“Kinikilig kami sa tuwa.”
Director Jun Lana said this about his film Die Beautiful being chosen as a main competition entry in the Tokyo International Film Festival.
The 29th edition of the Tokyo IFF will be held in Japan from October 25 to November 3, 2016.
This is the director's comeback to the Tokyo Film Fest's main tilt. His movie Barber's Tales earned the Best Actress award for Eugene Domingo when it competed in 2013.
The lead actor of Die Beautiful, Paolo Ballesteros was also very excited about this good news.
On his Instagram account, the Eat Bulaga! Dabarkads posted, “Yihiiiii! DIE BEAUTIFUL for the Main Competition of The Tokyo International Film Festival! Good luck to us!”
The movie is one of three Filipino movies competing in the said international film festival.
Ivan Andrew Payawal's I America, starring ABS-CBN actress Bela Padilla; and Mikhail Red's Birdshot are competing in the Asian Future section.
Bes, ang dream ko talaga America. Pero iba din to, bes! Hello Tokyo! -Erica pic.twitter.com/wKaQsLG6rL
— Bela Padilla (@padillabela) September 26, 2016
Meanwhile, Lav Diaz's eight-hour film, Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis is part of the Tokyo's World Focus section.
Starring John Lloyd Cruz and Piolo Pascual, this black-and-white film won the Silver Bear Bauer Prize at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.
Lastly, Brillante Mendoza's “Shiniuma” is included in an omnibus film titled Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections.
He joins two other Asian filmmakers, Isao Yukisada from Japan and Sotho Kulikar from Cambodia.
The said project is spearheaded by the Tokyo fest and Japan Foundation Asia.