Leonor Will Never Die follows with four awards, including Best Director
12 Weeks, the Cinemalaya-winning film by Anna Isabelle Matutina about a woman facing personal and professional crises surrounding her sudden pregnancy, has been selected by the Society of Filipino Film Critics (SFFR) as the best Filipino film of 2022 in its 3rd Pinoy Rebyu Awards, besting over 100 other local releases that year. It also wins for Matutina’s screenplay and the bravura turns of co-stars Max Eigenmann and Claudia Enriquez, who take home the trophies for Best Lead Performance and Supporting Performance, respectively. For the third year in a row, the film that takes home the top award also receives the Best First Feature plum, a testament to the excellence of the country’s new filmmakers and a portent of a bright future for the local film industry.
Indeed, 2022 was a tremendous year for new cinematic voices, as the internationally acclaimed Leonor Will Never Die, a vibrant homage to 70s and 80s Pinoy movies, takes four trophies, including Best Director for Martika Ramirez Escobar who strikes gold for her first full-length feature film. Leonor nearly completes a sweep of the technical categories, claiming the awards for editing, cinematography, and production design. Preventing that sweep is the victory of horror film Deleter (dir. Mikhail Red) in the Best Original Score category.
The 20-actor cast of Nuel Naval’s Family Matters claims the other performance category, Best Ensemble Performance, for the wonderful display of natural and joyful synergy among its massive cast of neophytes and veterans.
The SFFR also honors the film 11,103, which bravely tackles the stories of Martial Law survivors, with the Best Documentary Feature award. Directed by Jeannette Ifurung and Mike Alcazaren, the film was also nominated for Best Film and Best Original Score.
Meanwhile, in the short film categories, Whammy Alcazaren’s Bold Eagle wins for Best Live Action Short, Pinoy Rebyu’s equivalent of the award that it received in the QCinema Film Festival. Recognizing the wonderful diversity of Pinoy shorts in 2022, the SFFR also heralded the Best Animated Short and Best Documentary Short. Keith Deligero’s Brand X and Mervine Aquino’s Palengke Day are the winners in these two categories, respectively.
The Best International Film award is handed to Decision to Leave by highly regarded auteur Park Chan-wook, who won Best Director in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The film was South Korea’s official submission to the Best International Feature Film category of the 95th Academy Awards and was included in the shortlist.
The winners of the 3rd Pinoy Rebyu Awards will be given trophies in March.
The complete list of winners can be found below.
BEST FILM: 12 Weeks
BEST DIRECTOR: Martika Ramirez Escobar, Leonor Will Never Die
BEST SCREENPLAY: 12 Weeks (Anna Isabelle Matutina)
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE: Max Eigenmann, 12 Weeks
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Claudia Enriquez, 12 Weeks
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: Cast of Family Matters
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: 11,103 (Jeannette Ifurung and Mike Alcazaren)
BEST FIRST FEATURE: 12 Weeks (Anna Isabelle Matutina)
BEST EDITING: Leonor Will Never Die (Lawrence Ang)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Leonor Will Never Die (Carlos Mauricio)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Leonor Will Never Die (Eero Yves Francisco)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Deleter (Myka Magsaysay and Paul Sigua)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Brand X (Keith Deligero)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Palengke Day (Mervine Aquino)
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Bold Eagle (Whammy Alcazaren)
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)
