Shamaine Buencamino (right) accepting the award for Panalong Aktres (Full-Length Category) for the film “Pushcart Tales.” | Image: CinePanalo file photo
Seasoned actress Shamaine Buencamino was among the winners at the inaugural CinePanalo Film Festival awards night held on Saturday, March 16.
Initiated by a local supermarket company, the 1st Cinepanalo film fest was able to recognize student creatives, up-and-coming talents, and experienced actors and directors in the industry.
Buencamino, who took home the Best Actress award that night for her role in the entry “Pushcart Tales,” told INQUIRER.net that she took memorizing her lines seriously because the dialogues were longer and they only had eight days to shoot the entire movie.
“Seryosong memorization. Lalo na ‘yung trabaho namin overnight kasi nasa grocery lang kami,” she said. (Serious memorization. Especially our overnight work because we are only at the grocery store.)
The “Lorna” star expressed her gratitude to her husband, Nonie Buencamino, who was also in the film and was nominated for Best Actor that night, for helping her cope amid the filming.
“It was mental toughness rin kaya nga pinasalamatan ko si Nonie kasi for me gumaan ‘yung trabaho kasi siya nung nag-aalaga sakin,” (That’s why I thanked Nonie because for me the work was easier because he was taking care of me.)
The 59-year-old actress shared that the film only had a “small budget,” but it became “all worth it” because she and her co-actors went along well in the set, which evidently shows that they took the Best Ensemble trophy at the awards night.
“It was a sacrifice but it was worth it. The whole process of making the film was joyful. Masaya lalo na kung ‘yung co-actors mo kabagang. It was a fun production,” she said.
The CinePanalo award winners | Image: Jessica Ann Evangelista/INQUIRER.net
Aside from Buencamino, Sigrid Andrea Bernardo captured the Best Director award for “Pushcart Tales,” and the film was also awarded a Special Jury prize.
Meanwhile, also from the full-length category, Kurt Soberano’s debut feature “Under a Piaya Moon” emerged on top as they bagged six awards, including the coveted Best Picture, Best Actor (Jeff Mosses), and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Torre).
For the shorts created by students from different universities all over the country, Ronjay-C Mendiola’s “Last Shift” received the most accolades, winning five awards, followed by Diezelle C. Masilungan’s “Kung Nag-aatubili,” achieving a total of four awards.
The six Cinepanalo full-length films and 25 student shorts extended their screening from March 20 to March 26 at Gateway Cineplex.