SAN JOSE, Antique – “John Denver Trending” is making the people of this province proud after it took home the bulk of trophies at the awards night of this year’s Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on Sunday.
Directed by Arden Rod Condez, John Denver Trending was named Best Film and also took home the awards for Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Music Score, and Best Actor for Jansen Magpusao.
Condez and the newbie lead child actor Magpusao were both from the municipality of Pandan – a town in the northern part of Antique where the movie was shot in its entirety. The dialogue was in Kinaray-a, the language of the Antiqueños.
John Denver Trending tackles the grim realities behind cyber bullying.
The film revolves around a 14-year-old farm boy, whose life suddenly overturned when a video of him – brutally attacking a classmate that accused him of stealing an iPad – went viral on social media.
Meryll Soriano, the only well-known actress in the film, also played a big role in this film’s success. She portrayed John Denver’s protective and steadfast mother, Iska.
Other members of the cast were Glenn Mas, Sammy Rubido, Vince Philip Alegre, Jofranz Ambubuyog, and Christian Alarcon./PN
