UMak animators with Rox Lee (third from left) and Dean Mary Acel German (sixth from left).

University of Makati (UMak) recently won five awards in the animation division and another prize in the documentary category of the 31st Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Noli by Rodnie Bolivar, Sean Harold Bongalon and Xierdon Manalo led UMak by bringing home Best Entry For/On/By Children and an additional honorable mention award. It tells the story of a naughty boy who does not want to take a bath until evil germs appear in his dream to teach him a lesson. It earlier topped the 19 to 21 age category of the second Manila Student Film Festival and was a finalist at the Philippine Animation Festival or Animahenasyon 2018.

Other UMak works which got honorable mention are 7.17 by Jennifer Aspiras; Bagabag by Haidee Salanguste and Shelon Dianela Jr.; Sober by Rhexee Jeen Balgua, Christian Daniel Fabia and Kevin Collin Ramis; and the documentary Roc 6 by Joycelyn May Estacion.

Roc 6, which is about hydrocephalus-stricken rapper and spoken word artist Vladimir Igman Tarubal, earned the nod of documentary judges Jewel Maranan, Ilang-Ilang Quijano and Victor Tagaro. It previously won second prize in the “dokyUMAKati: Heronaya, Pasinaya ng Kuwentong Pilipino” competition held last January at the UMak mini-theater.

Meanwhile, 7.17 tells the story of a father who works hard to give his son a simple birthday party. Even though he encounters problems along the way, he comes up with something out of his meager income for the day. However, back home, his son has other plans in mind.

Bagabag, on the other hand, shows that a life consumed with anxiety is never easy.

In Sober, Winona spends most of her time getting wasted as she is haunted by her past. The five-minute animation earlier won Animation of the Year (Student Division), Best in Storytelling and Best in Production Design at Animahenasyon 2018.

The honorable mention winners got P5,000 each while the production team behind “Noli” received an additional P5,000 for their special prize.

The judges in the animation division, namely, University of the Philippines Film Institute professor Bryan Quesada, visual artist Rosevie C. Sevilla and multidisciplinary artist, cultural worker and teacher Teta Tulay, only gave out honorable mention awards — no first, second and third prizes. The other winners are Ateneo de Naga University student Philex Angelo Merano’s “Work in Progress,” which also got Best Regional Entry and Carl Joseph Papa’s “Pot.”

UMak College of Arts and Letters Dean Mary Acel German dedicated their victory to the university’s late president Tomas Lopez, “who in 2001 believed that a logistically-nightmarish Animation and Broadcast Arts curriculum could propel what used to appear as run-of-the-mill university to greater distance; one who best understood our needs and tolerated our eccentricities; one who insisted only on the best and the state-of-the-art; and one who threw tantrums on our behalf when we grew tired of the regulative systems.”