Eli Razo (seventh from left) and the cast and crew of ‘Usa ka Libo’ celebrate after winning the Best Short Film of the Sinulog Short Film Festival 2019 at the SM Seaside City Cebu.| Michelle Joy Padayhag
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The story of an island girl with big dreams has won the hearts of the judges in Sinulog Short Film Festival 2019.
“Usa Ka Libo” under the helm of Eli Razo was named Best Short Film during the awards night held at SM Seaside City Cebu on February 2, Saturday.
“Unbelievable. I am glad all the hard work paid off,” Razo told reporters when asked for a comment after winning most of the awards.
Razo’s entry also won the Best in Sound Engineering and Musical Scoring, Best In Editing, Best in Cinematography, and Best Story and Screenplay.
Razo, 32, was also named Best Director while 18-year-old lead actress Myrgen Santillan won the Best Actress award.
The team consists of 18 cast and 12 crew, who are all pride of Bantayan Island.
One of the challenges is to shoot the scenes in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island and in Cebu City. The team only had less than a month to shoot, edit, and submit.
“Thank God the crew was great. The location was great. The timing was great,” he added.
“Usa Ka Libo” is produced by Studio Evision. Razo’s team received P100,000 cash prize for winning the top award.
This is not the first time that Razo joined the Sinulog Short Film Festival.
In 2018, Razo directed “Merci” which bagged the Best Story and Screenplay and second place for Best Short Film.
Here are the full list of winners for Short Film category:
Best Short Film: Usa Ka Libo by Eli Razo (first place)
Kuwerdas by Chloe Veloso (second place)
Harmonica by Brian Brusas (third place)
Best Director – Eli Razo (Usa Ka Libo)
Best Story and Screenplay – Decelle Suarez, Jai Shane Cañete, Eli Razo (Usa Ka Libo)
Best Actress – Myrgen Santillan (Usa Ka Libo)
Best Actor – Jessee Carl Atienza (Before Crossing)
Best Supporting Actress – Queen Virtucio (Pahinumdom)
Best Supporting Actor – Philip Carlo Ty (Ang Huni)
Best Child Performer – Jelo John Niño Espinosa (Tinagsip)
Best in Cinematography – Earl Yap (Usa Ka Libo)
Best in Production Design – Gerard Militante (Kuwerdas)
Best in Editing – Eli Razo (Usa Ka Libo)
Best in Sound Engineering and Musical Scoring – Eli Razo and Kokoi Guinto (Usa Ka Libo)
Best Packaging – Elevator
Best Playbill – Ang Huni
Best Poster – Before Crossing/dbs