Bahay Bata winner in Seoul Digital Fest

MANILA, Philippines - Bahay Bata (Baby Factory), directed by Eduardo Roy Jr. (photo) and written by Roy and Jerome Zamora, won the Blue Chameleon Award at the Cinema Digital Seoul Film festival held Aug. 22 to 28. The award came with a cash prize of 20,000,000 KRW (P743,000).

According to Ferdy Lapuz, STAR correspondent who co-produced the movie (with Almond, Demy and Marlo Derla), the jury picked Bahay Bata for the second highest award in the filmfest because it is ‘a film that goes back and forth between fiction and non-fiction in an unusual way. The film enables us to see the reality of the life of a nation through the examination of an institution.’

It’s the fourth international award for the movie which also won Special Mention in Vancouver, a Grand Jury Award in Deauville and Best First Feature in Las Palmas. It also gave its lead actress, Diana Zubiri, the Best Performer Award from the Young Critics Circle.

Bahay Bata was a finalist in last year’s Cinemalaya Independent Film festival.

The cast also includes Sue Prado, Myles Kanapi, Jeoffrey Javier, Peewee O’Hara and Sarah Pagcaliwagan, with the special participation of Yul Servo.