Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo Sweeps Most MMFF Awards Except Best Picture

Star Cinema’s “Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo” has bagged the top prizes and went home with the most number of trophies at the 32nd Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) during its awarding ceremony at the Aliw Theater in Pasay City Friday night, TV Patrol reported Saturday. However, the top prize of being hailed the Best Picture went to the Vic Sotto-Kristine Hermosa starrer Enteng Kabisote 3.

The film, which starred real-life couple Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo, won best screenplay, best original story and best theme song for “Hawak Kamay,” which was composed by Pinoy Dream Academy’s Grand Star Dreamer Josephine Constantino.

Santos brought home the best actress award while Joey Reyes was named best director. Gina Pareño, meantime, bagged the best supporting actress award.

The film also won the Gatpuno Villegas Cultural Award and the most gender sensitive film.

The best actor and best supporting actor awards went to “Ligalig’s” Cesar Montano and Johnny Delgado, respectively. The movie was directed by Montano and distributed by CM Films.

Nash Aguas, who starred in “Shake, Rattle and Roll” of Regal Entertainment Inc., was named best child performer. Also Regal’s “Mano Po 5” won best cinematography, best musical score, and best sound recording.

“Tatlong Baraha” of Violett Films brought home three awards, namely best visual effects, best festival float and best make up.

OctoArts Films and M-Zet Productions’ “Enteng Kabisote 3: The Legend goes on and on and on” won the best picture award, the only prize it bagged, which has been the subject of yet another controversy at the festival.

Producers Lily Monteverde of Regal and Malou Santos of Star Cinema said the best picture award should not be based on the film’s popularity after “Enteng Kabisote” recorded the highest sales at the box office.

Santos’ starrer was the second best picture award while “Shake, Rattle and Roll” won the third best picture award.

The report said the producers were also surprised to discover that the film’s ranking at the box office takes 40 percent of the total criteria for the selection of best picture.

“Before we enter the MMFF we should know ano ba dapat ang mga guidelines…hindi yung last minute saka namin nalaman, ‘A ito pala ang mga guidelines’ (before we enter the MMFF we should know the guidelines…and not at the last minute),” Monteverde said.

“I made the wrong decision in joining again because after four years we stopped joining the film festival. Every year there’s always a controversy,” Santos said.

ABS-CBN News tried to get the side of Bayani Fernando, the MMFF’s executive committee chairman, but he kept mum on the issue.

Meanwhile, Agoncillo was named best male star of the night and Sunshine Cruz as best female star of the night.

Established in 1975, the MMFF is the annual film festival focusing on locally produced movies. The festival opens on Christmas day and runs until the first week of January.

Source: ABS CBN News