TRANSIT is the Philippine's entry to the Oscar Awards 2014; Singapore's is ILO-ILO, the UK's is METRO MANILA

There's a whole lot of something Filipino in the entries for this year's Best Foreign Language Film category in the upcoming 86th Academy Awards which will be held on March 2, 2014. Singapore's entry is the movie entitled "Ilo Ilo" is about the relationship between a Singapore family and their newly arrived Filipino maid in the midst of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It is based upon the true-to-life experiences its director Anthony Chen and his family's relationship with a Pinay OFW Nanny from the City of Iloilo.  Meanwhile, the UK's entry for the festival is British filmmaker Sean Ellis"Metro Manila" which tells the tale of a poor probinsya family which moved to Metro Manila, only to be stuck on a much darker fate. This has a more bleak and darker tone, closer to crime noir drama.

And from our end, here in the Philippines, our entry is the movie entitled "Transit" which was chosen by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) to be the country’s entry in the best foreign language film category of the Academy Awards in 2014. Directed by Hannah Espia, “Transit” tells the struggles of a Filipino family working in Tel Aviv after the Israeli government passed a law ordering overseas workers’ children below 5 years old to be deported back to their countries. It debuted in the 9th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, where it bagged 10 awards, including best film and best director for Espia. [hit the jump to continue]

“Transit” was picked from a short list of nine films by a seven-member committee headed by award-winning director Peque Gallaga. 63 movies from various countries will be picked to compete for the best foreign language film category of the Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the nominees in January, and the awards show will be held in February.

Gallaga recently talked to Inquirer about the selection of the movie .
“We were very serious about our job,” said Gallaga. “It was my first time to sit as head of the committee; the others had been doing it for a long time now.” Other members of the selection committee were: Robert Arevalo and Gina Alajar, directors Elwood Perez and William Mayo, scriptwriter Joe Carreon and editor Jess Navarro.

Gallaga also gave us the reason why TRANSIT was chosen:
"We had two sessions of deliberation. The biggest consideration was technical mastery. The nine short-listed films were all good, but it boiled down to three.” The other two movies he meant were Brillante Mendoza’s “Thy Womb” and Erik Matti’s “On the Job.” Gallaga added:
“I was impressed by the selection process. I realized that what we were doing was actually recognizing the Oscars as the biggest market there is; and, at the same time, choosing a film that would best project how we wanted other people to look at us” he elaborates: “One shows the Philippines as an ethnic entity (“Thy Womb”). The second (“OTJ”) shows the underbelly of our criminal and political system. ‘Transit’ is about us as a people struggling to make a living, about the love and the sacrifices we make for the people we care about. Obviously, the committee felt that the projection we make in ‘Transit’ is how we want the world to see us as Filipinos. It was very strong; it got a 5-2 vote.”
[Read the rest of the interview at Inquirer.net]