Cinema One Originals' digital movie Confessional
brought home five major awards at the 24th Star Awards for Movies by the
Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) held at Henry Lee Irwin Theater in Ateneo de
Manila University last June 27.
It bagged the Digital Movie of the Year award, Digital Movie Directors honors for its young filmmakers Jerrold Tarog and Ruel Antipuesto, Digital Movie Editor of the Year for Pats Ranyo, Digital Original Movie Screenplay for Ramon Ukit, and Digital Movie Sound Engineer for Ditoy Aguila and Rudy Gonzales.
Produced and released last year, Confessional was one of the finalists of the annual Cinema One Originals Digital Movie festival and competition. This mockumentary has real people in the cast. It follows Ryan Pastor, a fledgling filmmaker who goes to Cebu to document the Sinulog Festival but then stumbles upon an unexpected subject who will make a stunning mark in his documentary. A former politician who decides to confess all his sins, the crimes, corruptions and even murders he committed while in office, before Ryan's camera. What follows is a string of unearthed secrets and sweet lies. Thus, it has the catchphrase of the movie equation-style: "Lies + Lies = Truth."
Being their first feature film, Tarog and Antipuesto were overwhelmed by the success of Confessional when it won the Best Film and Star Cinema Special Awards at the Cinema One Originals Awards Night in November 2007 at the Renaissance Hotel Makati.
At the PMPC Star Awards, both directors extended their gratitude to Cinema One's Channel Head Ronald Arguelles who says the recognition of these digital films from the movie press has made the channel's annual digital movie project and festival a potent venue for young bloods of the new Filipino cinema. He adds: "Confessional's success in the film awards circuit reflects that Cinema One Originals contributes and brings a new wave of directors, new stories from exciting screenplay writers and young film artists and actors who will keep local filmmaking scene from dying. Cinema One Originals hopefully aims to offer a wide variety of Filipino stories and to detour from predictable or formulaic stories."
Following its triumph, Confessional will be screened for one week at the Robinsons Galleria IndieSine starting August 13, 2008. Confessional is a 2007 production of Cinema One Originals annual movie project. The project and the channel are owned by Creative Programs, Inc.