First things first: The recent sixth Cinemalaya film festival came on particularly strong this year with its new (Veteran) Directors Showcase, which featured new movies by Mark Meily, Gil Portes and Mario O?Hara, among others.

However, we don?t agree with the festival?s decision to hand out awards for this category, for the simple reason that there were less than 10 movies competing. In our view, nine or 10 would be the minimum number of entries to merit an awards competition.

In the future, the festival should provide production grants to more established filmmakers, or hold the showcase as a non-award category.

Yes, there were some worthy showcase entries, like ?Donor? and ?Two Funerals,? which we were able to view. But there simply were too few films in contention to deserve awards, which are supposed to honor relative excellence in a significantly substantial and representative field of contention.

This is the same objection we?ve raised in relation to the awards handed out at the annual Metro Manila Film Festival, with its only six or so movies in contention. The MMFF waters down the value of its awards further by opting for a generally commercial and popular thrust for the movies it showcases.

Quality and substance

Awards should be about quality and substance?so why honor productions that are less than truly outstanding?

Let?s focus today on the quality of the performances in the main New Breed section of this year?s Cinemalaya. We?ve managed to view quite a number of the New Breed entries, so our opinions are based on actual viewing, not speculative fancy:

In general, the New Breed movies offered more textured and significant characters and portrayals than those found in mainstream movies. This is the reason that ?name? actors agree to appear in indie productions, despite the relatively token talent fees they?re offered.

We agree with this year?s festival jurors that John Arcilla turned in the best male lead portrayal in ?Halaw??his depiction of a man who smuggles Filipinos into Sabah, Malaysia is raw and textured.
Lovi Poe, who won Best Actress for ?Mayohan,? also turns in an interesting and focused portrayal, but we feel Irma Adlawan in ?Vox Populi? came up with a portrayal that had wider range and greater depth, despite its occasional ?staginess.?

Quiet but moving

Best Supporting Actress? Yes, LJ Reyes was softly, quietly but deeply moving in ?The Leaving.? But we don?t agree with the decision to cite Emilio Garcia as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the nasty sergeant in ?Rekrut,? because his nastiness was quite standard for such a character, and his movie-star persona wasn?t sufficiently subsumed into the role.

If we had our druthers, the award should have gone to either Jose Mari Avellana or Roeder Camañag in ?Vox Populi,? because they came up with more original and insightful portrayals.

The New Breed movies featured quite a number of other potentially ?awardable? portrayals that similarly deserve to be singled out: The ?tough? little child actress in ?Halaw,? Maria Isabel Lopez in the same film, Suzette Ranillo in ?Vox Populi,? some of the young trainees in ?Rekrut,? etc. Perhaps an ?ensemble? award could be added next year?

On the other hand, we must note a negative tendency to present characters who simply go through life?s ordeals in a sort of dull, unemotional psychological daze.