Ploning - Reception

Reception

The Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) graded Ploning with an "A" evaluation, entitling it to a 100% tax rebate on its earnings. Meanwhile, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) gave it a "General Patronage" rating. After it was officially selected for the Academy Awards, it was reported that the Philippine government had given one million pesos (twenty thousand US dollars) in support of the film. Various celebrities were also noted to have supported the film. The film gained critical praise after Dante Nico Garcia won the Best Director award while he and Benjamin Lingan were nominated for the Best Screenplay award during the Asian Festival of First Film Awards in Singapore.

Judy Ann Santos, the film's star, was involved in a minor controversy when her home network, ABS-CBN, refused to promote Ploning and instead chose to promote the film When Love Begins. This led to disputes between her manager, Alfie Lorenzo, and the network though both parties have since reconciled. On August 2008, she returned to Cuyo to grace the screenings and was awarded as the town's "adopted daughter."

Ploning's road to the Oscars ended when the Top 9 shortlisted entries (later narrowed to the Final 5) for the Best Foreign Language Film category was announced but the team behind Ploning remained positive and appreciative of the experience. On January 18, 2009, ABS-CBN aired the primetime television special Pangarap ni Ploning (Dream of Ploning), which chronicled the fundraising events mounted to finance the lobbying efforts for the film's Oscar bid. Then, on February 22, 2009, lead star Judy Ann Santos and director Dante Nico Garcia launched the Ploning Foundation to help future filmmakers raise funds for the promotion of the chosen Philippine entry similar to what they did for Ploning.