Nora Aunor, Eddie Garcia Win Top Acting Plums at the 7th Asian Film Awards (2013)

Nora Aunor and Eddie Garcia won top acting awards at the 7th Asian Film Awards held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center on Monday, March 18 after their respective wins in the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival.

Nora Aunor was hailed Best Actress for her performance in the internationally-acclaimed Thy Womb helmed by Brillante Mendoza while Eddie Garcia won Best Actor for his role in Bwakaw, the Philippines' official entry to the 2013 Oscars.

Nora bested the likes of Cho Min-soo (South Korea), Golshifteh Farahani (Afghanistan), Gwei Lun-Mei (Taiwan), and Hao Lei (China) for the award while Eddie Garcia, who also won People's Choice for Best Actor beat other nominees for Best Actor Joseph Chang (Taiwan), Choi Min-sik (South Korea), Tony Leung Ka-fai (Hong Kong), and Liu Ye (China).

Last year, Eugene Domingo (Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank) won People's Choice for Best Actress in the 6th edition of the Asian Film Awards. Shamaine Buencamino, meanwhile, bagged the Best Supporting Actress in the same edition.

It was the first time that the Philippines bagged both the Best Actor and Best Actress awards in Asian Film Awards, dubbed as the Asian Oscars. Gina Pareño is the first Filipino to win an award in the said Hong Kong based award-giving body, bagging the Best Supporting Actress trophy in 2009 for her performance in Brillante Mendoza‘s Serbis.

Here are the winners of the 7th Asian Film Awards (2013):

Best Film: “Mystery” (China) Best Actress: Nora Aunor, “Thy Womb” (Philippines) Best Actor: Eddie Garcia, “Bwakaw” (Philippines) Best Director: Kitano Takeshi, “Outrage Beyond” (Japan) Best Supporting Actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, “Talaash: The Answer Lies Within” (India) Best Supporting Actress: Watanabe Makiko, “Capturing Dad” (Japan) Best Newcomer: Qi Xi, “Mystery” (China) Best Cinematographer: Touraj Aslani, “Rhino Season” (India)

Best Editor: Kusakabe Mototaka – The Kirishima Thing Best Costume Designer: Man Lim-chung, “The Silent War” (China/Hong Kong) Best Production Designer: Bahman Ghobadi & Ali Daryai, “Rhino Season” (India) Best Composer: Pritam Chakraborty, “Barfi!” (India) Best Visual Effects: Fred Khoshtinat, “Rhino Season” (India) Best Screenwriter: Mei Feng, Yu Fan & Lou Ye, “Mystery” (China) 2012’s Top-Grossing Asian Film Award: “Lost in Thailand” (Thailand)

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Eddie Garcia Wins Best Actor at the 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival 2012

Eddie Garcia won the Best Actor trophy at the 55th Asia Pacific Film Festival 2012 for his role as a gay pensioner who is taking care of his cancer-stricken dog in Bwakaw. 

The veteran actor personally accepted the award and received a standing ovation during the awards night held on December 15 at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau, China.

Hong Kong’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 85th Academy Award, Life Without Principle won Best Film. Bwakaw, directed by Jun Lana, is the Philippines' counterpart, which is said to have high chances of being one of the five official nominees to the 2013 Oscars.

The announcement of the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards (Oscars 2013) is scheduled on January 10.

Nora Aunor was nominated for Best Actress at the said awards for Thy Womb but lost to Taiwan's Gwai Lun-mei, the star of romance-drama film Gf*Bf. 

Lo Hoi-pang (Life Without Principle) bagged the Best Supporting Actor trophy while Makiko Watanabe won the Best Supporting Actress title with her role as a young divorcee in Capturing Dad. Kore-eda was named Best Director for I Wish, a drama about two siblings seeking to meet each other after being forced to live apart by their estranged parents

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'Bwakaw' is PH Official Entry to the 2013 Oscars

Bwakaw which stars Eddie Garcia and a dog named Princess is the Philippines' official entry to the best foreign language film category of the 85th Academy Awards (2013 Oscars).

The said indie film by acclaimed director Jun Robles Lana was chosen by the Film Academy of the Philippines special committee to be the country's representative to the prestigious Oscar Awards.

Bwakaw was one of six films in the Directors’ Showcase category of the last Cinemalaya Film Festival. It  was also invited in several international film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival.

Rated A by the Cinema Evalution Board, Bwakaw is a drama-comedy about growing old alone. It shares the life of Rene (played by Eddie Garcia), a 75-year-old gay man whose life suddenly turns around when a stray dog named “Bwakaw” teaches him a lesson about life.

Also starring Rez Cortez, Soxie Topacio, Armida Siguion-Reyna, Gardo Versoza, Beverly Salviejo, Luz Valdez, Alan Paule, Bibeth Orteza and Joey Paras, Bwakaw is distributed by Star Cinema for commercial release starting September 5, 2012.

Bwakaw actually bested seven other films which were also considered for possible nomination by the special committee like Jose Javier Reyes’ Mga Mumunting Lihim, Brillante Mendoza’s Captive, Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story, Auraeus Solito’s Busong, John-D Lazatin’s A Mother’s Story, Ron Morales’ Graceland and Joyce Bernal’s Segunda Mano.

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Amorosa Grosses P25.2 Million in Two Weeks - Box Office Mojo

Amorosa: The Revenge starring Angel Aquino, Martin del Rosario, Enrique Gil and Empress had already grossed P25.2 million after 2 weeks of showing in theaters according to Box Office Mojo (BOM).

The psycho-horror-drama from Skylight Films added to its first week gross about P13 million from 45 screens on its 2nd week. Amorosa is still the top-performing Pinoy film for the period of September 5-9, maintaining its no. 2 position overall from last week.

Meanwhile, APO-themed musical Pinoy movie I Do Bidoo Bidoo managed to rake in P12.85 million in two weeks. Cinemalaya entry Bwakaw grossed P1.55 million on its first weekend while the Brillante Mendoza-helmed film Captive earned P1.11 million.

Amorosa: The Revenge, Bwakaw and Captive are distributed by Star Cinema.

Here are the top 10 movies in the Philippines for the period September 5-9 according to BOM. Click here to see last week's ranking.

TW	LW	Movie	Studio	Weekend Gross	Gross-to-Date	Week
1	N	The Watch	Fox	8,525,682 PHP	8.53-M PHP	1
2	2	Amorosa	Star Cin.	7,773,128 PHP	25.2-M PHP	2
3	1	Total Recall (2012)	Sony	6,298,478 PHP	59.15-M PHP	3
4	6	Possessions	Pioneer	6,173,460 PHP	15.78-M PHP	2
5	3	The Expendables 2	Viva Int.	2,962,313 PHP	94.3-M PHP	4
6	N	The Raid: Redemption	Viva Int.	2,257,288 PHP	2.26-M PHP	1
7	N	ParaNorman	UIP	2,172,009 PHP	2.17-M PHP	1
8	5	I Do Bidoo Bidoo: Heto nApo sila!	n/a	2,073,635 PHP	12.85-M PHP	2
9	4	The Campaign	WB	1,763,929 PHP	8.86-M PHP	2
10	N	Bwakaw	Star Cin.	1,552,264 PHP	1.55-M PHP	1

Highest Grossing Pinoy Films for 2012
(as of September 9, 2012)

1. Unofficially Yours - P157.25 M
2. Kimmy Dora and the Temple of Kiyeme - P133.34 M
3. The Healing - P104.6 M
4. The Reunion - P68.1 M
5. Moron 5 and the Crying Lady - P64.6 M
6. Born To Love You - P52.37 M
7. Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang - P51.4 M
8. Every Breath U Take - P50.2 M
9. The Mommy Returns - P30.6 M
10. Amorosa: The Revenge - P25.2 M
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11. Boy Pick-Up: The Movie - P24.99 M
12. A Mother's Story - P24.81 M
13. My Cactus Heart - P23 M
14. My Kontrabida Girl - P13.09 M
15. I Do Bidoo Bidoo - P12.85 M
16. The Witness - P8.6 M
17. Just One Summer - P6.16 M
18. Hitman - P5.75 M
19. Bwakaw - P1.55 M
20. Captive - P1.11 M
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21. Mga Mumunting Lihim - P0.77 M

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