The Maria Clara Awards is the first formal film industry

Film industry

The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...

 award-giving body

Film awards bodies in the Philippines

Philippine movie award-giving bodies are institutions, academies and fellowships that are handing out awards, citations and recognitions to outstanding film achievements for a certain calendar year.-1950-1976:...

 of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. It was established in 1950 by a group of writers from the Manila Times

Manila Times

The Manila Times is the oldest existing English language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. with editorial and administrative offices at 371 A...

 Publishing, Co., which included National Artist

National Artist of the Philippines

A National Artist of the Philippines is a title given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts...

 Dr. Alejandro Roces

Alejandro Roces

Alejandro Reyes Roces was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines for literature...

, regarded as the Father of the Maria Clara Awards. It was the initial answer of the Philippines to Hollywood's Academy Awards, an institution for recognizing talents in the Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 movie industry

Cinema of the Philippines

Cinema of the Philippines started with the introduction of the first moving pictures to the country on January 1, 1897 at the Salón de Pertierra in Manila. The following year, local scenes were shot on film for the first time by a Spaniard, Antonio Ramos, using the Lumiere Cinematograph...

..

History

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 ended, the two pre-war movie studios, LVN

LVN Pictures

LVN Pictures, Inc. is one of the biggest film studios in the history of Philippine cinema and its foremost establishment in motion picture post-production until 2005...

 and Sampaguita Pictures

Sampaguita Pictures

Sampaguita Pictures was a Philippine film production company. It was named for the Philippine National Flower, Sampaguita. The company has been long-defunct since the 1980s with Mike de Leon's classic "Batch '81" being the last film released...

, resumed their movie production and were later joined by two other movie studios, Premiere Productions and Lebran International, to form the "Big Four" studios who held the brightest stars and top artisans of Philippine movies in the 1950s and 1960s..

1950

The first formal Filipino answer to the Oscars was formed by Manila Times Publishing, Co. To make a statuette which would be given out to the best of the best, National Artist

National Artist of the Philippines

A National Artist of the Philippines is a title given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts...

 Guillermo Tolentino was asked to sculpt the wooden Maria Clara Award, which bore the likeness of Maria Clara

María Clara

María Clara, whose full name is María Clara de los Santos, Rizal also described her as Inang Pilipinas is the mestiza heroine in Noli Me Tangere, a novel by José Rizal, the national hero of the Republic of the Philippines...

, one of the characters in Jose Rizal

José Rizal

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...

's Noli Me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere (novel)

Noli Me Tangere is a novel by Filipino polymath José Rizal and first published in 1887 in Berlin, Germany. Early English translations used titles like An Eagle Flight and The Social Cancer, but more recent translations have been published using the original Latin title.Though originally written in...

..

1952

Due to various reactions about the voting procedures of the Maria Claras (various factions have pointed out that the Maria Claras were voted on mostly by movie columnists), a group of movie writers, Atty. Flavio G. Macaso (who became the first president of FAMAS), future FAMAS president Vic Generoso, future FAMAS winner Mario Mijares Lopez, Paulo Dizon, Amado Yasoma and Eddie Infante established what would become as the second oldest film industry award-giving body in Asia, the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences or FAMAS. With the creation of FAMAS, the Maria Claras folded up.

2006

Maria Clara Award's descendant, the FAMAS Awards, is undergoing a leadership crisis and registration revocation from the Securities and Exchange Commission

Securities and Exchange Commission (Philippines)

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission is a Philippine state commission responsible for securities laws and regulating the securities industry. The SEC is an agency within the Philippine Department of Finance....

. The latter did not allow for the FAMAS to hold any of their major functions, which included an awards night. To go around the ruling of the SEC, FAMAS President Jimmy Tiu, with the support of Dr. Alejandro Roces, held the Maria Clara Awards on October 13, 2006 as a temporary replacement for the FAMAS Awards until the issues on leadership and with the SEC can be settled. The Maria Clara Awards held in 2006 was numbered 55th to correspond with the two Maria Clara Awards presentations in 1951 and 1952 and fifty-three FAMAS Awards presentations from 1953-2005..

The 55th Maria Clara Awards, the first Maria Clara Awards in 54 years (and the first defunct awards ever resurrected in Philippine film awards history), was held on October 13, 2006 at the Golden Fortune Restaurant in Manila. A low-key event which was attended by Film Academy of the Philippines

Film Academy of the Philippines

Established in 1981, the Film Academy of the Philippines is the Philippines' official counterpart of the United States' Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The FAP was founded through Executive Order 640-A, signed by former President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos...

 Director-General and FAMAS nominee Leo Martinez and National Commission for the Culture and the Arts

Securities and Exchange Commission (Philippines)

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission is a Philippine state commission responsible for securities laws and regulating the securities industry. The SEC is an agency within the Philippine Department of Finance....

 Executive Director Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, among others, most of the winners were not present during the awards due to short notice (invitations were handed out three days before the awards)..

List of previous winners

The following are incomplete lists of winners on the first two Maria Clara Awards, the forerunner of FAMAS Awards, and the 2006 Awards:

First Maria Clara Awards (1951)

Award	Recipient
Grand Prix	Kamay ni Satanas
Best Actress	Nena Cardenas Nena Cardenas Nena Cardenas, born Remy Cardenas, is a Filipina actress.-Biography:Cardenas made her first acting appearance in the drama Kidlat sa Silangan with Premiere Production... , for 48 Oras
Best Supporting Actor	Jose Padilla, Jr., Hantik
Best Supporting Actress	Alicia Vergel Alicia Vergel Alicia Vergel was a Filipina actress noted for her roles as fighting women and amazons and, like Norma Blancaflor, for her heart-shaped face... , Mga Mapuputing Kamay
Best Director	Eddie Romero Eddie Romero Eddie Romero is an acclaimed and influential Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter, considered one of the finest in the Cinema of the Philippines.Romero was named National Artist of the Philippines in 2003.... , Ang Prinsesa at ang Pulubi

Second Maria Clara Awards (1952)

Award	Recipient
Grand Prix	Sisa
Best Actor	Jose Padilla, Jr., Diego Silang
Best Actress	Anita Linda Anita Linda Anita Linda is a two-time FAMAS award-winning and Gawad Urian award-winning Filipino film actress. A romantic lead in her youth, she later gained critical acclaim for her portrayals in maternal or elderly roles... , Sisa
Best Supporting Actress	Rosa Mia Rosa Mia Rosita Quinto Stecza , known by her screen name Rosa Mia, was an award-winning actress and one of the few female directors in the Philippines... , Roberta
Best Director	Gerardo de Leon Gerardo de León Gerardo de León was a Filipino actor turned film director, who made his acting debut in the 1934 film Ang Dangal.... , Sisa
Best Screenplay	Eddie Romero Eddie Romero Eddie Romero is an acclaimed and influential Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter, considered one of the finest in the Cinema of the Philippines.Romero was named National Artist of the Philippines in 2003.... , Diego Silang
Best Music	Tito Arevalo Tito Arévalo Tito Arévalo born Eustaquio Ylagan was a Filipino actor and musician.-Personal life:He was grew up in Tondo, Manila. He was married to Guadalupe Francisco Ylagan, a woman who hails from Manila and they are the parents of Cora Ylagan Evangelista and actor Robert Arevalo and he is the uncle of... , Diego Silang

55th Maria Clara Awards (2006)

Award	Recipient
Best Picture	Blue Moon Blue Moon (2006 film) Blue Moon is a 2006 Philippine romantic drama film released by Regal Films directed by Joel Lamangan.The first title choice of this movie was Nasan ka Man and Nasaan ka Nang Kailangan Kita was the second title choice of the movie.-Plot:A man named Manuel Pineda is ill and has only has six...  (Regal Films)
Best Actor	Aga Muhlach Aga Muhlach Ariel Aquino Muhlach , commonly known as Aga Muhlach, is a 2-time Gawad Urian and FAMAS award-winning Filipino actor and product endorser... , Dubai
Best Actress	Claudine Barretto Claudine Barretto Claudine Margaret Castelo Barretto-Santiago , popularly known as Claudine Barretto, is a film and television actress in the Philippines.-Television roles:... , Dubai
Best Supporting Actor	John Lloyd Cruz John Lloyd Cruz John Lloyd Espidol Cruz is an award-winning Filipino actor, Box-Office King, model, and occasional TV host.His father is Luisito Llora Cruz. His career started with appearances in numerous teen-oriented movies and TV shows. He is a member of ABS-CBN's Star Magic, where he is an alumni member of... , Dubai
Best Supporting Actress	Hilda Koronel Hilda Koronel Susan Reid, who is better known as Hilda Koronel , is a FAMAS and Gaward Urian Award winning Filipina actress... , Nasaan Ka Man Nasaan Ka Man Nasaan Ka Man is a dramatic love story written by Filipino, Ricky Lee. It boasts performances by the country’s young leading dramatic actors Claudine Barretto, Jericho Rosales and Diether Ocampo....
Best Director	Joel Lamangan Joel Lamangan Joel Lamangan is a Filipino film director, television director and actor. He rose to fame in the early 1990s as an auteur dramatic filmmaker. His award-winning films includes Sidhi, Deathrow, Hubog, Aishte Imasu 1941, Blue Moon and Mano Po.On August 19, 2008, Lamangan directed his first indie movie... , Blue Moon
Best Screenplay	Ricky Lee Ricky Lee Ricky Lee is a Filipino scriptwriter. He has written more than a hundred film scripts since 1979, earning for him more than 50 trophies from award-giving bodies... , John Paul Abellera and Shaira Mella Salvador, Dubai
Best Sound	Arnold Reodica, Dubai
Best Editing	Marya Ignacio, Dubai
Best Musical Score	Jesse Lucas, Can This Be Love Can This Be Love Can This Be Love is a film starring Hero Angeles and Sandara Park, with Roxanne Guinoo, Joross Gamboa, and Paw Diaz. The movie received rave reviews. Fresh from the victorious SCQ, the movie grossed about 100.05 Million nationwide.-Plot:...
Best Story	Allan Tijamo, Blue Moon