’m only as good as the people behind and in front of the camera,” he added.

An absent Bea Alonzo won best actress for her performance as a lawyer nursing a broken heart in the drama The Love Affair. It’s the only award earned by mainstream movie studio Star Cinema, which had several of its films shortlisted in various categories.

Theater stalwart Ana Abad Santos clinched the best supporting actress trophy for her portrayal of the title character’s earthy mother in the independent feature Apocalypse Child. It’s the second prize she clinched for the role, the first being the Gawad Urian in June.

In her speech, Abad Santos revealed that her film, the top winner at last year’s QCinema International Film Festival, will be screened in commercial cinemas starting Oct. 26.

Special awardees 

During the ceremony at the Quezon City Sports Club, the FAP gave a plaque of recognition for Jose for “her breakthrough achievement in winning the best actress award for her role in Ma’ Rosa…during the 69th Cannes Film Festival.”

In her acceptance speech, Jose thanked the academy for choosing Ma’ Rosa as the country’s official foreign-language film submission to the 89th Academy Awards in February next year.

Marichu Vera Perez accepted the Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award on behalf of her late mother Azucena “in recognition of her role as a lady producer who, with her husband Dr. Jose Vera Perez, made Sampaguita Pictures…a film company that discovered and developed box-office and award-winning stars.”

Herminio “Butch” Bautista, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista’s father, who is hospitalized at the Philippine Heart Center, was named recipient of the Manuel de Leon Award for Exemplary Achievements “in recognition of his career in local films” that saw him as an “assistant director, production designer, writer, director, producer and actor.”

Emmanuel H. Borlaza received the Fernando Poe Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award for “his lifelong involvement in Philippine cinema, foremost in the fields of directing and scriptwriting.”

And Santos-Recto was honored with the Golden Reel Award for, among others, “her outstanding career as an actress, which has spanned more than five decades.”

Santos-Recto used her speech to acknowledge many of the attendees, including Vera Perez and Borlaza, whom she said directed her in the 1972 film Damas de Noche, for which she earned the first of her five Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (Famas) best-actress trophies.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Picture: Heneral Luna.

Director: Jerrold Tarog, Heneral Luna.

Actor: John Arcilla, Heneral Luna.

Actress: Bea Alonzo, The Love Affair.

Supporting Actor: Nonie Buencamino, Heneral Luna.

Supporting Actress: Ana Abad Santos, Apocalypse Child.

Screenplay: Henry Francia, E.A. Rocha, Jerrold Tarog, Heneral Luna.

Cinematography: Pong Ignacio, Heneral Luna.

Production Design: Benjamin Padero, Carlo Tabije, Heneral Luna.

Editing: Jerrold Tarog, Heneral Luna.

Musical Score: Jerrold Tarog, Heneral Luna.

Sound: Mikko Quizon, Heneral Luna.

Golden Reel Award: Vilma Santos-Recto.

Fernando Poe Jr. Limetime Achievement Award: Emmanuel H. Borlaza.

Manuel de Leon Award for Exemplary Achievements: Herminio “Butch” Bautista.

Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award: Azucena “Nene” Vera Perez.

Plaque of recognition: Jaclyn Jose.