‘Honor Thy Father’ ni John Lloyd na-disqualify sa MMFF Best Picture

Pinalagan ni Dondon Monteverde, Reality Entertainment executive, ang decision ng MMFF na i-disqualify ang “Honor Thy Father” just because it did not disclose na naipalabas na sa ibang festival ang nasabing movie na pinagbibidahan ni John Lloyd Cruz.

In a statement, Dondon said, “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 Cinema One 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 Cinema One’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 Cinema One head Ronald Arguelles attesting that the screening was non-revenue generating and by invitation only. We have all of this on record.”

One Kip Oebanda wrote a protest on his Facebook account, “Sobra na ‘to. Kawawa mga filmmakers at kawawa ang mga manonood. Here is a petition letter I tagged MMFF in. It has my arguments for the reconsideration of the decision. #MMFF2015scandal.

“When our right to watch foreign films was taken away it was under the promise of a good selection of local films. I don’t mind the rom-coms and horror films. I enjoy them and I watch them all! I respect the fans too.

However, when a film out of the mold exists to give us alternatives, they should be propped up and not stifled. “They already take an extra risk, so why put them down? The law that created the MMFF itself speaks of the value of story and history when crafting films.

“Second, you arbitrarily disqualify a front-runner for your major awards. Imagine if Argo was disqualified from the Oscars a day before the event. No one would take the awards seriously.

This is a travesty. Honor thy Father should be given a chance to appeal. I also don’t buy that you were not aware that HTF was the opening film of Cinema One Originals. If it is true that you are oblivious, then you probably don’t operate in the film circles.

That’s an even bigger problem. “I am not even going to argue on the basis of quality. I am arguing mainly for the expansion of choices. The best picture award is one of the last hopes that HTF will be revived and will get bigger screenings in the following days.

We all know that the awards can translate to momentum in box office sales (English Only Please and its wonderful run last year). I just feel really bad for the other people who could have seen and experienced this movie.

“Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Official I beg you, please reverse this decision. Otherwise, all the criticisms of your festival just kowtowing to the interest of capitalists will appear proven to be true.

You took away our right to watch non-Filipino productions in the guise of running a festival with integrity. We deserve that. Be fair to your audience.”

Kahapon ang awards night ng MMFF so we don’t know kung tsinugi nga sa Best Picture caregory ang “Honor Thy Father.”