John Lloyd Cruz and Meryll Soriano
Netizens have expressed disappointment on the decision of the organizers of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) to disqualify the film “Honor Thy Father” from the Best Picture Category.
The film, directed by Erik Matti was disqualified for its non-disclosure of its participation as the opening movie in another film festival.
Film producer Ronald Stephen Monteverde questioned the timing of the disqualification and added that they were not given the chance to explain their side.
“Together with my director Erik Matti, co-executive producer and actor John Lloyd Cruz, and everyone behind Honor Thy Father, I demand answers. We demand an investigation. But if no one would care or bother to investigate, then we simply wish that the moviegoers, the Filipino people would start to question and be more critical of what, year in and year out, is passed off to them as good and true,” he said in a statement.
“They can have their Best Picture and all the other awards. We just want to keep making movies that people will care about, MMFF or no MMFF,” he added.
Moviegoers feared that with the disqualification, it will be pulled out from theaters even before the end of the MMFF season.
Here are some of the netizens reactions posted on Facebook and on Twitter.
