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I’ve served as judge in so many other award-giving bodies, but it is the process of selecting the winners in the Gawad Urian that I dread most.

In the yearly Metro Manila Film Festival, I am usually only required to rank the contenders, submit my voting form and wait until the awards night to find out the list of winners. During my time at the Catholic Mass Media Awards, the panel of judges would discuss for a few minutes and then we were made to turn in our choices.

But among the members of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, the process of choosing the winners is a lot more thorough than dissecting a frog in a biology class. The contenders – without them knowing it – fight it out mercilessly and nobody is declared victor until after a long and tedious series of deliberations. The discussions often turn bloody.

A lot of preparations are also made prior to the final voting. Most of the time, a member would come in carrying in his head what he thought was a good enough argument that was defensible even in Plaza Miranda. But more often than not, that member would end up crestfallen after seeing his opinion shot down by the others in the group. And there had been instances when a member just wished he had just kept his mouth shut.

But one has to be brave, daring and persevering if he wants to push for his choices. That is easier said than done, however. Presenting your case before the Manunuri members is like defending your college thesis all over again. Of course, the fact that majority of the Manunuri members are from academe makes that even a lot tougher to accomplish.

In the recently concluded 44^th Gawad Urian, there may have been only 40 or so films considered during the past year, but the task of selecting the winners wasn’t necessarily all that easy. There were actually outstanding entries in some categories and we had to make sure we crowned the truly deserving winner.

For this column, let me share with you how the Manunuri members came up with their choices in some categories.

In the best supporting actor category, I initially thought that another StarStruck alumnus would win the Urian. Previously, there had been Paulo Avelino (for Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa) and LJ Reyes (Anino sa Likod ng Buwan).

When I watched He Who is Without Sin, I was sure Enzo Pineda would be the third StarStruck graduate to have an Urian. But that didn’t happen.

Somewhere along the way, one member brought up the name of Dino Pastrano (Midnight in a Perfect World). It would have been wonderful to see him bring home an Urian since his father, the great director Al Quinn, staged some of the best Urian shows (13 in all) for the Manunuri. But the group doesn’t operate that way. No room for sentiments among us.

And then - when we were almost done completing our list of nominees – one member suddenly remembered the teen actor who played Alessandra de Rossi’s son in Watch List. It was Micko Laurente. He was also the son of Alessandra in Bambanti.

While we were threshing out the nominees in the best supporting actor category, Dino’s name fell by the wayside. The name of perennial Urian nominee Jess Mendoza (the husband of Alessandra in Watch List) also cropped up, except that we found his role too brief compared to his competitors.

In the final round, the fight was between Enzo and Micko. They pounded each other till the very end. But eventually, it was decided that the award should go to Micko because of how he makes his character develop and grow in Watch List.

For best supporting actress, I had hoped for Sandy Andolong to finally get an Urian for Finding Agnes. But then, her role could have been better written and so she was pushed down by Hazel Orencio (for Lahi, Hayop).  Before Orencio could be declared winner, however, the Dexter Doria faction emerged from behind and challenged Hazel’s victory. Dexter truly had some great scenes in Memories of Forgetting.

In the end, with neither group willing to budge, it was decided to split the award between the two actresses. It had been a while anyway since the Gawad Urian had a tie.

In the best actor race, I have to be very honest: It wasn’t as exciting compared to previous years. But that doesn’t mean that the contenders in this category were minced meat. Not at all. The fact that they reached this far only proved that they delivered some of the best performances of the year in the male lead category.

Elijah Canlas perhaps could have had a back-to-back win. But his Urian-winning performance in the 2019 film Kalel, 15 had become difficult to top. Too bad for him, it was like he was competing with himself. But I bet this brilliant actor is bound to win more Urian trophies in the future.

In the end, the award went to Nanding Josef for Lahi, Hayop. He truly was the best choice.

In contrast, choosing the best actress was quite a challenge. When Charlie Dizon made heads turn in the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival, everyone thought she would be the year’s best actress.

But Alessandra de Rossi came along with a hard to beat performance in Watch List. Giving her the best actress award was a unanimous decision on the part of the Manunuri members.

For best picture, the Gawad Urian decided to allow documentaries and animation features to compete in this category starting this year. Aswang made history by being the first documentary to win Urian best film.

I didn’t get to view Aswang immediately. I first saw the animation Hayop Ka: The Nimfa Dimaano Story on Netflix and thought it could win best picture.

Hayop Ka was actually strongly considered in the best film category. I personally like it because it tackles some of the pressing problems in society: unfair labor practice, the wide gap between the rich and the poor, etc.

But then, I saw Watch List and I thought it had a more important message: a call to end to the government’s anti-drug war. During the final voting, however, Aswang was discussed quite thoroughly as usual and I began to see the merits of this documentary film by Alyx Arumpac.

While both films are about the war on drugs, one has to be more substantial than the other and it is Aswang in this case. Besides, Aswang is more technically superior. It also won best cinematography to begin with.

Going over the list of winners and nominees in this most recent Urian, the public must be wondering why so many of the films considered for competition by the Manunuri members are critical of the government. The docu A Thousand Cuts, for instance, is about suppression of press freedom.

This is my personal view: It is the responsibility of a Manunuri – or any movie reviewer for that matter – to recommend good films.

But what is a good film?  To me, a movie is worth my time if it has an original and cohesive material. But it definitely is an added bonus if it mirrors real-life situations in the world we live in – no matter how stark, dark and ugly.

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