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10,000 Hours
10,000 Hours
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bb. Joyce Bernal
Screenplay by	Rylla Epifania Berico; Keiko Aquino;
Story by	Neil Arce; Peter Serrano; Bela Padilla; Joyce Bernal;
Produced by	Neil Arce; Nikolo Juban; Lope V. Juban Jr.; Boy 2 Quizon; Vic del Rosario Jr.;
Starring	Robin Padilla
Cinematography	Marissa Floirendo; Gilberto Vistan;
Edited by	Marya Ignacio; Joyce Bernal;
Music by	Teresa Barrozo
Production; companies	N2 Pictures; Philippine Film Studios;
Distributed by	GMA Films
Release date	December 25, 2013;
Running time	107 minutes
Country	Philippines
Language	Filipino

10,000 Hours is a 2013 Filipino action thriller film co-edited and directed by Joyce E. Bernal. The film stars Robin Padilla as a Philippine senator forced to go on the run. The film was released by Viva Films on December 25, 2013, as an official entry of the 39th Metro Manila Film Festival, where it won 14 awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (for Bernal), and Best Actor (for Padilla).

Plot

In 2010, Senator Gabriel Alcaraz prepares a privilege speech revealing details of a corruption scandal at the highest levels of the government, implicating President Genoviva Obrero. However, on the day he is supposed to deliver the speech at the Senate, a close ally, NBI director San Juan, is assassinated while trying to warn him of a plan to arrest him. Undaunted, Alcaraz leaves his family and slips out of the Senate complex just as a police detail led by his old colleague, Director Dante Cristobal, move in to serve the warrant. He heads to Ninoy Aquino International Airport, but knowing that the police are waiting for him there, slips out of the country aboard a ship with help from TV reporter Maya Limchauco and an associate of the San Juan. He arrives in Amsterdam, where Isabelle Manahan, a Filipino expatriate who works with the UN, shelters the senator but discourages him against contacting his loved ones back home; the family falls into despair from the backlash over his escape.

Flashbacks over the course of the film reveal that Alcaraz, Cristobal and San Juan were partners in the police force, who were assigned in 1986 to rescue Manahan who was then kidnapped by an erring judge. A police informer, Sebastian Jago, helped in saving Manahan. The judge is arrested but ten years later, he tried to kill Alcaraz and his family for being the source of his woes; Alcaraz actually killed him in self-defense. Now hiding in the Netherlands, Jago is sought by Alcaraz to come home and clear his name, using a picture of his daughter and newborn grandson as encouragement.

The authorities alert Interpol about Alcaraz and gradually zero in on his location. The discovery of his whereabouts triggers his wife's stroke as Cristobal and Limchauco separately fly to the Netherlands to find him. Manahan provides Alcaraz and Jago with separate tickets to fly back to the Philippines. Limchauco successfully helps Alcaraz avoid Cristobal and the Dutch police, but upon revealing herself as a daughter of the judge, wants to kill him instead to avenge her father's death. Alcaraz convinces her to get the whole story from Manahan and help Jago as he comes clean back in the Philippines.

Approximately 10,000 hours - one year, one month, and one week - after leaving the Philippines, Alcaraz flies back by private plane and reunites with his family. He plays over Maya's news show an audiotape Jago preserved for years, which names many corrupt government officials. However, nearly all of them are dead under various circumstances while a petty thug kills Jago in his cell and is subsequently silenced by a prison guard. The police chief, who hired the thug and the prison guard, tells President Obrero that another of the named officials is about to die of a stroke.

Cast

Robin Padilla as Sen. Gabriel Molino Alcaraz
- Alden Richards as young Gabriel
Michael de Mesa as Dir. Dante Cristobal
- Joem Bascon as young Dante
Bela Padilla as Maya Limchauco
Pen Medina as Sebastian Jago
Mylene Dizon as Anna
Carla Humphries as Isabelle Manahan
Bibeth Orteza as Pres. Genoviva Obrero
Cholo Barretto as Benjo Alcaraz
Ejay Falcon as Gabriel's son

Development

The film's plot draws inspiration from Philippine Senator Panfilo Lacson's controversial flight in 2010 as he was about to be arrested over the 2000 Dacer-Corbito double murder case. He said the production team paid him an unknown sum for the film rights and let him choose the lead actor and director for the project. However, he claims additional details behind his escape will be available in a book he is writing.^[1] Bernal herself landed the project after passing up directorial duties for two other co-entries - My Little Bossings and Kimmy Dora: Ang Kiyemeng Prequel.

The movie was shot at the premises of NAIA Terminal 3 and the Philippine Senate, with footage from the security cameras integrated into the cinematography. The Amsterdam scenes included shooting inside the Schiphol International Airport. A number of Filipino expatriates in Amsterdam were recruited for the shoot.

Critical reception

The film got mostly positive reviews. Maridol Ranoa-Bismark of Yahoo! Philippines said the film was relevant considering the current political climate in the Philippines^[2] while Fred Hawson of ABS-CBN News praised the movie's technical aspects that shone to the quality of foreign films.^[3]

On the other hand, Carl Joe Javier of GMA Network claims the movie cherry-picked social issues without focusing on them clearly.^[4]

Accolades

The movie brought home 14 of the 17 awards up for grabs at the 39th Metro Manila Film Festival including the Best Picture and Best Actor awards.^[3]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]

Year	Category	Recipient	Result
2013	Best Picture	10,000 Hours	Won
	Best Director	Joyce Bernal	Won
	Best Actor	Robin Padilla	Won
	Best Actress	Bela Padilla	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Pen Medina	Won
	Best Screenplay		Won
	Best Original Story		Won
	Best Cinematography		Won
	Best Editing	Marya Ignacio	Won
	Best Production Design		Won
	Best Visual Effects		Won
	Best Musical Score	Teresa Barrozo	Won
	Best Sound Engineering	Emmanuel Clemente	Won
	Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Awards	10,000 Hours	Won
	Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence	10,000 Hours	Won
2014	Film Actor of the Year^[11]	Robin Padilla	Won