Award-winning actor John Lloyd Cruz added another recognition in his long list of accolades in showbiz after capturing the Boccalino d’Oro prize in Switzerland.

Cruz claimed the Boccalino d’Oro prize also known as the Golden Jug award for best actor at the 76th Locarno Film Festival for his performance in Lav Diaz’s “Essential Truth of Lake," the Film Development Council of the Philippines announced Friday.

"It is with great joy and pride that I congratulate one of the most talented artists of our country, Mr. John Lloyd Cruz, for having won the Boccalino d'Oro prize for Best Actor at the 76th LFF in Switzerland," said FDCP Chairman and CEO Tirso Cruz III in a statement.

"This award is much deserved by an artist of his caliber. Lloydie, congratulations and thank you for bringing honor to our country."

Cruz followed the footsteps of Hazel Orencio, who was the first Filipino actor to win the Best Actress award in the 2014 edition of the film festival.

Coincidentally, Orencio won for another Lav Diaz masterpiece, “Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon.”

"Essential Truths of the Lake" marked Diaz’s return to Locarno since he won the Golden Leopard Prize, or the Best Picture award, for the same “Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon” film.

"Essential Truths of the Lake" is part of the Concorso Internazionale or the main competition section of the film festival, which is ongoing until August 12.

• LOOK: John Lloyd Cruz, Shaina Magdayao attend Swiss film festival

According to the Film Development Council of the Philippines, it is the only Southeast Asian film in the main competition

Aside from Cruz, Orencio, Shaina Magdayao, Bart Guingona and Agot Isidro are also part of the movie.

The film's logline reads: "When asked what drives a man to search for the truth, Lieutenant Hermes Papauran says dejectedly that maybe he just wants to keep inflicting pain on himself. Faced with the country's bloody murders and brazen lies, he continues his struggle to find resolution to a fifteen-year-old case around a volcanic ash laden landscape and an impenetrable lake. It has become a cross he can barely carry but keeps lugging anyway."

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