Bahay Bata competes in Deauville

MANILA, Philippines - Eduardo Roy Jr.’s Cinemalaya film Bahay Bata (Baby Factory) will compete at the Deauville Festival of Asian Films in France on March 7 to 11 that will feature a 10-film competition and retrospectives dedicated to Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Thailand’s Pen-ek Ratanaruang.

Bahay Bata is the only Filipino film in the line-up of Deauville this year. After the 2011 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, Bata was given a special mention in Vancouver and was also in competition in Marrakech.

Writer/director Roy and executive producer Almond Derla will be attending the festival.

The film, which was co-written by Roy and Jerome Zamora, stars Diana Zubiri and Yul Servo (photo), Mayles Kanapi, Pewee O Hara, Jeoffrey Javier, Orlando Sol and Sue Prado.

Incidentally, Roy’s next Cinemalaya project IGNA will take part in the 2012 Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum next month. Roy with producer Ferdinand Lapuz will be attending the event from March 19 to 22.

Completing the official slate of the 2012 Deauville Festival of Asian Films are 11 Flowers (China), Beautiful Miss Jin (South Korea), Death Is My Profession (Iran), Himizu (Japan), I Carried You Home (Thailand), Mourning (Iran), Noor (Pakistan and France), Scabbard Samurai (Japan) and The Sun-Beaten Path (China).