“Tribu,” the film thesis for director Jim Libiran’s Master of Arts in Film at the UP Film Institute, clinched the Best Picture prize in the 3rd Philippine Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. The prize was awarded on July 29, 2007.

“Tribu” follows the story of juvenile hip hop gangs thriving in the narrow alleyways of Tondo, Manila. The film’s lead stars, who are real-life gang members, collectively won the Best Actor trophy. In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Libiran said the actors—“whose hip hop and freestyle ‘gangsta rap’ music is an essential part of the film”—are currently taking poetry classes under National Artist for Literature and UP College of Arts and Letters Dean Virgilio Almario.

Meanwhile, Jade Castro’s “Endo” won the Special Jury Prize for “its revealing take on the lives of ‘end-of-contract’ casual workers in the retail and service sector.” Castro, a cum laude graduate of the UP Film Institute, is a writer, director, and producer who has worked for both commercial and independent features and shorts, television, and music videos in numerous capacities.

Aureaus Solito, who studied drama at UP, was named Best Director for “Pisay,” a story of six teenagers in the Philippine Science High School during the politically volatile 1980s. Being in the country’s top high school, these students are hailed as the future science and technology leaders. However, they all learn that they are neither isolated from the real world, nor exempt from living real lives. They find the world outside erupting into the People Power revolution in 1986 and this situation being replicated within the school. They struggle to graduate and contend with teachers, classmates, family, school officials, and a new classification to segregate students who meet the high standards of excellence from those who do not.

Dennis Marasigan took home the Best Screenplay award for “Tukso.” The film was commended for “an engaging multilevel storyline that effectively unfolds a mystery while revealing the characters.” Aside from “Tukso,” Marasigan, a graduate of theater arts from UP Diliman, also earned good reviews for his earlier film, “Sa North Diversion Road”.

“Rolyo” received the Best Short Film award. Alvin Yapan, who is currently finishing his doctoral degree in Philippine Studies, wrote and directed the film which “is set in Bikol where it is a practice among rural folk to surround the perimeter of their farmlands with film negatives to ward off birds eating the newly sown palay seeds.”

Cinemalaya, which featured a total of 120 new titles this year, is an annual film festival that seeks to discover, encourage, and honor the works of Filipino filmmakers.