Rochelle Pangilinan and Mylene Dizon obtain appearing awards.
Highlighting the facility of documentary filmmaking, the twenty first Cinemalaya Philippine Impartial Movie Pageant awarded the distinguished Balanghai trophy for Greatest Movie to a documentary specializing in the struggles of land rights activists in Cagayan Valley.
Finalists for Cinemalaya 2026 (Picture by Kiko Cabuena)
Noni Abao’s “BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED” was recommended for its “highly effective and deeply humane portrayal of political activists uprooted by violence but steadfast of their pursuit of justice and belonging, remodeling the battle for land, peace, and dignity in Cagayan Valley right into a meditation on residence, hope, and resilience.”
Within the Quick Movie Class, Carl Joseph Papa’s “THE NEXT 24 HOURS” earned Greatest Movie for its “hauntingly tender portrayal of trauma and survival, utilizing rotoscope animation to render silence, concern, and resilience with profound sensitivity and compassion, and utilizing artwork as advocacy for individuals who nonetheless battle to search out their voice.”
The Greatest Director Balanghai trophies have been awarded to Sari Dalena and Elian Idioma. Dalena’s movie, CINEMARTYRS, was celebrated for its daring and visionary authorship that fuses cinema, historical past, and reminiscence into an act of resistance, and for reclaiming ladies’s voices by mystical and political guerrilla filmmaking.
Elian Idioma gained his first Balanghai trophy for I’M BEST LEFT INSIDE MY HEAD, acknowledged for its managed tone, emotional precision, and psychological depth. The movie turns a younger man’s return to his former orphanage right into a delicate meditation on guilt, privilege, and belonging.
Within the Full-Size Class, CHILD NO. 82 obtained the Greatest Screenplay award. Tim Rone Villanueva and Herlyn Alegre have been praised for witty, poignant writing that transforms a son’s quest to fulfill his legendary father right into a journey of reality and self-discovery, revealing the vulnerability behind the parable of stardom.
Handiong Kapuno’s FIGAT was awarded Greatest Screenplay for Quick Movie, acknowledged for its genuine, lyrical storytelling and cultural resonance. The movie affirms indigenous id and movingly portrays a younger Kalinga lady preserving her heritage by music.
The NETPAC (Community for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema) Award for Greatest Movie within the Full-Size Class was awarded to REPUBLIKA NG PIPOLIPINAS by Renei Dimla for its highly effective narrative of resistance, citizenship, and the seek for belonging, with explicit recognition for its braveness, creativity, and coronary heart.
Within the Quick Movie Class, HASANG by Daniel De La Cruz took residence the NETPAC Award for its tender and poetic storytelling that blurs the road between fantasy, reminiscence, and the religious, famous for its delicate method, visible simplicity, and profound resonance.
HABANG NILALAMON NG HYDRA ANG KASAYSAYAN swept three main appearing awards:
- Jojit Lorenzo gained Greatest Efficiency by an Actor for his refined but impactful function as a political strategist grappling with disillusionment and ethical exhaustion, capturing each despair and hope as he searches for that means amid erased historical past.
- Nanding Josef, creative director of Tanghalang Pilipino, earned Greatest Supporting Actor for his haunting and human portrayal of a former Martial Legislation basic succumbing to dementia, reflecting the fear of tyranny and the fragility of regret.
- Mylene Dizon secured Greatest Efficiency by an Actress for her intense and empathetic depiction of a daughter confronted by her father’s darkish legacy, pressured to reconcile love, guilt, and morality whereas defending him.
Rochelle Pangilinan gained Greatest Supporting Actress for CHILD NO. 82 for a restrained but putting portrayal of a mom upholding dignity by abandonment, embodying loss and resilience as her son pursues the parable of an absent father.
Technical awards embody:
BEST EDITING
Che Tagyamon and Arnex Nicolas (BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED) are acknowledged for seamlessly weaving testimonies, recollections, and silences right into a resonant tapestry of reality. Their work transforms the tales of the detained, the disappeared, and the fallen right into a unified and deeply transferring chronicle of braveness.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Theo Lozada (RAGING) is acknowledged for his evocative use of sunshine and shadow, which displays a younger man’s silence and awakening. He additionally skillfully captures the humid stillness of Romblon’s seas and forests, presenting them as landscapes imbued with each trauma and reality.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Jeric Delos Angeles (PADAMLAGAN) is acknowledged for his masterful transformation of archival fragments, survivor testimonies, and lived areas right into a cohesive visible world the place fiction and historical past mix. He authentically and reverently reconstructs 1972 Naga Metropolis—from the fluvial devotion of Peñafrancia to the ruins of the Colgante Bridge—crafting a setting that honors reminiscence as a lot because it illuminates loss.
BEST MUSICAL SCORING
Teresa Barrozo (CINEMARTYRS) is acknowledged for her impressed integration of ethnic Mindanao rhythms and cinematic nostalgia. She masterfully intertwines ancestral reminiscence and the lyricism of basic Tagalog display screen romances, enriching a movie that explores colonial violence and feminine artistry.
BEST SOUND
Lamberto Casas, Jr. (RAGING), is acknowledged for crafting an immersive soundscape that transforms silence, the ocean, and sorrow into echoes of buried trauma. His work powerfully amplifies the unstated anguish of a younger man, whose name for assistance is met with indifference, thus deepening his isolation and ache.
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
OPEN ENDINGS, by Nigel Santos and Keavy Eunice Vicente, was celebrated for the ensemble’s seamless chemistry, emotional depth, and vibrant performances, which delivered to life a uncommon narrative about chosen household and intimacy. With honesty, humor, and charm, the forged—Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Janella Salvador, Klea Pineda, and Leanne Mamonong—captured the enduring bonds between queer ladies navigating love, loss, and friendship.
Particular Jury Prize honors went to CINEMARTYRS by Sari Dalena, acknowledged for remodeling filmmaking into each remembrance and revolt, mixing guerrilla filmmaking, mysticism, and archival reminiscence to confront the historic and cinematic ghosts of violence, and paying tribute to the pioneering ladies filmmakers of Philippine cinema. KAY BASTA ANGKARABO YAY BAGAY IBAT HA LANGIT (OBJECTS DO NOT RANDOMLY FALL FROM THE SKY) by Maria Estela Paiso was equally lauded for its daring imaginative and prescient, poetic depth, and evocative mix of fantasy and reminiscence, turning the injuries of the West Philippine Sea right into a cinematic allegory of sovereignty and anger.
The Viewers Selection Awards, decided by Cinemalaya theatergoers, got to CHILD NO. 82 by Tim Rone Villanueva for Full-Size Characteristic, and ASCENSION FROM THE OFFICE CUBICLE by Hannah Silvestre for Quick Movie.
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