It may have started off just a humble Filipino-girl-with-country-music-dreams indie flick, but after following its heart to Hollywood and winning over a gruff-but-kind major movie studio, Yellow Rose is about to make a great big splash in this crazy mixed-up world!
The US-Philippine co-production made its festival debut in L.A. in June this year, and has since been acquired by Sony Pictures. That means not only is it about to get a much, much wider audience, but Sony’s dibs on the critical darling mark the first time (that any of us can remember, at least) that a film starring Filipinos, directed by a Filipino, and about the Filipino experience is getting a US theatrical release. (‘Bout damn time!)
Directed by Diane Paragas and starring Tony award nominee Edna Nobleza, along with Tony-winning actress Lea Salonga, Yellow Rose tells the story of an undocumented Filipina teen living in small-town Texas. The film premiered at the 2019 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival where it received the Grand Jury Award — and a Breakout Performance Award for Nobleza.
Speaking to the TV show “Umagang Kay Ganda” earlier this year, Nobleza’s co-star Salonga said that she was proud of the film and hoped it would start a conversation about immigration in the US.
“It’s a really beautiful film.” she added, “This is something that will touch a lot of people’s hearts.”
Prior to premiering in the US, Yellow Rose was a 2017 seed grant winner in ABS-CBN’s Cinematografo Originals. ABS-CBN will be distributing the film in Philippine theaters, although details have yet to be released.
The film has garnered awards in over seven film festivals. Paragas, the director, says the film has been 15 years in the making, and partly follows her own immigrant experience when her “family moved to Lubbock, Texas when I was 4” to flee martial law in the Philippines.
“My hope is that Yellow Rose puts a human face on the plight of Dreamers while entertaining the audience with original Americana music that they might not have listened to before,” Nobleza said.
While details on Sony’s worldwide release have yet to be disclosed, the film is slated to screen at Texas’ Austin Film Festival on Oct. 28, and at the Hawaii International Film Festival in November.
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