‘Mono No Aware’ sweep to Miss Universe moment: 10 CinePanalo 2026 Awards highlights

By
Jap Tobias
-
October 1, 2026 - 10:59 AM
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Filmmakers, actors and creatives attend the CinePanalo 2026 Awards Night at Gateway Cineplex 18 in Quezon City on Sept. 30, 2026. (Interaksyon/Jap Tobias)

(Updated 4:23 p.m.) Filipino filmmakers, actors and creatives gathered Wednesday, September 30, for the CinePanalo 2026 Awards Night, capping this year’s film festival with a celebration of its winning entries across full-length, short and student short categories.

READ: Rundown: Puregold CinePanalo 2026 winners

Continuing until Sunday, October 4, the festival features seven full-length films, 10 Panorama Shorts and 19 student short films.

Here are 10 highlights from the CinePanalo 2026 Awards Night:

1. ‘Mono No Aware’ sweeps the full-length categories

“Mono No Aware” emerged as the night’s biggest winner, taking home Best Full-Length Film, International Jury Honor, along with Best Director (BC Amparado), Best Actor (JK Labajo) , Best Supporting Actress, Best Ensemble, Best Sound Design and Best Cinematography.


The film’s eight awards gave it the biggest haul among this year’s full-length entries.

2. Xyriel Manabat wins her first major film Best Actress award

Xyriel Manabat took home Best Actress for “Stuck on You,” marking her first major film Best Actress win as an adult.

The actress, who began her career as a child star, has previously won acting awards in television and child-acting categories.

3. Xyriel and Sassa Gurl recreate a Miss Universe moment

The Best Actress announcement came with an unexpected Miss Universe-style moment as nominees Xyriel and Sassa Gurl held hands onstage while waiting for the winner to be announced.
Xyriel eventually took the award for “Stuck on You,” while Sassa Gurl was nominated for “Multwoh (Patay na Patay Sa’yo).”


The ceremony brings together the talents behind this year’s entries, celebrating the stories, performances and filmmaking that stood out throughout the festival.… pic.twitter.com/LdqSCTkb70

— Interaksyon (@interaksyon) October 1, 2026


4. Jonalyn Mateo wins Best Actress for her first film

Jonalyn Mateo won Best Actress in the shorts category for “Ang Huling Banlaw ni Susan,” her first-ever film.

An assistant professor in the University of the Philippines Visayas, Mateo’s win marked a major acting recognition for the debuting performer at this year’s festival.

5. “Limlim” and “Kun Hain Bisan Diin” share Best Director

“Limlim” and “Kun Hain, Bisan Diin” tied for Best Director in the student shorts category, with Samantha Beatriz Acoja Palaje and Jomarie Reyes sharing the honor.

Both films also had strong showings across the student shorts awards, with “Limlim” ultimately taking home Pinakapanalong Maikling Pelikula and “Kun Hain, Bisan Diin” receiving Panalong Karangalan Mula sa Hurado

“Limlim” follows a 10-year-old girl and her mother who retreat to an old chicken farm, while tackling difficult issues including abuse, unwanted pregnancy and abortion. “Kun Hain, Bisan Diin,” meanwhile, follows a young lawyer who returns to Samar to look for her estranged activist mother before her wedding.


6. Awardees call for more nuanced queer, women and PWD stories

Several awardees used their acceptance speeches to highlight the importance of giving queer, women and PWD characters more space on screen.

Best actor winner for the Shorts category Jay Gabriel Cañada, called for these characters to be “seen as more than the things that make them different, and not merely as subjects of pity, hardship or inspiration, but as fully realized, three-dimensional individuals.”


The team behind “Limlim” dedicated the film’s wins to women and victims of abuse and called on the government to do more to protect those who have been failed by the system.

7. “Miss Intrams” puts Mindanao in the spotlight

“Miss Intrams’” represented Mindanao as the festival’s lone entry from the region, bringing a queer coming-of-age story from the south to this year’s CinePanalo competition.

Directed by UP Mindanao alumna Henri Marie Belimac, the short follows a queer transmasc college student who enters a campus Miss Intramurals pageant while navigating questions of identity and self-expression.

The film ended the night with the Puregold Always Panalo Film (Brands’ Choice Award) and Best Musical Score for the student shorts category.

8. Joy Barcoma keeps the ceremony lively

Host Joy Barcoma kept the awards night moving with her puns, jokes and off-the-cuff side comments between announcements and speeches.

Her playful hosting added lighter moments to an evening packed with emotional acceptance speeches and competitive wins.

9. Rodina Singh extends her Audience Choice streak to three

With “Multwoh (Patay na Patay Sa’yo),” Rodina Singh scored her third consecutive Audience Choice win across her films, following the recognition for ‘Mamu; And a Mother Too’ and ‘Dreamboi’ in their respective competitions.

Singh also teased her next project, “The Last Suffer: Ang Huling Paghihirap” to be mounted by Spicy Mama Creative Studio.

During one of her moments on stage, Singh quipped, “Finally, hindi na tayo pinandidirihan ng mga brands… we thrive and we win,” as “Multwoh” also picked up the Best Brand Intrusion award among its several wins that night.

10. “Patay Gutom” and “Starfish” win CinePanalo’s first Best Visual Effects awards

“Patay Gutom” brought its hybrid visual style to the forefront, combining live action with rotoscope animation to depict its supernatural world. The film’s animation team, made up of 92 animators, took home the inaugural Best Visual Effects award in the full-length category.

Meanwhile, student short “Starfish” also received the first Best Visual Effects award in its category. The film follows a male sex worker who returns to his provincial hometown and confronts his estranged family and the oppression he encounters there.

Interaksyon

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