We present the list of winners of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival (Philippines) which took place from August 2nd – 11th (2019) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex and selected cinemas around the Philippines.

About the Festival:
The Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival’s aim of the festival is to develop and promote independent films. Each year the festival provides funding for ten films presented during the festival. The Gawad Alternatibo also takes place during the festival, this competition celebrates short independent films from across the Philippines.

Feature Film Category

Best Film
NETPAC Award
Best Performance of an Actor (Jansen Magpusao)
Best Original Music Score
Best Editing
Best Cinematography

John Denver Trending by Arden Rod Condez

His name is John Denver Cabungcal, a Grade 8 student. All he really wants is to do well in school and bring good grades to his mother. But one day, a classmate accuses him of stealing a forty-five thousand peso worth of an IPAD. After the classmate’s persistent allegation, John Denver snaps and assaults his classmate. Unluckily for him, someone records the incident and posts the video on social media.

Trailer:

Best Director (Eduardo Roy Jr.)
Best Performance of a Supporting Actor (Ricky Davao)

F#*@BOIS by Eduardo Roy Jr.

Ace (23) and Miko (17) desperately want to become famous actors but it seems the Universe has a different plan for their lives.

Trailer:

Best Performance of an Actress (Ruby Ruiz )
Best Sound
Best Screenplay

Iska by Theodore Boborol

Iska, a loving but impoverished grandmother of an abandoned child tragicomically loses everything and turns into someone society reckons her to be.

Trailer:

Special Jury Award
Best Supporting Actress (Ella Cruz)
Best Production Design

Edward by Thop Nazarenoc

A public hospital serves as a witness to a young boy’s rite of passage when he is stuck to take care of his ailing father. Caught in a place where life itself is in limbo, the boy treats the hospital grounds as his playground, not knowing that it will be his source of liberation in the end.

Trailer:

Audience Choice Award

Belle Douleur (A Beautiful Pain) by Joji V. Alonso

Elizabeth, a self-made woman in her late 40s, is bent on living on her own for the rest of her days. After her mother passes from years of suffering from a lingering illness, she meets Jon, a man 20 years her junior, who convinces her that love knows no age and that there are no limits to life’s starts. They embark on a May-December affair that is very promising, until Liz realizes that Jon has dreams that she cannot be part of.

Trailer:

Short Film Category

Best Short Film

Wag mo Kong Kausapin (Please Stop Talking) by Josef Gacutan
Philippines | 2017 – 14 minutes

An animated film centered on Sixto, an elderly man who tries to repair his relationship with his estranged son, Please Stop Talking explores loneliness, regret and isolation at old age. (SGIFF 2018 Catalogue)

Best Director
NETPAC Award Special Mention

Sa among agway (In between Spaces) by Don Senoc – Philippines

Jun is a farmer who lives near a pineapple field with his mother Dita and his brother Mako. His aunt from Manila who can’t bear a child offers to adopt Mako with a promise to give him a good life. Jun and Mako face their impending separation and think of ways they can spend every minute together.

Special Jury Award

Tembong (Connecting) by Shaira Advincula
Philippines | 2018 – 15 minutes

Grieving for the recent passing of his mother, a T’boli man in South Cotabato collects a series of patterns as an abaca spirit visits him in his dreams. This sends him on a journey of unearthing his history, making him disregard the consequences of defying a sanctified practice through secretly enduring the tedious process of weaving T’nalak, defining birth, life, marriage, and death, a sacred cloth only to be weaved by women. (FilmFreeway Profile)

Special Mention for Subject Matter

Hele ng maharlika (Lullaby of the free) by Norvin De Los Santos – Philippines

In the midst of an ongoing siege, a reluctant child combatant finds a safe place to pray where he meets a newly orphaned, infidel boy who seeks refuge in the unknown.

Best Screenplay

Kontrolado ni girly ang buhay niya by Gilb Baldoza – Philippines

Gay teenager Girly looks for a job in a world he is unaware of

NETPAC Award

Disconnection Notice by Glenn Lowell Averia – Philippines | 2018

Away from his home in the province, Paul shuffles between the responsibilities of being the eldest sibling in their apartment and reconnecting with his youngest brother Carl who now lives with him.

Audience Choice Award

Heist School by Julius Renomeron Jr. – Philippines | 2018 – 18 minutes

A ragtag group of students try to steal from the faculty room as they save both their grades and their friendship. (FilmFreeway Profile).