Who's leading the FAP awards race?

Getting the most number of nominations for the 24th Film Academy of the Philippines is the movie "Blue Moon" from Regal Entertainment namely, best picture, best director (Joel Lamangan), best actress (Boots Anson Roa), best actor (Eddie Garcia and Dennis Trillo) and best supporting actress for Jennylyn Mercado. Claudine Barretto, on the other hand, scores big with double nominations for "Dubai" and "Nasaan Ka Man."

"No, there would no longer be any of the Hollywood concept for the 24th Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP)," said Harlene Bautista of Eight Elephants Productions who inherited the production of the annual awards from former producer Albert Martinez.

"I can't afford a lavish production the way he (Albert) did," added Harlene, opting for the traditional way of staging an awards night, minus the pomp, pageantry and lavishness that marked the LUNA Awards the past two years. However, the previous production people seemed to have forgotten how to do it the right way. They just wanted the awards night to be Hollywood-ish, but sad to say, they did not do it well.

So Harlene and rest of her partners in Eight Elephants Productions (her husband Romnick Sarmenta, Carlos de Leon, Allan Cordova, Hubert Navarro and Hero Bautista) will mount the awards night the traditional way. Instead of the red carpet entrances, the sparkling borrowed jewelry and the fabulous giveaways, not to mention the after-awards night dinner ball, this year's Luna Awards will instead focus on "Filipino heritage sites and veteran showbiz icons."

Though she said that she could never top the former production, the neophyte is quite confident and hopeful that the new concept she envisioned will do wonders for the FAP Awards. "We are doing the Filipiniana concept and the Guild approved our proposal. They liked our concept so we are mounting the awards night armed with our own ideas."

The idea is bringing back to the limelight celebrities whom the local industry has not seen for quite some time while presenters of awards will include past Luna winners and the 2006 nominees themselves.

FAP Director General Leo Martinez said that an expired contract and certain disappointments were reasons why Albert Martinez begged off from continuing the "local Oscars" he mounted the past two years.

"Albert's contract with us has expired and he was hurt because he didn't earn money from it. That's why we opted for a new producer," said FAP director general Leo Martinez on why they chose Harlene's group to produce this year's awards night.

Aside from production changes, FAP had to deal with delay troubles. "We were delayed because of the budget slash wherein we share a small percentage with the OMB (Optical Media Board) and Mowelfund," Martinez explained.

FAP also announced its list of nominees where Claudine Barretto is revealed to have scored a double nomination in the Best Actress category for "Nasaan Ka Man" and "Dubai," both produced by Star Cinema last year.

Since Claudine earned high ratings from both films, she was nominated twice. According to the FAP, it cannot adjust the rankings of the other stars considered for nomination and drop the scores of Claudine for either movie since she did get high marks for her performance.

While Claudine got two nominations, Robin Padilla was ignored for his performance in "La Visa Loca" for which he won the Urian best actor trophy some two weeks ago. The following is this year's Luna Awards list of nominees for the major acting, directing and best film categories:

Best Picture: "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (UFO Films), "Nasaan Ka Man" (Star Cinema), "Dubai" (Star Cinema), "Blue Moon" (Regal Entertainment), and "La Visa Loca" (Unitel Pictures).

Best Director: Joel Lamangan ("Blue Moon"), Aureus Solito ("Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros"), Mark Meily ("La Visa Loca"), Cholo Laurel ("Nasaan Ka Man"), and Rory Quintos ("Dubai").

Lead Actress: Zsa Zsa Padilla ("Ako Legal Wife," Regal Entertainment), Boots Anson-Roa ("Blue Moon"), Claudine Barretto ("Dubai"), Irma Adlawan ("Mga Pusang Gala," MLR Films), and again, Claudine Barretto ("Nasaan Ka Man").

Lead Actor: Nathan Lopez ("Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros"), Dennis Trillo ("Blue Moon"), Eddie Garcia ("Blue Moon"), Marvin Agustin ("Kutob," Canary Films), and Ricky Davao ("Mga Pusang Gala").

Supporting Actress: Jean Garcia (Birhen ng Manaoag," Cine Suerte), Jennylyn Mercado ("Blue Moon"), Ana Capri ("Kutob"), Hilda Koronel ("Nasaan Ka Man"), and Irma Adlawan ("Nasaan Ka Man").

Supporting Actor: Pen Medina ("Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros"), Michael de Mesa ("Dubai"), BJ 'Tolits' Forbes ("Ispiritista," Regal Entertainment), Ryan Agoncillo ("Kutob"), and Johnny Delgado ("La Visa Loca").

Film screenings of all the nominees are currently held at the UP Film Institute while the final voting for the 24th Film Academy Awards will be on Aug. 24 at the same venue. Directed for TV by Al Quinn and to be telecast over RPN 9, the Luna Awards will be held on Sept. 16 at the PAGCOR Grand Theater, Casino Filipino in Parañaque City.

The digital film "Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros" got six nominations including best picture and best director for Aureus Solito.

"Nasaan Ka Man" from Star Cinema garnered 7 nominations namely, best picture, best director (Cholo Laurel) and best actress for Claudine.

"Dubai," also from Star Cinema got 6 nominations including best picture, director (Rory Quintos) and best actress also for Claudine.

Getting the most number of nominations is the movie "Blue Moon" from Regal Entertainment namely, best picture, best director (Joel Lamangan), best actress (Boots Anson Roa), best actor (Eddie Garcia and Dennis Trillo) and best supporting actress for Jennylyn Mercado.

Three nominations went to "La Visa Loca" of Unitel Pictures, including picture and best director for Mark Meily. But as we said, curiously missing is Robin Padilla who recently won his first best actor award from the 2006 Urian Awards. Binoe is likewise a nominee in the forthcoming Golden Screen Awards of Entertainment Press Society (Enpress, Inc.).

Getting five nominations is the movie "Kutob" from Canary Films. While it did not get any citation for best picture and direction, the Luna Awards took note of the performances of Marvin Agustin, Ryan Agoncillo and Ana Capri.

Aside from Claudine, also getting double nominations was Irma Adlawan. She's nominated for best actress for "Mga Pusang Gala" and best supporting actress for "Nasaan Ka Man".