The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences named the nominees for its 74th FAMAS Awards on September 27. Winners are announced October 27 at the Manila Hotel.

Three days after the Philippine Movie Press Club made I’mPerfect the film to beat at its Star Awards, the country’s oldest film award gave it five nominations. The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), a body of writers and movie columnists that has handed out its awards since 1953, announced its 74th slate of nominees on its Facebook page on September 27. Two films lead the list with 12 nominations each: Jerrold Tarog’s Quezon, and In Thy Name, a film the PMPC left out of both of its Movie of the Year races.

I’mPerfect, the 2025 Metro Manila Film Festival Best Picture that leads the PMPC field with 13 nominations, is still in the FAMAS Best Picture race. Its other four nominations are for director Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, leads Earl Jonathan Amaba and Krystel Go, and cinematography.

The Film the Other Awards Skipped

In Thy Name opened in March 2025 under Viva Films. McCoy De Leon plays Fr. Rhoel Gallardo, the Claretian missionary priest whom the Abu Sayyaf, a Mindanao-based militant group, abducted in Basilan in March 2000 along with four teachers and 22 students of a Claretian school. Gallardo was killed on May 3, 2000, after 43 days in captivity.

The film was co-directed by Rommel Galapia Ruiz and Ceasar Soriano, the mayor of Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte and a former ABS-CBN reporter who has said the Abu Sayyaf once held him too. The FAMAS Best Director nomination names Soriano alone. Its 12 nominations reach almost every category: Best Picture, Director, Actor for De Leon, Supporting Actor for JC De Vera, who plays Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, Supporting Actress for Elora Espano, Screenplay, and all six craft categories.

Quezon Keeps Collecting

Quezon comes in with more momentum. Tarog’s film about Manuel L. Quezon, the Commonwealth-era president, led this year’s Gawad Urian nominations with 10 and has 11 at the PMPC. Its 12 at FAMAS are Best Picture, Director for Tarog, Actor for Jericho Rosales, supporting nominations for Mon Confiado and Karylle, Screenplay, and the same six craft categories as In Thy Name.

Confiado appears in both leading films. He plays Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya in In Thy Name, but his nomination is for Quezon.

One Race for Indie and Mainstream

The PMPC runs separate mainstream and independent fields, each with its own Movie of the Year. FAMAS puts every film in one, so its Best Picture category holds Quezon, I’mPerfect and In Thy Name next to Antoinette Jadaone’s Sunshine and Lav Diaz’s Magellan.

Magellan, Diaz’s historical epic starring Mexican actor Gael García Bernal as the Portuguese explorer, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025 and was the Philippines’ submission to the 98th Academy Awards. The Gawad Urian critics mostly passed it over. FAMAS gives it three nominations, for Best Picture, Editing and Production Design, though none for Diaz as director.

Sunshine, which leads the PMPC’s independent field with 12, has nine here: Best Picture, Director for Jadaone, Actress for Maris Racal, Supporting Actress for Jennica Garcia, Child Performer for Annika Co, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Sound. Racal, who will play the role again in an immersive stage version in 2027, shares the Best Actress category with Maricel Soriano (Meet, Greet & Bye), Krystel Go (I’mPerfect), Angelica Panganiban (Unmarry) and Charo Santos (Only We Know). Santos won the award in 2022 for Kun Maupay Man It Panahon (Whether the Weather Is Fine), her first time at the FAMAS. Soriano also stars in MMFF 2026’s Haunted Carnival.

Where the Two Lists Cross

Best Actor repeats the PMPC’s headline matchup, Rosales for Quezon against Piolo Pascual for Manila’s Finest, and adds Amaba, De Leon and Carlo Aquino for Bar Boys: After School. Kip Oebanda’s sequel to his 2017 law-school film Bar Boys has five nominations, including supporting nods for Will Ashley and Odette Khan.

Rico Blanco, the singer-songwriter and former Rivermaya frontman, is on both lists for different jobs. The PMPC nominated him for the Sunshine score. FAMAS nominates him for Supporting Actor in Manila’s Finest, alongside Tom Rodriguez (Unmarry), Ashley, Confiado and De Vera.

Two Ceremonies, Two Days Apart

FAMAS names its winners on October 27 at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila Hotel, with DJ Josa and theater actor Jonhrey Rivas hosting. The PMPC Star Awards are two days earlier, on October 25, so Quezon, I’mPerfect and Sunshine will have two sets of results within the same week. ElysPlanet will have both.

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Full List of Nominees

Best Picture: Quezon; I’mPerfect; Sunshine; Magellan; In Thy Name

Best Director: Antoinette Jadaone, Sunshine; Jerrold Tarog, Quezon; Ceasar Soriano, In Thy Name; Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, I’mPerfect; Kip Oebanda, Bar Boys: After School

Best Actor: Jericho Rosales, Quezon; Piolo Pascual, Manila’s Finest; Earl Jonathan Amaba, I’mPerfect; Carlo Aquino, Bar Boys: After School; McCoy De Leon, In Thy Name

Best Actress: Maricel Soriano, Meet, Greet & Bye; Krystel Go, I’mPerfect; Charo Santos, Only We Know; Angelica Panganiban, Unmarry; Maris Racal, Sunshine

Best Supporting Actor: Tom Rodriguez, Unmarry; Will Ashley, Bar Boys: After School; Mon Confiado, Quezon; JC De Vera, In Thy Name; Rico Blanco, Manila’s Finest

Best Supporting Actress: Odette Khan, Bar Boys: After School; Rochelle Pangilinan, Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana; Elora Espano, In Thy Name; Karylle, Quezon; Jennica Garcia, Sunshine

Best Child Performer: Zac Sibug, Unmarry; Annika Co, Sunshine; Lucas Andalio, Call Me Mother

Best Screenplay: In Thy Name; Bar Boys: After School; Sunshine; Quezon; Unmarry

Best Cinematography: I’mPerfect; Manila’s Finest; In Thy Name; Quezon; Sunshine

Best Editing: Quezon; Sunshine; In Thy Name; Magellan; Manila’s Finest

Best Production Design: Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins; In Thy Name; Quezon; Manila’s Finest; Magellan

Best Visual Effects: Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins; KMJS Gabi ng Lagim: The Movie; Quezon; In Thy Name; Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana

Best Musical Score: Song of the Fireflies; Quezon; Manila’s Finest; In Thy Name; Call Me Mother

Best Sound: Child No. 82: Anak ni Boy Kana; In Thy Name; Quezon; Manila’s Finest; Sunshine