Anna Luna wins her 1st Best Actress award for the film Maestra

Independent film and stage actress Anna Luna recently won her first Best Actress award at the Five Continents International Film Festival in Venezuela. She bested 9 to 12 foreign and local actresses, including a celebrated Argentine actress. Luna won for her most inspired performance as Iah Seraspi, a poor Education student who perseveres against the backdrop of extreme poverty and hardships in life in Lemuel Lorca’s Maestra (An Educator, 2017). The film also received a Special Mention citation for Best Screenplay for Archie Del Mundo. Maestra is a film based on interconnected true  stories of three generation of teachers.
 

When I watched it on premiere screening last August at Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, I personally liked the film as it is one of the good catch in Cinemalaya 2017 that are not it competition. It is interesting how the story plays out and interconnect the three main characters.

Maestra is produced by Dr. Carl Balita whose other film is Adolf Alix’s Nars. Balita is an educator, entrepreneur, and radio announcer. Director Lorca is recently nominated for his LGBTQ film Ned’s Project at the Gawad Urian last year. Maestra has also been selected in other international festivals, such as Warsaw Avenue Film Festival and FACINE festival in the United States, and at the Sydney World Film Festival. Luna and Del Mundo will be receiving gold trophies and certificates from the festival organizers. Del Mundo said he will donate his own trophy to his producer’s office as a sort of token of appreciation for their support.

Lorca passionately congratulated his entire team, including the award winners: “Nakakatuwa lang. Pag indipendently produced ang isang pelikula, mga magkakaibigan lang madalas ang magtutulungan para makagawa lang ng isang pelikula. Kung minsan buwis-buhay alang alang lang sa ginagawa.
Nakakakonsesnya at nakakataba ng puso ang trabaho, paghihirap, sakripisyo at kontribusyon na binibigay nila mapaganda lang ang pelikula. Kaya ito lang ang nais mo para sa mga kasamahan-ang marecognize sila at maparangalan. Ito lang ang pwede mong regalo na maibigay bukod sa pagkakaibigan at kaunting maiiaabot wag lang masabing libre. Mabuhay kayo at maraming salamat! Congrats ulit! "

Maestra will continue to be featured in more international festivals until the middle of 2018. The film will have a commercial and awards qualifying run in December.