Hope springs eternal for Philippine cinema and we have the first CinePanalo Film Festival, a flagship project of the Puregold supermarket chain, to thank for this boost, confidence and wooing the crowd to troop to the cinemas.

Engaging and fresh narratives, compelling and pulling-the-heart-strings kind of performances, top-notch technical aspects, and vision-fueled and mission-driven batch of directors — all of these realized in the full-length and short films in competition in the maiden edition of this festival headed by maverick Chris Cahilig.

Proof of how much love and support the festival is getting, festival director Cahilig posted on his social media page: "Due to mounting public demand, Puregold CinePanalo adds Cinema 4 of Gateway Cineplex for hit films A Lab Story and Under A Piaya Moon and Short Films D and E, this is on top of the original screening schedules."

And the winners are…

Thunderous applause and all the love and praises were given to Pushcart Tales and Under A Piaya Moon, two of the multi-awarded motion pictures in the 1st CinePanalo Film Festival Awards Night that happened recently at the Cinema 5 of Gateway mall in Quezon City.   

The film Pushcart Tales showed how six individuals, trapped inside a grocery store while Mother Nature unleashed its wrath, peeled off their masks, with skeletons in their respective closets and individual Pandora's box opened to spill the beans and roll out the dirty linen.

Sigrid Bernardo bagged the best director award.  It also went home with the Best Actor award for Carlos Siguion-Reyna and Best Actress award for Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino.

Best actor Siguion-Reyna said in his acceptance speech: "Maraming salamat sa lahat (Thank you to all), sa (to the) producers, sa buong (to the whole) team. And, of course, our writer-director, Direk Sigrid Bernardo! And to my fellow actors, Shamaine and Nonie Buencamino, Harvey Bautista, Elora Españo and Teri Malvar. Everybody sa (in the) team, sa (to) Puregold, sa (to) CinePanalo festival."

He added: "I'm so happy to be part nitong unang (of the first) CinePanalo film festival. I'm so glad na talaga, na kahit wala kayong ano… kahit wala kayong (even if you don't have a) Multiplex, and you created this initiative for the Philippine film community. Maraming salamat (Thank you very much), Puregold!"

Best actress Buencamino, said in her speech: "Sa mga hurado ng CinePanalo, isa pong karangalan lalu't lalo na at nominado rin ang magagaling na aktres na si Elora, si Teri at si Uzziel! Sa akin pong direktor, eto na! Si Sig po 'yung direktor na tinawagan niya ako para dito. Hindi ko po hiningi 'yung script. Tinanggap ko na lang po agad. Kasi naniniwala po ako sa kanya. Hindi lang dahil maganda ang script kundi dahil magaling po siya (To the jury, this is an honor, especially since the other nominees are also good actresses. To my director, here it is! Sig is the director who called me for this. I didn't ask for the script. I just accepted the project. Because I believe in her, not just because the script is beautiful but she's good)."

The major feels part of her winning moment: "Ang pinakapinasasalamatan ko po ay ang aking kabiyak, ang aking loveteam, ka-loveteam na si Nonie Buencamino. Hindi po kami package deal. Ako po muna 'yung tumanggap. 'Tapos, tinawagan din siya (I'm most thankful to my better half, my loveteam partner, Nonie Buencamino. We're not package deal. I was the one who accepted it first, then he was called)."

"Nagdadasal ako noon na tanggapin niya, pero wala akong sinasabi. Kasi siyempre I didn't want to influence his decision. E sa edad ko pong ito, mahirap na pong makipag-kissing scene. Hahaha! Sa lalaki. Kaya pinadali niya ang trabaho ko. At siya po talaga ang nag-alaga sa akin habang nagsu-shoot kami ng pelikulang ito. Dad, this is for you! Thank you so much. Maraming salamat po (I prayed before that he would accept the offer, but I didn't say anything. At my age, it's difficult to have a kissing scene with a male actor. That's why he made my job easier. And he was the one who took care of me during filming. Thank you very much)!"

The second most awarded film in competition was Under A Piaya Moon. This Ilonggo motion picture was about a young man dead set to continue with the family's baking legacy by joining an inter-city pastry competition.

Young critic Nazamel Tabares of Pelikula Mania said about the film: "Jeff Moses impressively leads Kurt Soberano's fun, heartwarming and sweet self-discovery through food and tradition. The subtitles may not fully translate in English what some of the dialogues meant but there are no language barriers in how the story transcends to its audience. Authentic through and through."

The Soberano-directed film won Best Full Length Feature Film, Best Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Best Supporting Actor for Joel Torre and Best Actor for Jeff Moses (who tied with Siguion-Reyna).

The Sparkle artist Moses said in his victory speech: "Magandang gabi po sa lahat. Ako po si Jeff Moses. Unang–una, nagpapasalamat po ako sa Panginoon for making this dream come true. Dati, di ko po inaakala na magiging aktor ako. Nanggaling ako sa isang simpleng probinsya. I mean, I'm proud of my province. (Good evening to all. I'm Jeff Moses. First of all, I want to thank the Lord. Before, I didn't think I'd become an actor. I came from a simple province).

"Nanggagaling ako sa simpleng city lamang na nangangarap maging aktor. And now, salamat Puregold sa opportunity na ito. And ayun po, gusto ko ring magpasalamat sa aming direktor, Nong Kurt, thank you gid  (I came from a simple city who dreamed of becoming an actor. Thank you to Puregold for this opportunity. I would also like to thank our director. Thank you very much)."

Sigrid Bernardo's Pushcart Tales and Kurt Soberano's Under A Piaya Moon both received six awards.

In the short film category, Last Shift was hailed Best Short Film and its stars, Vince Macapobre and Jules Azuala brought home the Best Supporting Actor and Lead Actor wins, plus bragging rights.

The refreshingly fast paced awards night had Sean Ramirez and Arra San Agustin as hosts.

Congratulations to festival director Chris Cahilig and Ivy Hayagan-Piedad, senior manager for Marketing of Puregold Price Club Inc. The initial year of Puregold CinePanalo started with a wonderful batch of Filipino films!