Cris Villonco, granddaughter of Armida Siguion-Reyna and niece of filmmaker couple Bibeth Orteza and Carlos Siguion-Reyna, won best supporting actress in the Directors’ Showcase section of Cinemalaya which took her all the way to the Toronto (Canada) International Film Festival last month.
It was a big pay-off for Villonco after Orteza offered her a part in the film “Hari ng Tondo”. She wasn’t sure if she was getting paid or not but she was more than happy to join the cast of her uncle’s comeback film.
It was an emotional moment, during the screening, for Villonco upon seeing the logo of Reyna Films once again after 14 years.
Villonco’s other movie was alongside Fernando Poe in the action flick “Ang Dalubhasa” back in 2000. In between acting, she attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York and took liberal arts and had acted in several plays.
Being in the Toronto International Film Festival was very memorable time for her. “We bumped into high-profile celebrities, indie artists, seasoned and noted filmmakers and foreign journalists and bloggers,” Villonco she said, summoning her experience as surreal.
