FAMAS Awards

The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards, or simply the FAMAS Awards, are the annual honors given by the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), an organization composed of writers and movie columnists, for achievements in Philippine cinema for a calendar year. Members of the academy including avid movie viewers, fans or enthusiasts cast their votes on who should win the statuettes in the different categories they were nominated. Established in 1952, it is the oldest existing film industry award-giving body in the Philippines and one of the oldest in Asia. The FAMAS Award, from 1952 to 1982, was the highest Filipino film award a filmmaker or artisan could receive in the local movie industry. In 1982, after the inception of the Film Academy of the Philippines (Luna) Awards, the Philippine equivalent of the Oscars (where academy members are film professionals who nominate and choose awardees of the year) was mandated by the Philippine government, FAMAS was unofficially relegated as secondary to Luna Awards, but is still held in high regard because of its age and prestige. The FAMAS Award is one of the highly distinguished film award bodies in the country. O