John Lloyd stars in Lav Diaz’s Essential Truths of the Lake, which premiered at the said Locarno Film Festival as well
Glory goes to the man whose search for perspective comes with a meaningful purpose. At the 76th Locarno Film Festival, the Filipino actor won the Boccalino d’Oro, also known as the Golden Jug, for Essential Truths of the Lake directed by filmmaker Lav Diaz.
RELATED: Return Of The King: John Lloyd Cruz Is Officially Back In Showbiz
Justice and John Lloyd
Receiving the accolade personally, he offered the award to the country and its people. “Para sa Pilipinas, para sa Pilipino, para sa lahat ng mga pinatay at mga naiwan nila.” The dedication was a hint to the movie’s premise of a policeman attempting to solve a 15-year-old case that remains unsolved during the previous administration’s violent acts.
In the film festival’s website, director Diaz also shared a note about his entry. “What can a good policeman do in the face of Duterte’s murderous wrath? Lt. Papauran fixates on the deep mystery of a cold case he has been trying to solve for years. Great investigators are obsessive visionaries. They are also human beings.”
Alongside the actor and the director, Shaina Magdayao and Hazel Orencio also made an appearance in Switzerland for the festival’s photo call sessions, press conferences, and red carpet event.
Lav and Lloydie
John Lloyd and Lav have worked together in several films, beginning with the 2016 film Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis, which won the Silver Bear or the Alfred Bauer Prize at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.
Talking about his relationship with the award-winning actor, Diaz shared, “John Lloyd has become like a family member. During the height of controversies, his alleged turning back away from show business and other speculations and all the bad things coming out and written about him, he was with us.”
The director also emphasized the chosen trajectory of Idan with his career. “We ignored the bad news, the mudslinging of those who thrived in the negative, those who do nothing but envy and rot their own souls. We forged on. It’s important [that] the making of cinema is focused on our responsibility to culture, to our nation, to humanity.
And this has been what’s wonderful in the evolution of John Lloyd Cruz. From the complicated and intoxicating show business he was in, he looked for something else and [continued] to search, he questioned [the system] and openly, wholeheartedly joined a different form and level of struggle in arts and culture.
And now, he is the one who would tell us that he has found a new cause and perspective in his journey, not only in his art, his craft, but a more extensive struggle in his life.”
Congratulations to John Lloyd Cruz and to the whole Essential Truths of the Lake team!
Photos: CROWN ARTIST MANAGEMENT (via Instagram)
