24 September 2013 - The Filipino film “The Red Shoes” (Los Zapatos Rojos) by Director Raúl Jorolan had a successful premiere in Paraguay’s 22nd International Film Festival last September 16 in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción. It was the first-ever Filipino film that partcipated in the festival, a major cultural event in Paraguay.
The Philippine Embassy in Buenos Aires and Philippine Honorary Consulate General in Asunción, Paraguay, in close collaboration with the Film Development Council of the Philippines, worked in partnership to bring the Spanish subtitled version of film to the Festival.
Mr. Hugo Gamarra, Founder and Director General of the International Film Festival, Arts and Culture in Paraguay personally chose “The Red Shoes” for inclusion in this year’s festival lineup which opened last September 10 and will end on October 03.
In the audience of the well-attended premiere, billed as La Noche del Cine Filipino (The Philippine Cinema Night), were numerous Paraguayan film enthusiasts, members of the Filipino community (including several Filipino religious nuns), and officials of the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry led by Counsellor Liz Coronel, the head of the Office of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and Counsellor Lourdes Espinola, the head of the Office of Cultural Affairs.
In the brief remarks he delivered in Spanish prior to the screening, Ambassador Rey A. Carandang highlighted the Philippines’ long history in filmmaking and the two golden eras of Philippine cinema in the 1950's-60's and in the 1970's. He added that a third golden period is now beginning with the emergence of the new generation of independent Filipino film directors whose fresh and novel approach to medium of cinema has won critical acclaim and awards in numerous international film festivals in the different continents of the world. He cited Raúl Jorolan's work, which had won the Special Jury Prize in the 2010 Bogota International Film Festival, as a most appropriate introduction of the creative talent of independent Filipino film directors to the Paraguayan film audience. He also referred to the participation of The Red Shoes in the festival as a fitting tribute to Philippine-Paraguayan diplomatic relations whose 50th anniversary is being celebrated this year.
During the cocktails hosted by the Philippine Embassy right after the screening, numerous attendees approached Ambassador Carandang, Philippine Honorary Consul General Carlos Ruffinelli, and Festival Director Hugo Gamarra, to express their appreciation for the rare opportunity of watching a Filipino film. They praised the talent and sensibility that were behind an ordinary love story recounted in a novel way that alternated "seriousness" with "humor." The film's references to martial law rang a familiar bell as Paraguay also underwent and toppled a dictatorship in the 1980's. Many in the audience were visibly moved by the film's unexpected ending.
“The Red Shoes” will be shown again on September 27 and October 02. It is one of the films competing for the festival’s Panambi Award for the Audience’s Choice for Best Film. END