LOU VELOSO ALMOST TURNED DOWN THE role which won for him the Best Supporting Actor trophy at the Urian Awards held Thursday at the Cine Adarna of UP Diliman.

“It required a trip from Manila to Ormoc. The director is a newbie. Ang alam ko sa bagong director masyadong mabusisi,” said Veloso of his role as Pedro, an ex-convict in “Colorum”—an indie road movie directed by Jon Stefan Ballesteros.

“I never thought this project would bring me this far,” Veloso told the Inquirer.

His portrayal of Pedro, who goes on a journey to escape the site of an accident that had killed an American NGO worker, earlier won for Veloso his first-ever Best Actor award at the 2009 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

The veteran thespian said he’s sharing his Urian award with his “leading man” Alfred Vargas, who plays Simon, a good-hearted policeman moonlighting as a taxi driver.

6 awards

But it was Brillante Mendoza’s two films which won big time, taking home six awards: Best Film, Best Director (Mendoza), Best Sound (Albert Michael Idioma) for “Kinatay”; and Best Actress (Rustica Carpio and Anita Linda), Best Screenplay (Linda Casimiro) and Best Production Design (Mendoza) for “Lola.”

“In the years that I have been directing, I have come to realize that making small, independent films is a big challenge to the mind, and as a filmmaker, I would like to believe that this is what filmmaking is all about,” Mendoza said in a speech read for him by his daughter Angelica.

Urian member Butch Francisco co-emceed the show with actress-TV host Gelli de Belen.

Rachel Alejandro sang a medley of songs popularized by Armida Siguion-Reyna, this year’s Natatanging Gawad Urian recipient. Color It Red vocalist Cooky Chua performed the theme songs of this year’s Urian Best Picture nominees.

Mark Bautista sang his version of the Rivermaya hit “Hinahanap-hanap Kita.”

 

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