With the recently concluded National Film Festival and the Cinefilipino Film Festival, it seems that the local moviemaking industry is enjoying a new high. And with two countries – United Kingdom and Singapore – submitting Philippine-themed movies as their official entries to the 86th Academy Awards in March next year, 2013 could inadvertently become known as the Year of Philippine Movies. Here’s the lowdown on the three Oscar contenders:
Metro Manila
DIRECTOR: Sean Ellis (United Kindom)
CAST: John Arcilla, Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega
AWARDS: Sundance Film Festival (Audience Award)
SYNOPSIS: A crime thriller set in Metro Manila and filmed in Filipino, it revolves arond th search for a better life in the Philippines capital by Oscar Ramirez (John Arcilla), who leaves the ricefields in the north with his family and finds work as a security guard for an armored van company.
Ilo Ilo
DIRECTOR: Anthony Chen (Singapore)
CAST: Yeo Yann Yann, Chen Tian Wen, Angeli Bayani, Koh Jia Ler
AWARDS: Cannes Film Festival (Camera d’Or for Best First Feature) and Vladivostok Film Festival (Grand Prize, Best Actress).
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the director’s childhood in Singapore, the movie is set during the Asian Financial Crisis and follows the awkward dynamics between a dysfunctional Singaporean family and their Filipina maid, from the point of view of their young son.
Transit
DIRECTOR: Hannah Espia (Philippines)
CAST: Irma Adlawan, Jasmine Curtis, Marc Justine Alvarez, Ping Medina
AWARDS: Cinemalaya (Best Picture)
SYNOPSIS: Filmed entirely in Israel, this movie is about a Filipino extended family in Israel that, faced with a new law that bars children under five years old from remaining in the country, hides their four-year-old boy to avoid deportation.
Which one do you think has the highest chance of winning an Academy Award?
