Roderick Cabrido’s “Children’s Show” won three trophies at the Fantastic Film Festival in the United States on March 15: Special Jury Award (Feature Film), Grand Jury Award for Best Screenplay (for Ralston Jover) and Fantastic Cinema Emerging Filmmaker (for Cabrido). The festival is organized by the Film Society of Little Rock in Arkansas.
The jury cited the director for eliciting “amazing” performances from his young cast, led by Buboy Villar and Miggs Cuaderno. “These are characters you care about, and that makes their journey compelling.”
Cabrido told the Inquirer: “It’s an honor to win…the team is really grateful. I’m happy that the audience connected with the characters.”
The Cinemalaya winner also competed at the Fribourg fest in Switzerland (March 21 to 28). The festival website praised the film’s “tension-laden imagery” and the director for his “carefully composed use of setting and rigorous sense of drama.”
Based on a documentary, the film is about poor kids who compete in illegal boxing-wrestling matches run by syndicates. Bayani San Diego Jr.