3 PH films to compete in Osaka film fest

Jessy Mendiola (left) and Jericho Rosales in “The Girl in the Orange Dress”

This March, three Filipino films will be competing with 11 others from different parts of Asia at the 2019 Osaka Asian Film Festival in Japan, the OAFF website announced recently.

Jay Abello’s romantic comedy “The Girl in the Orange Dress,” along with Dwein Baltazar’s “Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus,” and Choy Pangilinan, Charlson Ong and Lito Casaje’s “Tanabata’s Wife” will battle it out with films from India, Korea, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

The said films will vie for the Grand Prix and the Most Promising Talent Award, the website stated.

“Attending a film festival is always an enriching and learning experience for me,” said Abello.

“Tanabata’s Wife”

“It’s significant to see how a new type of audience reacts and takes in your film. And since I know very little about Japan culture, it’s very exciting,” he added.

Abello’s film, starring Jessy Mendiola and Jericho Rosales, premiered in the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival last December.

“Every type of audience surprise me, in every screening. Since we’re communicating a story, it’s exciting how people see everything you put out there in the film,”  Abello said when the Inquirer asked what he hoped to learn from joining the OAFF.

“Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus”

“The other, and also equally important part of it, is seeing other people’s film,” he said. “Films from other places and cultures will surely be both inspiring and a real learning experience.”

The OAFF will run from March 8 to 17. —MARINEL R. CRUZ