MANILA, PHILIPPINES— “Cleaners” by Glenn Barit came through with flying colors at the virtual #PPP4SamaAll Awards Night of the 4th Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP) organized by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).
“Cleaners” bagged six awards out of 10 nominations: Best Picture, Best Director for Barit, Best Supporting Actress for Gianne Rivera, Special Citation for Ensemble Performance for Leomar Baloran, Julian Narag, and Carlo Mejia, Best Production Design for Alvin Francisco, and Best Musical Score for Barit.
Jason Paul Laxamana’s “He Who Is Without Sin” took home four awards, namely Special Jury Prize for Performance in a Lead Role for Elijah Canlas, Best Screenplay for Laxamana, Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Liwanag, and Audience Choice Award for Feature Film Category.
Other big winners of the night were “Metamorphosis” by J.E. Tiglao, which won the Special Jury Prize for Film, Best Actress Hana Kino from “Come On, Irene,” Best Actor Gold Azeron from “Metamorphosis,” and Best Supporting Actor Henyo Ehem from “The Highest Peak.”
“Kintsugi” director Lawrence Fajardo was given the Best Editing trophy while “The Highest Peak” director Arbi Barbarona won for Best Sound Design. The Audience Choice Award for CineMarya Short Film Category is “Night Shift” by Mariel Ong.
Considered for the #PPP4SamaAll Awards Night nominations were nine out of the 13 films from the Premium Selection Section, which are the ones that had limited releases in the country or had Philippine premieres at PPP4.
These are “Cleaners,” “Metamorphosis,” “He Who Is Without Sin,” “The Highest Peak,” “Kintsugi,” “Come On, Irene” by Keisuke Yoshida, “Blood Hunters: Rise of the Hybrids” by Vincent Soberano, “Sila-Sila” by Giancarlo Abrahan, and “The Helper” by Joanna Bowers.
The other PPP Premium Selection films were non-competition titles: opening film “Ang Lakaran ni Kabunyan: Kabunyan’s Journey to Liwanag” by National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik and the restored versions of “Markova: Comfort Gay” by Gil Portes, “Batch ’81” by Mike de Leon, and “Brutal” by Marilou Diaz-Abaya.
The online #PPP4SamaAll Awards Night was held on December 12 and was streamed on the YouTube channel and Facebook pages of the FDCP. Hosted by Kakki Teodoro, it featured musical performances by Raf Bernardino, Acel Bisa, Bayang Barrios and Naliyagan, Joey Ayala, Ice Seguerra, and Ms. Regine Velasquez.
The PPP4, which runs until December 13, has a 170-film lineup of 90 full-length feature films and 80 short films. The online festival has drawn 8,000 subscribers, held 32 virtual events, and had 64 event partners and supporters since its October 31 opening.
