September 13 ------ "Her Locket," a Rebecca Chuaunsu Film Production, in cooperation with Rebelde Films, won eight awards at the Sinag Maynila Film Festival held at Metropolitan Theater. A family drama film by J.E. Tiglao, "Her Locket" awards include Best Film, Best Actress for Rebecca Chuaunsu, Best Supporting Actress for Elora Españo, Best Director for Tiglao, Best Ensemble, Best Screenplay for Tiglao and Maze Miranda, Best Cinematography for Jag Concepcion and Best Production Design for James Rosendal .
Filipino-Chinese actress Chuaunsu, who effectively portrayed the lead role of Jewel Ouyang, has also won Best Actress awards from the Wu Wei International Film Festival in Taiwan held last September 1 and from the 2023 Festival International du Film Transsaharien de Zagora in Morocco.
During the final screening of the film on September 10 at the Gateway Cineplex, Quezon City, Chuaunsu told the audience and members of the press, "This is my third Best Actress and we won eight Sinag Maynila awards. Praise the Lord. This has been a very difficult journey because when we were doing the pre-production stage, we were still in pandemic." "Everything was done via Zoom and my husband got sick. And then during the production stage, my husband got very ill and he was hospitalized at the ICU. Finally during post-production stage, while we were doing the subtitles, he passed away. But I'm still thankful that during this project, I devoted more time to doing Mandarin subtitles because it keeps me moving forward," she added.
According to her, she did not expected to win because for a while, she thought of even canceling the production of the film. "When my husband was sick and we're doing the principal photography, I almost gave up but I visited my husband in the ICU. He could not talk, but I gave him a piece of paper and pencil and he wrote, 'It is your dream.' So I decided to continue it. This is sort of a biographical movie but it is also a tapestry of the director, the writer and me as storyteller," Chuaunsu explained.
The film also featured Elora Españo, Boo Gabunada, Sophie Ng and Benedict Cua. Completing the roster of cast are Tommy Alejandrino, Jian Repolles, Tommy Alejandrino, Zoey Villamangca, Norman Ong, Nellie Ang See, Angela Villarin, Ashlee Factor, Matthew Seaver Choy, Roberto Uy Kieng, George See, Rolando Inocencio and lawyer Kesterson Kua.
"Her Locket" is about Jewel Ouyang, a senior Chinese woman, who has lost everything — her youth, beauty, popularity, and fortune. Now with dementia, she lives with her lawyer son, Kyle, and a young caregiver, Teresa, who seems more ambitious than caring. She finds an old locket that contains her old photo with her parents, and her brother, Magnus. The locket removes the cloud of forgetfulness and frees her memories of her tenuous relationship with her family. This includes their opposition to her career and love life; of a happy marriage to her husband which was cut short by his untimely death; of achieving success as an actress which enabled her to solely raise their son; and that Magnus tampered her father's will and robbed her of her inheritance. Seeking vengeance, Jewel faces her brother in court to claim what is rightfully hers. Still inflicted with dementia, will she choose to forgive... and forget?
In addition to best actress victories for Chuaunsu in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Morocco, "Her Locket" also participated in the Marché du Film - Festival de Cannes (2023), the London East Asia International Film Festival (2023), and the 22nd Dhaka International Film Festival (2024).
Source: manilatimes.net
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