(File Photo: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson/Facebook)
The Nat Geo’s documentary film titled, “The Nightcrawlers,” features photojournalists who cover the Duterte administration’s campaign against rampant narcotics trade in the Philippines.
Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo shrugged off the documentary’s nomination for the 92nd edition of the Oscars, as he believed that choosing the winning film would be based on certain criteria and “not [on] the truth”.
“The Oscars? Well it’s an independent body of international experts on cinematic film. So we’d rather not… It’s not our turf. Let them judge on the basis of whatever standards or guidelines they have imposed on them. I think the judgment on a particular movie or film is based on certain criteria, not necessarily the truth,” the Palace official said.
“It’s how you depict, how the producers do their films. Iba naman, pareho din yan, kagaya ng mga fiction (It’s like a fiction). May nanalo, hindi naman totoo (Some of the winning films are fiction), so I don’t think it has something, it has any relevance,” he added.
One of the President’s campaign promises in the 2016 elections was to put an end to the drug proliferation in the country.
From July 1, 2016 to November 30, 2019, around 5,552 drug personalities have been killed during the conduct of a total of 151,601 legitimate anti-drug operations, the latest government data showed.
The anti-drug operations also led to the arrest of 220,728 drug offenders.
Nat Geo’s documentary, directed by Alexander Mora and produced by Joanna Natasegara, focuses on “a small group of determined photojournalists on a mission to expose the true cost of the violent campaign” of Duterte’s drug war, an excerpt from its synopsis noted.
“The Nightcrawlers” premiered in October on the National Geographic Channel and can still be streamed on Nat Geo TV application.
Featured in the documentary are veteran photojournalist Raffy Lerma and multimedia journalist Patricia Evangelista.
“With unprecedented access, the Nightcrawlers is an unflinching expose of Philippine President Duterte’s war on drugs, in which some claim over 20,000 people have been killed,” the excerpt read.
“Through covering both sides of the conflict, the Nightcrawlers reveals a harrowing twist behind Duterte’s deadly crusade,” it added.
“The Nightcrawlers” has been shortlisted, along with nine other documentaries, namely “After Maria,” “Fire in Paradise,” “Ghosts of Sugar Land,” “In the Absence,” “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” “Life Overtakes Me,” “St. Louis Superman,” “Stay Close,” and “Walk Run Cha-Cha.”
Nominations for the 92nd edition of the Oscars will be announced on Jan. 13, 2020, while the ceremony will take place at Dolby Theater in Hollywood on Feb. 20, 2020.