John Lloyd Cruz was at the second congressional hearing on January 13, 2015 at the House of Representatives for “Honor Thy Father.”
Aside from being the lead actor, Cruz is also a co-producer of the film. They filed a complaint against the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Executive Committee for disqualifying their movie. They said they were not given due process when their film was disqualified and because of this, they were deprived of having a fair chance in the competition.
The actor called on all film stakeholders and lawmakers to help in reforming and strengthening the local movie industry and the MMFF.
In a report in Rappler, Cruz said “I know, like me, you are here because you love Filipino movies, and if there is one thing I learned from all the movies I have done, it is when you love something, you will fight for it.”
On Instagram, he wrote about his movie’s right to be included in the MMFF 2015 Best Picture category.
“I’m not here for the Best Actor Award, we are not running after that. This is bigger than that. This is definitely bigger than that, bigger than the film industry. We are now talking about the current state of Philippine cinema,” he added.
This is the first time the young actor has spoken about the MMFF. The fight has just begun and its still a long way before it ends.
The House Committee on Metro Manila Development has approved the creation of a temporary technical working group to address the problems of the MMFF. This group will also deal with the rules and regulations which will be used in this year’s film festival, as reported by CNN online.
