THE late Kristoffer King’s powerful — and final — role as an abusive husband in the Philippines’ Oscar hope “Verdict” won the best performance prize at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) Silver Screen Awards.

At Saturday’s ceremony, held at the National Museum of Singapore, “Verdict” director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez paid an emotional tribute to his friend and leading man, who died in February aged 36 after complications due to diabetes.

“After all the violence in the film, Kristoffer King would always try to laugh with the other actors afterwards. He was a very gentle man,” Gutierrez said. “The good thing and the bad thing about him was as an artist he had no limits. I think that made him sick. It was a big loss.”

“Verdict” was the prolific King’s final role, after starring in more than 50 films and television series, He had previously won acclaim for his work with Cannes best director winner Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay), including “Service” (2008), the first film from the Philippines to compete for the coveted Palm D’or.

Gutierrez’s film – an up-close an unnerving look into domestic abuse and how it is handled by the Philippine legal system – has been put forward as the country’s submission for the best international feature film Oscar, following its Special Jury Prize win at Venice.

Gutierrez revealed he was in post-production on the film and had been trying to call King to get him in for sound when told of the actor’s death after a long fight with health problems.

“The first take was almost always enough with him,” said Gutierrez. “It was like he was sleep and then he would wake up to act. It was instinctive with him. Today is very emotional.”

SGIFF’s Silver Screen Awards jury, led by veteran Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, praised King for his “nuanced, outstanding performance [which] provided insight into the mind of a perpetrator.”

Debut Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen’s tale of female empowerment “Scales” was handed the Silver Screen for best film at Saturday’s ceremony, held inside the National Museum of Singapore.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Ameen said. “I really fought for the film to be here. The film is a woman’s statement and that is very relative right now. I wanted this film to be symbolic of something bigger.”

Ameen’s fable-like film follows the story of a young girl who fights against the chauvinistic traditions of the village in which she is raised.

The Silver Screen Award for best director when to Israel’s Oren Gerner for his work on “Africa,” in which he used his own family as actors to tell the tale of an ageing man raging against life and the world.

Japanese cult cinema king Takashi Miike (“Ichi the Killer”) was on hand to pick up the festival’s honorary award for “exceptional and enduring contributions to Asian cinema” while Chinese actress Yao Chen (“All is Well”) collected the cinema icon award.

(SD-Agencies)