Quezon’s Game has successfully gathered a collective of multicultural talents from its director and actors to production and musicians. Thus, receiving over 25 awards and citations from film festivals across the globe.
An ABS-CBN Film production, in association with iWant and Kinetek, Quezon’s Game reveals the historic leadership of Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon that saved hundreds of Jewish people under the Nazi Regime in Europe.
The film has won nine awards of excellence from the Cinema Worldfest AUTUMN Awards in Canada for Lighting, Original Score, Produced Screenplay, Sound Design, Set Design, Costume Design, as well as acting nods for their leads Raymond Bagatsing and Rachel Alejandro, and supporting actor Billy Gallion. Matthew E. Rosen received an Award of Recognition for directing. An Award for Merit for a Drama Feature was also given to the film.
It’s also received Best Asian Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Music Score awards of excellence from IndieFilm Festival in California. Bagatsing was once again named Best Actor. It was also given an Award of Excellence Special Mention as a feature film.
Quezon’s Game is the feature film directorial debut of Matthew Rosen who has directed television, music videos and more than 700 commercials over 25 years, winning more than 50 international awards. Rosen, who also doubles as the film’s cinematographer, is a British national residing in the Philippines since 1986—and his Filipino wife, Lorena “Lori” Rosen, who co-produced the film, heard the little-known story of the film from members of the Jewish Association of the Philippines in 2009 and instantly realized they needed to retell this extraordinary and moving story on the big screen.
“I am a Jew who grew up in England and have experienced bigotry, but after 37 years in the Philippines, to this day, I have never come across prejudice, dislike or distrust because I am White or Jewish. In a time of war, when the rest of the world was in despair and apathetic, the Filipino people—who were suffering their own hardships—shed a light on justice and morality to lead others,” he says.
Raymond Bagatsing is a seasoned Filipino actor starring in both television and films. In Quezon’s Game, he plays the titular role of Filipino President Manuel “Manny” L. Quezon. New York Times described his performance as “sincere, [and] rousing.” While the Hollywood Reporter calls Bagatsing “charismatic” as he “delivers a nuanced, compelling turn in the titular role.”
Playing the wife of Quezon is Rachel Alejandro, an iconic Philippine singer who also lent her voice to a version of “Quezon’s Theme”—the film’s emotional them song. As Aurora, Alejandro helped her husband in welcoming more than 1,200 refugees in their family’s property.
A familiar face to viewers of TV series Lost, Hawaii Five-O, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Hollywood actor Billy Ray Gallion takes on the role of a prominent Jewish businessman and the one who implored Quezon to establish an asylum for refugees. David Bianco first made his appearance in The Boston Kitchen Musical. He plays the young U.S. Army Colonel and future president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Quezon’s Game is now showing in Brunie at Vision Cinemas and will be screening across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific from Feb. 27. More theatre lists and more updates about the film screening, visit www.QuezonsGame.com, www.mytfc.com or follow TFC Asia, TFC Guam and Saipan, TFC Australia and TFC New Zealand on Facebook.