Ang Mga Kidnaper Ni Ronnie Lazaro
A FILM about the alleged kidnapping of one of the country’s seasoned veteran actors won the Grand Festival Prize at the 1st staging of the Sineng Pambansa National Film Competition held in Davao City from June 29 to July 3.
“Ang Mga Kidnaper Ni Ronnie Lazaro,” written and directed by Sigfreid Barros-Sanchez, took home the top prize in the Film Dvelopment Council of the Philippines’ first staging of the event. Sanchez’s ensemble cast made up of Ronnie Lazaro, Nonie Buencamino, Epy Quizon, Dwight Gaston, Soliman Cruz, Raul Morit, Hector Macaso, and Mon Lee also took home the Best Actor Award.
It was a triple celebration for Sanchez when his other film, “In Bangka Ha Ut Sin Duwa Sapah”, which he co-directed with Fyrsed Alsad Alfad III, bagged the Best Actress Award for Sue Prado. Prado played a mute mother who swims from one end of the river to the other just to put her kids to school despite a waging war between the government forces and rebel soldiers from both ends of the river. Sanchez said that he was inspired by an episode of “Wish Ko Lang” entitled “Nanay Langoy” when he wrote the story.
“Ang Mga Kidnaper Ni Ronnie Lazaro,” on the other hand, is about a group of down and out-of-luck men who decided to make a film starring Ronnie Lazaro, the most sought-after indie actor in the Philippines. Things get complicated when Lazaro decides to beg-off from acting on their supposed indie film and the guys were forced to abduct the actor.
The film was a hit during its screenings in Davao that one of the local malls decided to kick-out two screenings of current Hollywood hit “The Amazing Spiderman” in favour of “Kidnaper” because of the Dabawenos clamor for its screenings.
Sanchez dedicated his win to “all independent filmmakers in the country, both young and old” who all have dreamed to make a difference in the local entertainment scene through their films.
Also winning in the said event are the films “Qwerty” and “Qiyamah,” directed by Ed Lejano and Teng Mangansakan III, respectively, who tied for the Festival Jury Prize award. “Qiyamah” also took Best Artistic Contribution Award for its excellence in production design, music, and cinematography.
Best Animated Short Film was handed out to Ramon del Prado, Didy Evangelista and Ayeen Pineda for their work “Si Pagong at Si Matsing”. “Walay Tumo’y ng Punterya” (No End in Sight) by Cierlito Espejo Tabay gunned down the Best Documentary Award.
Sineng Pambansa is the first big project of the FDCP under the helm of its chairman, Briccio Santos who himself was once an independent filmmaker. The event also featured the unveiling of a statue of the late great Filipino director Lino Brocka at the Cinematheque in Davao.
The event was mired by a controversy when one of the films, “Malan” by Benji Garcia, was pulled out from the competition after two versions of the film showed up at the festival, one a director’s cut and the other a producer’s cut. No one among the two parties would give in and whose cut they want to be shown that the FDCP decided to cancel all the screenings of the film in the festival.
ANG MGA KIDNAPER NI RONNIE LAZARO” WINS TOP PRIZE IN FDCP CONTEST
