GINULAT ng Metro Manila Film Festival executive committee ang local movie industry sa ipinalabas nitong desisyon na disqualified ang Honor Thy Father sa Best Picture category sa MMFF Awards. 

Nagkakaisa ang film critics na ang Honor Thy Father ang pinakamaganda at pinakamakabuluhang pelikula sa filmfest ngayong taon. Pero tulad ng madalas na trend tuwing Pasko, mas pinapasok ng mga manonood ang mga pelikulang katatawanan. Umaasa ang industry people na papasukin ng moviegoers ang mas magagandang pelikula pagkatapos ng awards night.

Marami ang kumondena sa naturang desisyon. May ilang nanawagan, tulad ng talent manager na si Erickson Raymundo, na kailangang gayahin ng MMFF execom si Steve Harvey na kahit nagkamali ay agad itong iwinasto. Habang sinusulat namin ang item na ito, ilang oras bago isagawa ang awards night, kagabi sa Kia Theater, wala pang updates mula sa MMFF execom. Naririto ang reaksiyon ni Dondon Monteverde, co-producer nina John Lloyd Cruz at Direk Erik Matti, para sa mas malinaw na perspektibo:

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“When Reality Entertainment partnered with John Lloyd Cruz in producing Honor Thy Father we agreed to make a movie that would capture a small portion of the struggle of the Filipino as he tried to transcend the back-breaking realities and limitations of his life. We wanted to tell the story of Edgar, a Filipino who finally fights back.

After putting up with so much oppression, he confronts the people that have made his life hell, people motivated by greed for money and lust for power.

“Little did I know then that this same narrative would find its way to the movie’s own history.

“Today I received a letter from the Metro Manila Film Festival informing me that their Executive Committee had disqualified our movie from the Best Picture Category of the 2015 MMFF Awards. The reason for this, the letter said, was our “non-disclosure” of our participation in the CinemaOne Originals Film Festival as the Opening Film.

“Let me refute this allegation of non-disclosure. If you will recall, Honor Thy Father was a late addition to the MMFF 2015 lineup. It had been rejected by their selection committee when the lineup was announced in June. On October 23 our film was officially offered a slot after an entry pulled out. By then we had already accepted CinemaOne’s invitation to screen as Opening Film. We informed the MMFF Secretariat, both by email and by phone, about this. We complied with their request for a letter from CinemaOne head Ronald Arguelles attesting that the screening was non-revenue generating and by invitation only. We have all of this on record.

“Secondly, each MMFF entry is allowed a maximum of two premieres. Our CinemaOne screening would be our premiere.

“Let me repeat: we complied with all the MMFF’s requirements; we did not commit any non-disclosure of any kind; no MMFF rule was ever violated by Honor Thy Father.

“I am questioning the reasons, the timing, and the means employed in enforcing this decision by the MMFF Executive Committee. Where is due process in all of this? We were merely informed of their decision, not given any opportunity to air our side. They sent the letter today. The awarding ceremony is tomorrow. Are they merely being good scouts and sticklers for the rules, even when no rule was broken? Or is there some other reason? Why disqualify the movie only from the Best Picture category and not all categories? Whose interests are being protected by this last-minute decision?

“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.

“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.

“Today is a sad day for the industry I was born into and love dearly. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

“Let’s do something about it. Let’s end the silence.”

Dondon Monteverde

Reality Entertainment Inc. (DINDO M. BALARES)