The international jury of the 27th Berlinale Kinderfilmfest (Children’s Division) named his film, Magnifico, as its Deutches Kinderhilswerk Grand Prix winner at the just-concluded Berlin Film Festival.
In so doing, direk Maryo became the first Asian to win such an award, an honor that gives a shot in the arm to what he described in his acceptance speech at the cavernous Zoo Palast in Berlin as "a struggling film industry." The director, standing tall and proud among filmmakers from around the world (a total of 20 films were in competition) in his new barong Tagalog, accepted not just the Crystal Bear award, but a corresponding cash prize of 7,500 Euro from the international jury.
Now, it’s up to Violet Sevilla, owner of Violett Films, which produced the movie, to decide what to do with all that money.
Right now however, even direk Maryo himself, arriving straight from the airport from Germany, has yet to get used to the latest honor he brought the country. "The reality has yet to sink in," he confessed at the presscon held in his honor last night.
But there it was before him: the rather heavy Crystal Bear that symbolized his victory, and the signature of the 11 children who voted Magnifico the best of the lot, hands down: Stella, Daniel, Leoni, Maxi, Marlon, Anton J., Olives, Lorenz, Rebecca, Miriam and Eleni.
A separate five-member international jury composed of filmmakers from around the world meanwhile, also adjudged Magnifico the Grand Prix winner in the same category. It’s a double win therefore, for direk Maryo, who almost did not make it to Berlin to receive his prize.
"I learned about the news while attending a friend’s birthday party in Lumban (Laguna). The awards rites was set the next day and I had yet to get a visa," he recalls.
Good thing the German embassy bent backwards to issue him a visa, just as their office was about to close for the day. Direk Maryo had to board the Swissair plane bound for Germany, never mind if he was not in the manifesto. And never mind if somebody told him that, as a result, he won’t be served dinner, the way other passengers in the plane were (turns out he was the first to get his food).
Upon arriving in Germany, he just had enough time to catch his breath before going to Zoo Palast for the grand ceremony.
"It was winter, and I had to wear a suit over my barong. Otherwise, I would freeze," recalls the director.
When he took off his suit inside the theater, the foreigners who saw direk Maryo’s barong marveled at its intricate embroidery, a homegrown Filipino craft they saw in several scenes in Magnifico.
The director learned later that he sent his distinguished audience of filmmakers to tears when they saw that scene were Jiro Manio (as Magnifico) carried Isabella de Leon (who plays his younger sister suffering from cerebral palsy) on his back just so she could go to the carnival. They laughed when Jiro took measurements of his ailing grandmother (played by Gloria Romero) so he could make a coffin for her himself. Isabella’s acting was so convincing someone even asked direk Maryo if she was a cerebral palsy victim in real life. The Filipino director surprised the foreign filmmakers when he told them Isabella acts in comedies and has a sitcom, Dadedidodu, to prove it.
"They also liked how poverty was not depicted as a miserable situation (the main characters had a means of livelihood), the landscape and the music," direk Maryo J. adds.
Magnifico will be re-issued in local theaters next month and is set to make the rounds of theaters abroad. It will be at the Cinemasia Amsterdam on March 24, at Los Angeles, California in April and at Cleveland, Ohio. The film is also being invited for exhibition in Rome. Elsewhere in the world, direk Maryo is getting invitations for film collaborations and other tieups.
Inspired by his latest victory, direk Maryo is not resting on his laurels. He is understandably planning to make another film that capitalizes on the youth. Meantime, he will shoot Naglalayag, starring Nora Aunor for the Manila Filmfest.
Clearly, this is no time for complacency for the director who’s now more inspired to give his all.