Rochelle Pangilinan and Mylene Dizon receive acting awards.
Highlighting the power of documentary filmmaking, the 21st Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival awarded the prestigious Balanghai trophy for Best Film to a documentary focusing on the struggles of land rights activists in Cagayan Valley.
Finalists for Cinemalaya 2026 (Photo by Kiko Cabuena)
Noni Abao’s “BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED” was commended for its “powerful and deeply humane portrayal of political activists uprooted by violence yet steadfast in their pursuit of justice and belonging, transforming the struggle for land, peace, and dignity in Cagayan Valley into a meditation on home, hope, and resilience.”
In the Short Film Category, Carl Joseph Papa’s “THE NEXT 24 HOURS” earned Best Film for its “hauntingly tender portrayal of trauma and survival, using rotoscope animation to render silence, fear, and resilience with profound sensitivity and compassion, and using art as advocacy for those who still struggle to find their voice.”
The Best Director Balanghai trophies were awarded to Sari Dalena and Elian Idioma. Dalena’s film, CINEMARTYRS, was celebrated for its bold and visionary authorship that fuses cinema, history, and memory into an act of resistance, and for reclaiming women’s voices through mystical and political guerrilla filmmaking.
Elian Idioma won his first Balanghai trophy for I’M BEST LEFT INSIDE MY HEAD, acknowledged for its controlled tone, emotional precision, and psychological depth. The film turns a young man’s return to his former orphanage into a sensitive meditation on guilt, privilege, and belonging.
In the Full-Length Category, CHILD NO. 82 received the Best Screenplay award. Tim Rone Villanueva and Herlyn Alegre were praised for witty, poignant writing that transforms a son’s quest to meet his legendary father into a journey of truth and self-discovery, revealing the vulnerability behind the myth of stardom.
Handiong Kapuno’s FIGAT was awarded Best Screenplay for Short Film, recognized for its authentic, lyrical storytelling and cultural resonance. The film affirms indigenous identity and movingly portrays a young Kalinga girl preserving her heritage through music.
The NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema) Award for Best Film in the Full-Length Category was awarded to REPUBLIKA NG PIPOLIPINAS by Renei Dimla for its powerful narrative of resistance, citizenship, and the search for belonging, with particular recognition for its courage, creativity, and heart.
In the Short Film Category, HASANG by Daniel De La Cruz took home the NETPAC Award for its tender and poetic storytelling that blurs the line between myth, memory, and the spiritual, noted for its delicate approach, visual simplicity, and profound resonance.
HABANG NILALAMON NG HYDRA ANG KASAYSAYAN swept three major acting awards:
- Jojit Lorenzo won Best Performance by an Actor for his subtle yet impactful role as a political strategist grappling with disillusionment and moral exhaustion, capturing both despair and hope as he searches for meaning amid erased history.
- Nanding Josef, artistic director of Tanghalang Pilipino, earned Best Supporting Actor for his haunting and human portrayal of a former Martial Law general succumbing to dementia, reflecting the terror of tyranny and the fragility of remorse.
- Mylene Dizon secured Best Performance by an Actress for her intense and empathetic depiction of a daughter confronted by her father’s dark legacy, forced to reconcile love, guilt, and morality while protecting him.
Rochelle Pangilinan won Best Supporting Actress for CHILD NO. 82 for a restrained yet striking portrayal of a mother upholding dignity through abandonment, embodying loss and resilience as her son pursues the myth of an absent father.
Technical awards include:
BEST EDITING
Che Tagyamon and Arnex Nicolas (BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED) are recognized for seamlessly weaving testimonies, memories, and silences into a resonant tapestry of truth. Their work transforms the stories of the detained, the disappeared, and the fallen into a unified and deeply moving chronicle of courage.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Theo Lozada (RAGING) is recognized for his evocative use of light and shadow, which reflects a young man’s silence and awakening. He also skillfully captures the humid stillness of Romblon’s seas and forests, presenting them as landscapes imbued with both trauma and truth.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Jeric Delos Angeles (PADAMLAGAN) is recognized for his masterful transformation of archival fragments, survivor testimonies, and lived spaces into a cohesive visual world where fiction and history blend. He authentically and reverently reconstructs 1972 Naga City—from the fluvial devotion of Peñafrancia to the ruins of the Colgante Bridge—crafting a setting that honors memory as much as it illuminates loss.
BEST MUSICAL SCORING
Teresa Barrozo (CINEMARTYRS) is recognized for her inspired integration of ethnic Mindanao rhythms and cinematic nostalgia. She masterfully intertwines ancestral memory and the lyricism of classic Tagalog screen romances, enriching a film that explores colonial violence and female artistry.
BEST SOUND
Lamberto Casas, Jr. (RAGING), is recognized for crafting an immersive soundscape that transforms silence, the sea, and sorrow into echoes of buried trauma. His work powerfully amplifies the unspoken anguish of a young man, whose call for help is met with indifference, thus deepening his isolation and pain.
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
OPEN ENDINGS, by Nigel Santos and Keavy Eunice Vicente, was celebrated for the ensemble’s seamless chemistry, emotional depth, and vibrant performances, which brought to life a rare narrative about chosen family and intimacy. With honesty, humor, and grace, the cast—Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Janella Salvador, Klea Pineda, and Leanne Mamonong—captured the enduring bonds between queer women navigating love, loss, and friendship.
Special Jury Prize honors went to CINEMARTYRS by Sari Dalena, recognized for transforming filmmaking into both remembrance and revolt, blending guerrilla filmmaking, mysticism, and archival memory to confront the historical and cinematic ghosts of violence, and paying tribute to the pioneering women filmmakers of Philippine cinema. KAY BASTA ANGKARABO YAY BAGAY IBAT HA LANGIT (OBJECTS DO NOT RANDOMLY FALL FROM THE SKY) by Maria Estela Paiso was similarly lauded for its bold vision, poetic intensity, and evocative blend of myth and memory, turning the wounds of the West Philippine Sea into a cinematic allegory of sovereignty and anger.
The Audience Choice Awards, determined by Cinemalaya theatergoers, were given to CHILD NO. 82 by Tim Rone Villanueva for Full-Length Feature, and ASCENSION FROM THE OFFICE CUBICLE by Hannah Silvestre for Short Film.
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