OTJ, Die Beautiful at the First PH Film Festival in Israel
(Tel-Aviv PE photo)
TEL AVIV 05 July 2018 — The Philippine Embassy in Israel, in partnership with the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Cinematheque Tel Aviv, Cinematheque Jerusalem, and Cinematheque Haifa, will launch the first Philippine Film Festival in Israel at Cinematheque Tel Aviv on 08 July 2018.
The festival will open in Cinematheque Tel Aviv with “On The Job”, a gritty crime thriller which premiered worldwide at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, and was received with a standing ovation at its first screening.
Joel Torre, who won a Best Actor award for his performance at the 17th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Bucheon, South Korea, plays Mario Maghari, a convicted felon who carries out contract killings during his incarceration to earn money to support his family.
Three other films will be shown during the film festival. On 15 July, Cinematheque Jerusalem will screen “An Open Door”, a documentary about Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon’s policy to create a safe haven in the Philippines for Jewish refugees from the Holocaust.
The film, one of multi-awarded filmmaker Noel Izon’s trilogy of Forgotten Stories from World War II, has won numerous international awards, including Best Picture and Best Documentary wins in Madrid, Sochi, Bali, London, Java, and Saint Petersburg.
On 22 July, Cinematheque Haifa screens “Smaller and Smaller Circles”, a screenplay based on a Filipino crime novel—the first of its genre in the Philippines—that won both the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the English Novel and the National Book Award.
In this gripping who dunnit, two Jesuit priests who also perform forensic work find themselves in a search for a serial killer, and in the process end up confronting class conflict, corruption, and religious dilemmas.
The film festival wraps up on 29 July in Cinematheque Tel Aviv with “Die Beautiful”, a comedy-drama that takes off from a transgender beauty queen’s final request to be made up as a different celebrity every day during her wake. As friends trickle in to pay their respects, they look back at the events that preceded her death, and celebrate her journey to discovering and living as her true self.
The Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 entry, which debuted at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival, won the Audience Choice Award, and netted lead actor Paulo Ballesteros a Best Actor Award. END
For more information, visit www.telavivpe.dfa.gov.ph/ www.philippine-embassy.org.il or https://www.facebook.com/PHinIsrael/