Filipinos forget easily.
In January 1981, the first Manila International Film Festival (MIFF) was held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). Except for the presence of Brooke Shields, it was a rather simple affair.
There was no competition – only film exhibitions. The most controversial movie in that international filmfest was Bernardo Bertolucci’s La Luna, which stars Jill Clayburgh as an opera singer having an incestuous relationship with her teenage son, Matthew Barry.
The second MIFF edition was grander than grand. The Manila Film Center was built and rushed for its January 1982 opening. Of course, we all know the tragedy that befell some of the workers who died there during an accident in November 1981.
This time around, there was already a competition among the international film entries. Winner of the best picture award was India’s 36 Chowringee Lane.
Proclaimed best actor was Kiwi Bruno Lawrence for Smash Palace. Best actress was Lyudmila Gurchenko of the Soviet Union for her performance in The Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavriloc. Best director was Goran Markovic of Yugoslavia for Jack of All Trades.
There were also films that were there only for exhibition. There was Mommie Dearest, now a cult classic starring Faye Dunaway as the manic Joan Crawford. Meryl Streep’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman was also exhibited during the MIFF, but it was only Jeremy Irons who was able to make a personal appearance in Manila.
The Filipino producers were able to sell their movies to foreign distributors. It was the Weng Weng pictures, however, that sold the most.
The year after was plain travesty. Sex films flooded the film event and were exempted from censorship. Some wise guys therefore gave the MIFF a new name: Manila International Fighting Fish.
For the Gen Zs who do not know the meaning of “fighting fish,” ask your parents. But here’s a word of caution: Duck right after you ask the question.
Oh, the MIFF. I thought I’ve seen the last of it in 1983. Ninoy Aquino was shot later that year and the country was in bedlam. Goodbye, MIFF.
During the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) awards night last December 27, however, I found myself seated among the executive committee members at the New Frontier Theater. They told me that they were later bringing all the entries to Los Angeles, California for the benefit of the Filipinos movie lovers there.
When I asked them what they planned to call the overseas event, they said, Manila International Film Festival or MIFF. Were they kidding? MIFF left a bad taste in the mouth among Filipinos in the 1980s.
Apparently, no one among them remembers the infamous Manila International Film Festival anymore. And so they flew to LA and staged the Manila International Film Festival or MIFF with the same MMFF entries.
That would have been perfectly fine. But then, they put up another competition and invited another set of judges based in Los Angeles.
Last week, the awarding was held and the result of winners didn’t exactly match the choices of the judges in the MMFF. I wasn’t a judge in the 2023 MMFF so I wouldn’t know exactly how the jury members felt when some of their choices were invalidated by a new set of jurors – all based in America.
The MMFF entries Firefly, Mallari, Gomburza, When I Met You in Tokyo, etc. would be competing again in the annual awards race in a few months. Some may win again, while the others may lose.
But that’s going to be a totally different contest. It is a competition for the entire year. Gomburza’s Cedric Juan, Piolo Pascual of Mallari and Dingdong Dantes of Rewind will surely be competing against each other again for best actor in the Urian, FAMAS, and other awards bodies.
At the same time, however, they will also be up against Romnick Sarmenta for About Us, But Not About Us and even JC Santos for Wish You Were the One. In the same manner, Vilma Santos (for When I Met You in Tokyo) may be competing against Marian Rivera again for Rewind, but will also face competition from Bela Padilla in Wish You Were the One and Ruby Ruiz for Langitngit.
But for the MMFF to have one set of judges in Manila and another panel of jurors in LA judging the same film entries is a bit off. It’s like discrediting the result of the 2023 Metro Filmfest.
It’s a good thing Firefly was able to maintain its status as best picture. It won in both MMFF and MIFF.
The LA judges obviously loved Firefly so much, they gave even the best director to its director, Zig Dulay. I wonder how director Pepe Diokno of Gomburza felt losing this time – and so soon.
It must also have been painful for MMFF boy wonder Cedrick Juan of Gomburza to have his best actor award devalued only after a month. He lost to Dingdong Dantes (Rewind) and Piolo Pascual (Mallari) who tied for the honors in the MIFF best actor race. Vilma Santos, surely to her relief, retained her best actress status.
If there’s one good thing about having the MIFF, it served as a remedial measure for some of the wrong choices of the MMFF panel. Alessandra de Rossi (Firefly), at least, got the award she so deserved to win in the MMFF.
Alessandra actually gave the best performance in a secondary role in the MMFF. From what I hear, Miles Ocampo won the best supporting actress trophy in the Metro Filmfest because her role was the one that extolled woman empowerment to the fullest.
I will not argue anymore with the MIFF choice for best supporting actor – Pepe Herrera for Rewind. MMFF best supporting victor JC Santos (Mallari) lost to him this time around.
Both actors gave outstanding performances, but in different styles. JC’s acting in Mallari was intense. Pepe Herrera’s was refreshing.
The MMFF executive committee members’ decision to have two sets of jurors probably wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Year in and year out, the choice of winners of the MMFF judges are often questioned by the public.
They are even accused of being bribed and all that. The truth is, there is no bribery that happens during the final voting. Having separate judges in the MMFF and MIFF only proves that in most awards races, the selection of winners all boils down to a matter of taste.
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