IT was indeed a starry, starry night at this year’s 36th Gawad Urian Awards Night when the one and only Superstar Nora Aunor and actor Jericho Rosales bagged the top awards for Best Actress and Best Actor respectively.
Held last June 18 at the NBC Tent in Taguig City, it is Jericho’s first win in the Urian, for his indie film, Alagwa. Coincidentally, the actor already won the Best Actor award at the Newport Beach Film Festival last month, but the 33-year-old admits that winning the Urian gives him more pride because it is a sign that he is accepted by his critics and colleagues in the Philippine entertainment industry. Alagwa is Jericho’s first indie film, which highlights the perils of human trafficking.
Another artist who received her first Urian award is Alessadra de Rossi, who nabbed Best Supporting Actress for her film, Mater Dolorosa. This talented actress was also nominated in the same category for the film Sta. Nina and for Best Actress in the film Baybayin.
Of course, La Aunor wins again for Thy Womb, a film directed by Brillante Mendoza. Direk Brillante also won Best Production Design.
Thy Womb has been part of many international film festivals including the Venice Filmfest/Independent Critics Group in Italy, the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards in Australia and the Asian Film Awards in HongKong. Both Brillante and Ate Guy have also received recognitions for their craft.
Other winners in this year’s Gawad Urian include Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim – Best Picture, Adolfo Alix (Mater Dolorosa) – Best Director, Art Acuna – Best Supporting Actor for Posas, Whammy Alcazaren and Sasha Palomares – Best Cinematography for Colossal, Mes de Guzman – Best in Screenplay for Diablo, Remton Zuasola – Best Short Film for Ritmo, Benito Bautista – Best Documentary for Harana, Aleks Castaneda – Best Editing for Kalayaan, Willy Fernandez, Bong Sungcang and Ferdinand Marcos Sabarongis – Best Sound for Florentina Hubaldo; and Diwa de Leon – Best Music for Baybayin.
The Natatanging Gawad Urian was given to veteran actress Mila del Sol, whose popular films include Giliw Ko (1939), Orasang Ginto (1945), Pakipot (1960) and Tatlong Magdalena (1960).
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Gay roles always have a place in Philippine television, but is mostly reserved for comic relief. We have seen sitcoms with gays playing the funny neighbor or friend, but hardly as someone who is seriously involved in a relationship.
Maybe this is why My Husband’s Lover, the latest primetime drama series on GMA7, has piqued the interest of many viewers. Headlining the series are actors Tom Rodriguez and Dennis Trillo with actress Carla Abellana.
My Husband’s Lover is a story about Vincent (Tom), a husband and father, who happens to be in love with his high school classmate Eric (Dennis). Vincent’s wife Lally (Carla) learns of the affair but continues on with her marriage.
Tom admits that the role of Vincent is a challenging one, and that he was nervous about doing love scenes with Dennis. Because of this, he attended a “sensuality workshop” with Dennis and Carla; so that they would be able to portray sensitive scenes convincingly.
My Husband’s Lover is written by Suzette Doctolero and directed by Dominic Zapata. Joining Dennis, Carla and Tom in the drama series are Kuh Ledesma, Chanda Romero, Victor Basa and Karel Marquez.
