Two Filipino Films Featured in Blue Chair Film Festival in Luang Prabang, Laos

Filipino films Leonor will Never Die (2022) by Martika Escobar and Whether the Weather is Fine (2021) by Carlo Francisco Manatad.

13 December 2022, LUANG PRABANG – Filipino films Leonor will Never Die (2022) by Martika Escobar and Whether the Weather is Fine (2021) by Carlo Francisco Manatad were featured in this year’s Blue Chair Film Festival, which was held from 08 to 11 December 2022 in the UNESCO world heritage town of Luang Prabang in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Established in 2009, the Blue Chair Film Festival is an annual festival which features films from Southeast Asian countries. It aims to connect regional filmmakers while at the same time supporting the Lao domestic film industry. Aside from the free screening of films in the town of Luang Prabang, the festival also operates talent development workshops.

For the 2022 edition, 22 films from eight Southeast Asian countries, including five films from Laos, joined the festival.

The festival is named after the iconic blue chairs used in the outdoor film screenings in Luang Prabang, a town that does not have a working cinema.

Other Filipino films screened in previous editions of the festival include Adela and Mater Dolorosa by Adolfo Alix, Jr., Die Beautiful by Jun Robles Lana, Ma’Rosa and Thy Womb by Brillante Mendoza and The Patriarch by Alfonso Torre, among others. The full list of films for this year’s festival as well as the previous films are available here: https://www.lpfilmfest.org/. 

Philippine Ambassador to Laos Deena Joy Amatong supported the Filipino films participating in this year’s festival by attending the opening night on December 8.

The screening of the two Filipino films this year was made possible with the support of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. END

For more information, visit https://www.vientianepe.dfa.gov.ph or www.facebook.com/PHinLaoPDR.