Barbie Forteza, actress and TV star, won the Best Actress Award at the 36th Fantasporto International Film Festival in Portugal for the independent film Laut.
The film, directed by Louie Ignacio, tells the struggle of the Badjao tribe in Pampanga. It opened the 3rd Singkuwento Film Festival just last month.
Ignacio himself announced the news on Instagram, with a photo of him holding the trophy. The photo is captioned with, “Congratulations @barbaraforteza for winning Best Actress for LAUT- 36th Fantasporto International film Festival , Oporto, Portugal!!!! Soooo proud of you Barbie!!!!!! International Best actress ka na!!!!! Love you!!!”
Forteza replied to the photo, saying “Di po ako makapaniwala!” (“I can’t believe it!”), to which the director replied, “Hindi ako nagkamali sa first choice ko! Barbie, sobrang laki ng tiwala ko sa’yo! So proud of you! And from the whole Laut team, congratulations!” (“I didn’t make a mistake choosing you! Barbie, I really trusted you! So proud of you! And from the whole Laut team, congratulations!”)
Laut also won a Special Mention of the Jury award.
Watch the trailer of the film below:
Do you think Forteza deserved the award? Share your thoughts below!
