Paolo Ballesteros wins another int’l award for ‘Die Beautiful’

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Paolo Ballesteros has bagged another international award, this time at the 21st International Film Fest in Kerala in India and, again, for his critically acclaimed role in the indie film “Die Beautiful.”

In an Instagram post on Saturday, the “Eat Bulaga” host, who plays transgender beauty queen Trish Echevarria in the film, announced that he had been accorded the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Performance in the Indian tilt, and he thanked the jury for the honor. This is Ballesteros’ second award, just one month after he bagged the Best Actor accolade at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival where the same film competed.

Director Jun Robles Lana also thanked the festival’s jury for their majestic victory. “Even though there are no acting awards at the Kerala International Film Festival in India, the jury was so moved by his performance that they decided to give Paolo a Special Jury Award for outstanding performance,” he captioned his post.

Ballesteros, who was unable to attend the festival, was represented by producer Ferdy Lapuz. The movie’s Facebook post shared that the film became well known in the south Asian country because of its one-page feature spread on The Hindu, a local newspaper. The festival’s jury was led by Belgium-based Arab filmmaker Michel Khleifi.

Other Filipino films screened at the film fest included Eduardo Roy Jr.’s “Pamilya Ordinaryo” and Roderick Cabrido’s “Tuos” under the World Cinema section. Roy’s second entry, “Quick Change,” was featured at the festival’s Gender Bender category.

“Die Beautiful” is part of the “Magic 8” of the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, which starts on Dec. 25.  Gianna Francesca Catolico

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