Now for some good news

Let me take a break from the muck and mud of current headlines and focus on positive things. I never fail to find upliftment in the arts and among artists, and this time is no dfferent.

Three films on Filipinos are in the running for the five coveted slots as official nominees for best foreign film at next year’s Oscar awards, which will be held on March 2 in Los Angeles. Around 70 films from all over the world were submitted for consideration (the deadline was Oct. 1). From these, nine will be short-listed, and from this shortlist, the five nominees will be announced on Jan. 16.

The Philippine entry is “Transit” (see STARweek, Aug. 25), produced by Paul Soriano and directed by Hannah Espia. It took the top prize in the new breed category for upcoming filmmakers, plus a host of other awards, at last July’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.

Transit tells the story of Filipino workers in Israel coping with a new law that disallows children under the age of five (in this case the totally captivating child actor Marc Justine Alvarez) from staying in Israel with their parents. In a broader sense the film also looks at the oft-portrayed plight of overseas Filipino workers – how they cope with a foreign language and culture, how they manage to bring a part of and surround themselves with the home country, how being Pinoy and being a citizen of the world meet and sometimes clash – but deals with the situation sans melodrama and with honesty and respect. It’s a tri-lingual film, as the actors (a fantastic cast of Irma Adlawan, Ping Medina, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Alvarez and others) speak in Hebrew (they spent several months learning the language), English and Filipino.

The entry from the United Kingdom is “Metro Manila,” a film by Sean Ellis shot in Manila and in Filipino. Chosen by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), it won the audience award for world cinema at the Sundance festival in January this year and is only the 11th film submitted by the UK to the foreign language film category of the Oscars. The crime thriller cum social drama stars seasoned theater actor John Arcilla, Jake Macapagal and Althea Vega, and will be shown in theaters in Metro Manila this week. It is a gritty portrayal of life in the big city, where a farming couple come face to face with urban realities.

The entry from Singapore is “Ilo Ilo” (the Chinese title is “Father Mother Not at Home”) by first time filmmaker Anthony Chen, about his nanny Teresa Sajonia (they called her Auntie Terry), from San Miguel, Iloilo (hence the title), who worked with the Chen family for eight years. The story behind and after the film – of how nanny and wards met again after 16 years – is just as, if not more so, heartwarming and uplifting as the Cannes film festival Camera d’Or winning movie.

It’s still a long way from country nomination to actual Oscar nomination. But to have three films – and good films at that – on Filipinos taking the first step towards an Oscar is something we can all feel pretty good about.