EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 4, marks the return of the Entertainment Editors’ Choice for Movies, also known as The EDDYs.
Last year, the group skipped a beat at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, and thought it best to use the time and effort we would normally devote to organizing the EDDYs in very humble offerings, like food packs and bottled water, for our heroic front liners.
This time around, the Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors (SPEED) is celebrating the Philippine movie industry anew with the fourth EDDYs awards, albeit in simple, austere rites.
SPEED believes that giving recognition to the best works in film is a powerful way to uplift filmmakers, producers, screen writers, actors and all those involved in the creative process of making movies to persevere and make a difference.
This is especially true in this time of crisis when filmmakers are confronted by so many hurdles just to complete a film.
SPEED supports and applauds films that both entertain and inspire; films that mirror the soul of the Filipino people, and present the human condition.
We hope that through the EDDYs, the country’s entertainment editors can be of help in raising the quality of Filipino films all the more.
That our films can become a source of pride, not just for our people but the rest of the world.
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DURING THE FIRST Entertainment Editors’ Choice Awards (The EDDYs) in 2017, members looked at each other with surprise when the names of winners were being announced one after another.
It happened that we didn’t have an idea who the winners were as the voting was done in secret. And only our accountant, Chan, Robles and Company, had access to the final tally.
A downside was that some of the awardees failed to attend the ceremony.
It has been common practice among some award bodies to leak the names of winners a day before to ensure the stars’ attendance.
Such is not the case at the EDDYs in our effort to maintain the group’s integrity and credibility.
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SIXTEEN OF THE COUNTRY’S top entertainment editors, representing leading broadsheets and national tabloids, bonded together in 2015 to form SPEED.
SPEED is an initiative of the late Manila Standard editor, the irreverent but secretly kind-hearted Isah V. Red.
The editors wanted to promote further growth of Filipino films in the wake of quite real threats from TV, cable, new media, the Internet.
These new platforms seem to have dominated the entertainment landscape.
Such expanding, highly competitive landscape in entertainment has naturally impacted heavily on gross sales of Filipino films.
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AT SPEED, we don’t distinguish between mainstream films and so-called indie films.
Films are honored regardless of their origin, orientation, theme or circumstance.
Members of SPEED feel that Filipino filmmakers need greater push to come up with more noteworthy films.
Films with both artistry and substance.
Films that can compete with those from other countries in the international arena.
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WHEN SPEED STARTED four years ago, a veteran entertainment writer, who has seen through at least six decades, the rise and fall of trends, actors and actresses, including the sinking of the Titanic, warned the group wasn’t going to last.
Instead of drowsing our enthusiasm, the warning served as a challenge to SPEED.
A bonus is the fact that we have created a tight bond of friendship between and among each other.
Now, we have become family, nurtured by a common love interest, Philippine movies.