We present the list of winners of the Sinag Maynila Independent Film Festival that took place from Aril 3rd – 7th, in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Full-Lenght Film Category
Best Picture

Pailalim (Underground) by Daniel R. Palacio – Philippines | 84 minutes

Bangis, a gravedigger living inside a cemetery mausoleum, is pushed to the limit when his daughter becomes critically ill. With no other means to bring her to a hospital for proper medication, he’s left with one option: to steal a newly buried corpse for money, and hope everything is not too late for his beloved daughter.

Trailer:

Best Director

Daniel Palacio for Pailalim – Philippines | 84 minutes

Special Jury Award

Jesusa by Ronaldo C. Carballo – Philippines | 115 minutes

Jesusa, a barren woman comes to her wit’s end when her philandering husband moves in with his latest mistress. Left only with her stepdaughters, she succumbs to the sordid ways of the neighborhood drug addicts.

Trailer:

Best Actress (2 Awards)

Angela Cortez for her role in Jino To Marie (Joselito O. Altarejos)
Philippines | 91 minutes

Two sex workers, a seventeen-year old boy, Gino, and a young mother, Marie, are hired to do a pornographic film. The day before All Saints’ Day, the two travels to a far-flung travel for the shooting. During the shooting, they are made to do acts which have not been agreed upon. Feeling trapped and isolated, the two will be pushed to their limits, to the edge of their dignity. It is a morality tale set in an act judged by society as immoral. It posits the question: When you take away one’s respect and dignity, however, insignificant it may be to us, what is then left of that person?

Trailer:

Sylvia Sanchez for her role in Jesusa (Ronaldo C. Carballo)
Philippines | 115 minutes

Best Actor

Nar Cabico for his role in Akin Ang Korona (Zig Madamba Dulay)
Philippines | 92 minutes

Life turns riveting for Nanong when the tabloid-format reality TV show, AKIN ANG KORONA chances upon his curious life in a sleepy seaside town in Catanauan Quezon. Nanong agrees to film his daily life drying herring, with a deal that they would help find his lost father. Nanong’s quest for a missing parent will become a search of truth, of wonder, of the self-wrapped in the direction framed for and by the TV program.

Trailer:

Best Screenplay

Jino To Marie (Ronaldo C. Carballo) – Philippines | 115 minutes

Best Editing

Pailalim (Underground) by Daniel R. Palacio – Philippines | 84 minutes

Best Cinematography

Pailalim (Underground) by Daniel R. Palacio – Philippines | 84 minutes

Best Sound

Persons of Interest by Ralston Gonzales Jover – Philippines | 92 minutes

POI follows a man with two different personalities. One is a blind cook accused of mass poisoning that killed his older lover, and the other is the smart, jolly imaginary friend of his six-year-old son.

Trailer:

Best Musical Score

Jino To Marie (Ronaldo C. Carballo) – Philippines | 115 minutes

Best Production Design

Jesusa (Ronaldo C. Carballo) – Philippines | 115 minutes

SM People’s Choice Award

Akin ang Korona by Zig Madamba Dulay – Philippines | 92 minutes

Sinag Maynila Box Office Award

Jino To Marie (Ronaldo C. Carballo) – Philippines | 115 minutes

Short Film Category
Best Short Film

Panaghoy by Alvin Baloloy – Philippines | 15 minutes

It’s a typical day for the young, innocent Sofia and Mameng, her seemingly loving and overly protective mother, living in the ancestral house which was passed on to them as the worthy heirs. Sofia reveals her strange to mysterious character in the first few scenes, shifting significantly as Mameng also unravels her dreadful, belligerent character from a caring mother to a complete stranger.

2nd Place Best Short Film

Memories of the Rising Sun by Lawrence Fajardo – Philippines | 21 minutes

In the time of war, can goodness be still found? “Memories of the Rising Sun” traces a Japanese soldier’s journey to humanity as he find himself torn between his loyalty to his mother country and his love and care for the Filipino family that cared for him. In the darkest of times, where hope is only a glimmer, can the heart still find its way to care?

3rd Place Best Short Film

Ngiti ni Nazareno by Louie Lagdameo Ignacio – Philippines

Nazareno’s birthday falls on a very special day, as thousands of people move through the streets of Manila. When he comes back to his mother after the festival, with a piece of aluminum foil as a gift, of all things, it is touching and shaking at once.

Best Short Film Special Citation

Marian by Brian Patrick Lim – Philippines | 15 minutes

There’s a haunting in the house. However, things are not what they seem. Marian soon finds out that the horror in the household is much more familiar than she thinks. A short that explores what happens when we suppress our demons, and how they come back more powerful than ever.

Documentary Category
Best Documentary

Entablado by Lie Rain Clemente and Nori Jane Isturis
Philippines | 15 Minutes

This documentary is a retrospective on the legendary Metropolitan Theater, as told by the esteemed personalities (and voices) that have graced its stage.