Director of INC-produced film wins ‘best’ in London

A PHILIPPINE independent film produced by the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s INCinema productions won best director in a foreign language film at the recent 2016 International Filmmaker Festival (IFF) of World Cinema in London.

Carlo Jay Ortega Cuevas, who directed “Walang Take Two (No Second Take),” INCinema productions’ first full-length film, received the award on Feb. 26.

“To be given this award is such a great blessing from God. The recognition the film received does not only apply to the production team and cast but also to the Church Of Christ in its entirety,” said Cuevas in an interview after the award ceremonies at the Crowne Plaza in London.

Cuevas was one of two Filipinos who won awards at the prestigious filmmaker festival this year.

The other was Carlo Enciso Catu for the film “Ari: My Life with a King,” for which he won as talented new director.

Aside from Cuevas, two other Filipinos were nominated for best director of a foreign language film: Butch Maddul for “Kaleidoscope World” and Luisito Ignacio for “Laut.”

Aside from the nomination for its director, “Walang Take Two” was nominated for best comedy feature film.

The film was written and directed by Cuevas who has directed documentaries for television. This was his first full-length film.

“Walang Take Two” was shown in Philippine cinemas on Sept. 7 last year.

The film revolves around the ambitious but poor young Filipino filmmaker Hapi, who wants to make it big as an indie director and filmmaker. The cast consisted of first-time actors whose skills were honed in previous INCinema shorts. Donna Cueto-Ybanez, Contributor