Maris Racal's 'Sunshine' wins Crystal Bear at 75th Berlinale
MANILA, Philippines — Antoinette Jadaone's "Sunshine," starring Maris Racal, won the Crystal Bear at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).
The Crystal Bear is awarded to the Best Film of both the Generation Kplus and the Generation 14plus competition, the latter where "Sunshine" competed in.
Jadaone and one of the movie's actors, EJ Canlas, attended the European premiere of "Sunshine" in Berlinale.
Maris was also at the Berlinale for the opening ceremony and even hit the red carpet, but she left Germany before her movie's premiere.
Dutch filmmaker Emma Branderhorst, German filmmaker Asli Özarslan, and Toronto International Film Festival curator Ikoro Sekai were part of the Generation Jury.
Producer Bianca Balbuena noted that "Sunshine" marked the third time a project she produced won at Berlinale.
The previous two were Lav Diaz's "Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis" winning the Silver Bear in 2016 and Pham Ngoc Lan's "Cu Li Never Cries" winning the Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Film-und Fernsehrechten Best First Feature Award last year.
Jadaone told Philstar.com last year that her team plans to bring "Sunshine" to more international film festivals before premiering in the Philippines, which Jadaone later confirmed she is working on.
The film stars Maris as the titular young rhythmic gymnast who dreams of joining the national team but she finds out that she was pregnant days before her tryout.
"On her way to a seller of illegal abortion drugs, Sunshine meets a mysterious girl who eerily thinks and talks like her," goes the film's synopsis.
Apart from tackling teen pregnancy and abortion, the film also focuses on the struggles of local athletes aspiring to join prestigious competitions like the Olympics.
Co-starring with Maris and EJ are Xyriel Manabat, Jennica Garcia, Annika Co and Meryll Soriano.
This is Maris' third project and first movie with Jadaone, who also wrote the screenplay. They previously worked on the shows "The Kangks Show" and "Simula Sa Gitna."
This is also Jadaone's first feature film since her 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival-winning movie "Fan Girl," starring Charlie Dizon and Paulo Avelino.
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