WANTED: BORDER wins SEVEN TROPHIES

WANTED: BORDER wins seven trophies in the fifth Cinema One Originals Awards held last November 15, at the Dolphy Theater in ABS-CBN.

The film won Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director, for writer-director Ray Defante Gibraltar. When Direk Ray accepted his first trophy, he spoke in Hiligaynon (native tongue of Iloilo where the film was shot), and during his second speech, he spoke in Tagalog. Gibraltar thanked his mother from whom he draws inspiration, his staff, the stars and crew of Wanted: Border, his supporters in Iloilo, and everyone who helped him turn his film into reality.

Award-winning writer Ricky Lee and Cinema One head Ronald Arguelles presented the award for Best Film. According to the jury, Wanted: Border won for its "malikhaing pagsasanib ng mga yugto ng buhay ng isang aswang" and how it captures the "nakaraang marahas na pagdanas ng incest, torture sa panahon ng diktaturya, at ang hindi na maibabalik na pagtatangkang mamuhay ng tahimik sa kasalukuyan."

The film's star, Rosanna Roces received her second Best Actress Award for playing Mama Saleng, a flesh-eating aswang who kills her boarders, cooks the mutilated flesh, and later on serves the meat in her Iloilo eatery. As she prepared her speech, Osang jokingly asked the crowd if she could render a long speech, since it had been many years since she accepted her last award. Rosanna was last honored by Gawad Urian as Best Actress for the 2001 film La Vida Rosa.

Wanted: Border also received awards for Best Production Design (Al Alacapa, Winston Lazaro and Allan Hilado); Best Music (Malik Lopez and Eric Romulo), and Best Cinematography (Ogi Sugatan).

Check out the full article & the rest of the FESTIVAL WINNERS HERE.

WANTED: BORDER sends shivers in the Cinema One Originals Festival

In the 5th Annual Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival, Wanted: Border sends shivers to all!
Directed by Ray Gibraltar, and starring Rosanna Roces, Kristoffer Rhys Grabato, Sunshine Teodoro, Marisol Alquizar, and Raffy Tejada, here is a ‘dark comedy’ that follows lost people to look for refuge that eventually becomes a nightmare.

Religious fanatic Mama Saleng owns a boarding house and eatery. When she was a child living with her grandmother, they were both suspected of being aswangs. Her thirst for humanity was quenched when she met undercover agent Jessie Beltran during the Martial Law, whose task was to terminate activists in Panay. Mama Selang grew to enjoy the face of death in her hands and totally embraced her childhood epithet of being an aswang. Now her boarders are disappearing one by one. Should her mysterious character be described what she has become can be rooted from traumas she sank into. So does she have something to do with the disappearance of her boarders? Does she butcher them? Is she a carnivore? No one will really know at first. But with a plotline too irresistible, Wanted: Border makes viewers aware what its message is. “Kung dati, nag-aapakan lang tayo ng paa...ngayon tayo tayo na ang nag kakatayan at nagkakainan---tulungan natin ang mga sarili natin na wakasan ang cycle of violence...sa ating sarili...sa ating pamilya...sa ating komunidad,” states Gibraltar.

After completing his Philosophy studies at the Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, Iloilo and the University of La Salle in Bacolod, Ray Defante Gibraltar attended filmmaking workshops at the Mowelfund Film Institute in 2001. His experimental short film Makinilya was screened at the Pelikula’t Lipunan Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival in 2002. His full-length documentary Syokoy placed 3rd and even became the Best Regional Choice at the Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula 2007. But it is his famous documentary narrative When Tamaya Meets Delgado that placed the director-writer-editor in the limelight. It premiered at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in 2007. Made its Asian Premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2008. Had its European premiere in the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. At the 31st Gawad Urian last year When Tamaya Meets Delgado was nominated for Best Editing.

Wanted: Border will send shivers when the festival kicks off from November 13 to 17 at the Gateway Cinema at the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City in part of the 15 Year Anniversary Celebration of Cinema One for being the top movie cable channel in the Philippines. The Awards Night will be held on November 15 at the Dolphy Theater of the ABS-CBN.

source: Cinema One Originals