House to probe MMFF furor

If Sen. Grace Poe was given the chance to contest her disqualification from the 2016 presidential race, why couldn’t producers of “Honor Thy Father” appeal its elimination from the Best Picture award?

That in a nutshell was the cry of actor and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, who on Monday asked his colleagues in the House of Representatives to investigate the controversial disqualification of the Eric Matti thriller from the Best Picture race in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

His colleagues agreed. Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, chair of the House committee on Metro Manila development, said he would conduct a probe of the disqualification of “Honor Thy Father” on the eve of the awards night.

Ticket swapping

Castelo said Congress would also probe reports that tickets for the top grosser, GMA Films’ “My Bebe Love” were swapped with the Star Cinema’s “Beauty and Bestie” to show higher box office receipts for the latter.

In the latest hullabaloo involving the scandal-plagued film fest, Fernandez, a cast member of the disqualified movie, filed a House Resolution asking Congress to launch a formal probe into the decision of MMFF organizers to remove “Honor Thy Father” from contention for top film honors.

“Honor Thy Father” was disqualified by the MMFF executive committee from the Best Picture contest supposedly for not disclosing that it had been previously screened at another movie festival, the Cinema One Originals Film Festival.

“Honor,” which stars actor John Lloyd Cruz, had been a last-minute addition to the roster of MMFF qualifiers after the withdrawal of the producers of another film, “Hermano Puli,” in October.

At the MMFF awards night on Dec. 27, the romantic comedy “Walang Forever” took home the top prize.

Matti, who was conspicuously absent at the ceremony, won Best Director for “Honor,” which also received a number of other awards.

No due process

In Monday’s briefing at the House of Representatives, the producer, Ronald Stephen Monteverde, decried what he said was the lack of due process in the decision to disqualify his film from the Best Picture category.

“I was shocked when we received a letter on Dec. 26 through e-mail informing us of our disqualification for our nondisclosure of the screening of the film at Cinema One,” he said.

He said it was unfair:  “There was no way we could appeal.”

“And who could we call on Dec. 26? No one called us. If we disobeyed the rules, there was plenty of time to call us,” said Monteverde, son of prominent film producer Lily Monteverde, who herself had cried foul over controversies in the MMFF in past years.

Monteverde’s lawyer, Agnes Maranan, said the MMF executive committee had offered the slot vacated by “Hermano Puli,” but at the time, “Honor” had already committed to premiering at Cinema One on Nov. 8.

But under the rules, she said, MMFF entries could “have two premieres provided these are nonrevenue,” meaning there would be no commercial screening.

Maranan said Monteverde had written the MMFF organizers about the earlier screening in a letter as early as Nov. 5, along with a letter from Cinema One attesting to the fact that its exhibition would be nonprofit.

“This was admitted by the MMFF. We sent them a signed letter from Reality Entertainment and Cinema One—one, that it would be exhibited, and two, it’s nonrevenue, because there was no ticket sales,” the lawyer said.

“But the voting for Best Picture occurred before Dec. 25. The awards night was Dec. 27. We were disqualified after the juror voting. So draw your own conclusions about the timing,” she said.

Malacañang said it would not step into the controversial issues hounding the 2015 MMFF.