Even as it awaits its turn to be
screen on Philippine cinemas this coming Metro Manila Film Festival, the drama
film “Mindanao” from Center Stage Productions and director Brilliante Mendoza
has already been making the rounds at major international film fests throughout
the year. Having already featured at the Busan International Film Festival and its
Japanese counterpart in Tokyo, “Mindanao” was next exhibited in the Middle East
at the Cairo International Film Fest. Here, in another festival accredited by
the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF), the movie
received a major award for its lead actress Judy Ann Santos.
Inquirer.net reports that ABS-CBN actress Judy Ann Santos was
accorded a Best Actress Award from the Cairo International Film Festival for
her leading role as a Muslim mother in “Mindanao” from Center Stage. “Juday”
however was not able to attend the event as she did Busan months earlier, due
to scheduling conflicts, as she was filming the final episodes of ongoing
Kapamilya primetime tele-serye “Starla.” Furthermore, she was also overseeing
the impending opening and launch of her restaurant chain “Angry Adobo.” The actress
expressed her disappointment at missing out on the CIFF, where her award was
received on her behalf by leading man Allen Dizon.
“Mindanao” tells the story of a
Muslim family in the southern Philippines. Santos plays a dutiful wife and mother;
she is is running the household while her husband (Dizon) serves in the Army
which is combatting regional insurgency in Mindanao. Matters are complicated however
by their daughter (Yuna Tangog) suffering from cancer (having lost one eye to
the condition), as well as the perils of evacuation when the conflict reaches
their home. Judy Ann recalls how most of her scenes with Tangog involved her
carrying the child actress around, for which she invested in a waist trainer.
She claims losing 5 kilos playing her part.
With the award-winning pedigree of
“Mindanao” proven at Cairo, Judy Ann Santos hopes it will be enough to interest
moviegoers to watch in when the 2019 MMFF kicks off at Christmas until New
Year. “Who would want to see a tear-jerker movie during Christmas time?”
wonders Juday. “But you will learn a lot from this. People in a foreign country
appreciated it, I hope Filipinos would like it, too.” In addition to Santos’
Best Actress, director Brilliante Mendoza also won a Best Artistic Contribution
trophy.
A notable previous triumph by a
Filipino movie at the Cairo International Film Festival occurred all the way
back in 1995. That was when “The Flor Contemplacion Story” received a Golden
Pyramid (Best Picture) accolade, along with Best Actress for the lead star,
Nora Aunor.
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