‘Baka Bukas’ wins in Vancouver queer fest

Louise delos Reyes (left) and Jasmine Curtis-Smith in “Baka Bukas”

Samantha Lee’s “Baka Bukas” topped the recent 29th Vancouver Queer Film Festival in Canada.

The Cinema One movie won the Vancouver fest’s highest honor, the 2017 OUTtvGo People’s Choice Award for Best Feature.

The fest’s website describes the Filipino film as a “tender and funny love story that quietly captures the time in your life you’re expected to be an adult and yet you still haven’t figured [everything] out.”

Lee also won the Emerging Talent Award at the Outfest held in Los Angeles in July.

Lee’s film bagged the best actress trophy for Jasmine Curtis-Smith and the best sound and audience choice awards at the Cinema One fest last year. “Baka Bukas” centers on a closeted lesbian (Curtis-Smith) who has trouble expressing her true feelings to her best friend (Louise delos Reyes).

Another filmmaker who traces her roots to the Philippines brought home a major award, too. Joella Cabalu and Milena Salazar’s “Do I Have Boobs Now?” scored the OUTtvGo People’s Choice Award for best short. Cabalu and Salazar’s film is a profile of Victoria-based activist Courtney Demone. Last year, Cabalu’s documentary “It Runs in the Family” won best feature in the Vancouver queer fest. The docu focuses on Cabalu’s LGBT relatives in the Philippines and the United States.

This year, the Vancouver queer fest screened 28 features and 42 short films throughout its 11-day run. —BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.