Film on casket maker wins big

MANILA, Philippines–A film writer and director whose movie about a casket maker has won international awards will be recognized by the House of Representatives for bringing honor to local cinema.

Jason Paul Laxamana will be granted the commendation by the legislators after his film, “Magkakabaung,” or “The Coffin Maker,” won the Best Asian Film Award at the 3rd Hanoi International Film Festival in Vietnam on Nov. 27.

It won in the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema category, beating 130 films from 32 countries.

“Laxamana deserves all the praise and recognition for bringing pride, glory and honor to the country,” Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, author of House Resolution No. 1744, said in commending the filmmaker.

“The Coffin Maker,” produced in the Kapampangan language, tells the story of a casket factory worker, played by actor Allen Dizon, who brought up his 8-year-old daughter alone after his wife left him, and then accidentally caused the death of the girl by administering the wrong medicine.

The story chronicles the coffin maker’s attempts to ease his remorse over his daughter’s death as he faces challenges in taking her body from the hospital and having her buried.

His role won for Dizon his first international Best Actor Award at the 9th Harlem International Film Festival in New York on Sept. 14.

The Hanoi award was also the first international film award for Laxamana, a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

According to the Cinemalaya website, Laxamana, as an undergraduate student, served as production assistant to directors Jeffrey Jeturian and Maryo J. De Los Reyes. He was also a script supervisor at Star Cinema.–DJ Yap