Vilma Santos on winning the Best Actress award during the MMFF 2023 Gabi ng Parangal
VILMA SANTOS – The Star for All Seasons won the Best Actress award at the 49th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Gabi ng Parangal.
The veteran actress admitted in her speech at the MMFF 2023 Gabi ng Parangal last December 27, 2023 that they weren’t gunning for the acting awards when they made the MMFF 2023 film “When I Met You In Tokyo”.
“Hindi ko po ine-expect ito,” she said. “Ang adbokasiya lang po namin talaga when we did ‘When I Met You In Tokyo,’ it’s not even the Best Actress, Best Actor, we just wanted to do a simple love story sa edad po namin.”
As the film industry is still recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic, Vilma said their ultimate goal was to breathe life into Philippine cinema.
She added that their advocacy is for the MMFF to be successful and to also bring people back to the movies at the same time. With more moviegoers coming to cinemas in the country, she hopes they can continue to support the film industry.
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Aside from Vilma Santos being awarded as Best Actress at the MMFF 2023 Gabi ng Parangal, “When I Met You In Tokyo” also won 4th Best Picture, FPJ Memorial Award for Excellence, and Best Float.
Meanwhile, “Firefly” bagged the Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Child Performer award for lead star Euwenn Mikaell.
“Gomburza”, on the other hand, won the most awards with 7 trophies – 2nd Best Picture, Best Actor award for Cedrick Juan, Best Director award for Pepe Diokno, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and the Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award.
Here are the winners of the MMFF 2023:
| Best Picture | “Firefly” |
| 2nd Best Picture: | “Gomburza” |
| 3rd Best Picture | “Mallari” |
| 4th Best Picture | “When I Met You In Tokyo” |
| Best Actor | Cedrick Juan for “Gomburza” |
| Best Actress | Vilma Santos for “When I Met You In Tokyo” |
| Best Supporting Actor | JC Santos for “Mallari” |
| Best Supporting Actress | Miles Ocampo for “Family Of Two” |
| Best Director | Pepe Diokno for “Gomburza” |
| Best Screenplay | Angeli Atienza for “Firefly” |
| Best Child Performer | Euwann Mikaell of “Firefly” |
| Best Cinematography | Carlo Canlas Mendoza for “Gomburza” |
| Best Editing | Benjamin Tolentino for “(K)ampon” |
| Best Production Design | Ericson Navarro for “Gomburza” |
| Best Original Theme Song | “Finggah Lickin” from “Becky and Badette” |
| Best Visual Effects | Gaspar Mangarin for “Mallari” |
| Best Musical Score | Von de Guzman for “Mallari” |
| Best Sound | Melvin Q. Rivera and Louie Boy Bauson for “Gomburza” |
| Gender Sensitivity Award | “Becky and Badette” |
| FPJ Memorial Award for Excellence | “When I Met You In Tokyo” |
| Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award | “Gomburza” |
| Marichu Vera Perez Maceda Memorial Award | Mother Lily Yu Monteverde |
| Best Float | “When I Met You In Tokyo” |