3 PH films in S’pore, Japan

Two Filipino films will be showcased in a five-week cinema event in Singapore, dubbed The O.P.E.N., from June 28 to July 30, while another will be shown in theaters in Japan next month.

Baby Ruth Villarama’s “Sunday Beauty Queen” and John Torres’ “People Power Bombshell: The Diary of Vietnam Rose” will be shown at The O.P.E.N., an initiative of the Singapore International Festival of the Arts next month.

Torres’ film uses Celso Ad Castillo’s unfinished 1986 movie, “The Diary of Vietnam Rose,” as take-off point, interviewing cast and crew members.

Shot over four years, Villarama’s documentary features Filipino domestic helpers who reinvent themselves as beauty queens once a week.

Torres’ film will be shown on July 7; Villarama’s docu, on July 9—at The Projector, Golden Mile Tower, Singapore. The screenings aim “to raise fascinating questions and offer eye-opening insights about the world.”

The theme for this year’s event is “enchantment.”

‘Ma’ Rosa’ screenings

Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa,” which won best actress for lead star Jaclyn Jose at the Cannes Film Festival last year, was acquired by the Tokyo-based distribution company, Bitters End.

According to Bitters End’s Yuji Sadai, “Ma’ Rosa” will initially open at the Theater Image Forum in Shibuya, Tokyo, on July 29, before its screenings in “around 20 cities in Japan.”

“We picked up ‘Ma’ Rosa’ because we think the film is great,” Sadai told the Inquirer. Bitters End also released such acclaimed films as “Fire at Sea,” “Death in Sarajevo” and “Mountains May Depart” in Japan.

Mendoza related: “I am glad that after one year, ‘Ma’ Rosa’ is still traveling to different films festivals, while being shown in commercial theaters at the same time.”

“Ma’ Rosa” is Mendoza’s second film to have a theatrical run in Japan. “The first one to be released there was ‘Captive,’” the filmmaker said. —BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.

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