bow for the best

With her world-class talent, Ms. Nora Aunor is not resting on her laurels as "best actress." For her performance in Brillante Mendoza's 'Thy Womb', she made history as the first female performer of any nationality to become the critics' choice for the Bisato d'Oro (Golden Eel) prize at the 69th Venice International Film Festival--a feat validated by her victory as the first Filipino actress to win at the 6th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Brisbane, Australia. 

That does not mean, however, that Aunor--ranked as the topnotcher of the Best Asian Actresses of the Decade at the 2010 Green Planet Movie Awards in Hollywood--is no longer excited about receiving another trophy in her own country. Recently, she reigned at the 38th Metro Manila Film Festival where she holds the record of being the most-awarded actress with eight wins so far.

On a roll for more honors, or so Aunor seems to be as she figures prominently in the Top 5 Movie Performances of 2012. A timeless portrayal, according to the reviewer: "Thirty years after 'Himala,' Nora Aunor gives another performance for the ages. As Shaleha, a barren Badjao wife who goes on a mission to find a woman who could and would give her beloved husband a biological child, Aunor is hypnotically still, bracingly intelligent, and devastatingly emotional, often all at once and without uttering a single word. She is, in a word, divine in what is the most hauntingly sublime piece of acting in all of Philippine cinema not only this year but in the last 30 years." 

That's hardly suprising for Mendoza, also a history-maker as the first Filipino to win as best director at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2009 as well as at the recent APSA. In the following video, the feisty but gentle filmmaker attests to Aunor's greatness even as he talks about other issues pertinent to his struggle as an independent artist out to push the borders of Philippine cinema.