John Lloyd said in his acceptance speech about victims of “extrajudicial killings: “Para sa mga pinatay at mga naiwan nila”
John Lloyd Cruz earned the Boccalino d’Oro prize (Golden Jug Award) for portraying a persistent detective in the Lav Diaz film “Essential Truths of the Lake.”
When John Lloyd accepted the Boccalino d’Oro Award for Best Actor on August 11, 2023, he said in his acceptance speech, “Para sa Pilipinas. Para sa Pilipino. Para sa mga pinatay at mga naiwan nila.”
PHOTO Bianca Balbuena
Premio Boccalino d’Oro is an award bestowed by the Independent Critics Jury at the 76th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
The citation for the Filipino celebrity goes: “An extraordinary actor, in a role far removed from the Hollywood forerunners, draws with class the figure of a policeman attentive to the moral and civil value of his being at the service of the people and not of oppressive power. An actor capable of illuminating the cinematic work of a master like Lav Diaz.”
John Lloyd attended the film fest held in Locarno, Switzerland with his ex-girlfriend Shaina Magdayao. They attended the world premiere of the movie with Hazel Orencio who plays a documentary filmmaker named Jane Liway.
This three-hour film is the only Southeast Asian entry in the main competition of the 76th Locarno Film Fest.
This political thriller revolves around Lieutenant Hermes Papauran (played by John Lloyd) who feels conflicted with former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs.” His character is an investigator obsessed with the mysterious death of Shaina Magdayao’s character that been unsolved for the past 15 years.
Shaina’s character Esmeralda Stuart is an activist-artist who protested while wearing a headdress and feathers.
John Lloyd is the second Filipino actor to have received such an award, after Hazel Orencio was proclaimed Best Actress in 2014 for another Lav Diaz masterpiece, “Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon (From What is Before).”
“Essential Truths of the Lake” is a sequel to Lav Diaz’s previous film, “Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon (When The Waves Are Gone),” which also featured John Lloyd’s character.
In an interview, it was revealed that John Lloyd and Direk Lav Diaz disguised themselves as ABS-CBN bureau reporters to gain access to restricted areas near the Taal Volcano eruption site while shooting “Essential Truths of the Lake.”
Banner Art Dani Sison
