“Patay na si Hesus,” ”Engkuwentro,” and “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery.”
These are titles we’ve watched, enjoyed, and watched again. And these are only three of the 25 films produced by Bianca Balbuena, 31, now the youngest and the first Filipino to receive a Federations of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) award for outstanding achievement in film, last Thursday during the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
“I would like to thank Asia Pacific Screen Academy for continuing to hear and recognize our voices of struggle, oppression, dreams and hope. May we never get tired of telling stories. Thank you to the International Federation of Film Producers Associations for making me believe that a small little girl from a small island in the Philippines like me, can actually face film giants like you guys, and accept this award,” Balbuena says in her acceptance speech.
On her Facebook account, she adds, “to be the youngest and first ever Filipino to receive the Asia Pacific Screen Awards FIAPF Achievement in Film and hold that vessel in front of filmmakers that I look up to at the age of 31 is quite surreal and unbelievable!”
Balbuena is the CEO and co-founder of Epicmedia Productions. Her 2009 film, Engkuwentro, won Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, while “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery,” won the Berlinale 2016 Silver Bear.
The Asia Screen Pacific Screen Awards are the region’s highest accolade in film, celebrating cinematic excellence and cultural diversity. The FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film celebrates a film practitioner from the region whose career and actions contribute strongly to the development of the film industry.
