As one of its activities to celebrate the 119th Anniversary of Philippine Independence, as well as an activity for its Gender and Development (GAD) program, personnel of the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu, attended the screening of Ma’ Rosa, the finale for the week-long 10th Filipino Film Festival at the Doris Duke Theater, Honolulu Museum of Art.
The Film Festival, which ran from 9 to 17 June, featured eight (8) Filipino maindie (mainstream and independent or “indie”) films, selected for depicting current political and social issues in the Philippines.
Ma’ Rosa won for Ms. Jaclyn Jose, who plays the title role, the best actress award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Ma’ Rosa is a story about a mother of four who owns a small convenience store in a poor neighborhood in Mandaluyong City. To augment their meager earnings, Rosa and her husband Nestor moonlight as small-time drug dealers from their corner store. One rainy night, the couple was arrested by the police, prompting Ma’ Rosa’s 4 children to do anything to buy their parent’s freedom from the corrupt police.
Ma’ Rosa, directed by award-winning director Brillante Mendoza, offers an insight on non-traditional women role of providing for the family’s needs through Ms. Jose’s role as a matriarch of a family struggling to survive amid squalor. (END).
