BRILLANTE Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa” failed to advance to the next round of voting in the Best Foreign Language film category for the 89th Academy Awards.
The film, starring seasoned actress Jaclyn Jose, was representing the Philippines in the prestigious award-giving body.
It tells the story of Rosa Reyes, a sari-sari store owner from a poor neighborhood of Manila who resorts to selling drugs to make ends meet.
Jose bagged the Best Actress trophy at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in France last May.
Meanwhile, the Academy received a total of 85 films for consideration this year and only shortlisted nine flicks.
Among those who made it in the list are Xavier Dolan’s “It’s Only the End of the World” (Canada), Mare Ade’s “Toni Erdmann” (Germany), Claude Barras’ “My Life as a Zucchini” (Switzerland), Erik Poppe’s “The King’s Choice” (Norway), and Matin Zandvliet’s “Land of Mine” (Denmark).
Completing the list are “Tanna” by Bentley Dean and Martin Butler representing Australia, “The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi for Iran, “Paradise” by director Andrei Konchalovsky for Russia and Hannes Holm’s “A Man Called Ove” representing Sweden.
They will then trim down the nine movies to five official entries that will be confirmed on January 24.
Winner of the category will be announced during the 89th Academy Awards on February 26, 2017 at Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. (Sunnex)
