Actress Shaina Magdayao represents the Philippines as she joins the New York Asian Film Festival jury
International festival favorite Shaina Magdayao represents the Philippines at the New York Asia Film Festival as part of the Uncaged Competition with esteemed jury members.
Joining her are Tony Bui (Vietnamese-US director, Three Seasons), Shao-yi Chen (Taiwan Screenworks Asia producer, Screenworks Asia), Felix Tsang (Hong Kong’s Golden Scene Sales & Acquisitions Manager), Nonkul Chanon Santinatornkul (Thai star of box office hit Bad Genius), and Aliza Ma (Head of Programming, the Criterion Channel).
NYAFF also announced that the recipient of this year’s Screen International Star Asia Award will be Nicholas Tse, a Hong Kong actor, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and TV chef.
In the NYAFF website, it states that, “The Uncaged Award nominees, made by talented first- and second-time directors and other unsung auteurs who have flown under the radar of the international awards and festival circuit, are: The Escaping Man (Wang Yichun, China), a satire of class, ambition, and moral turpitude that tells the story of a lovelorn ex-con, a kidnapping gone wrong, and an unusual boy caught in a storm of happenstance; Frankenstein Father (Choi Jea-young, South Korea), a morality play about identity and survival that explores the ramifications of perfectionism and the age-old conundrum of nature vs. nurture; How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (Pat Boonnitipat, Thailand), a pan-Asian box-office smash starring superstar Billkin as a slacker who quits his job to become his grandma’s caregiver— whether she likes it or not; Ichiko (Akihiro Toda, Japan), an enigmatic, Rashomon-like puzzle box that gradually unravels the shocking reality of its central character; Snow in Midsummer (Chong Keat Aun, Malaysia/Taiwan/Singapore), a meditation on a tragedy that still scars the soul of a nation; Suffocating Love (Liao Ming-yi, Taiwan), a dizzying, disorienting plunge into the rabbit hole of modern romance shot entirely on an iPhone; Trouble Girl (Chin Chia-Hua, Taiwan), a tumultuous drama exploring the complex bonds between a mother and her neurodiverse daughter (Audrey Lin in an awardwinning role); and Women from Rote Island (Jeremias Nyangoen, Indonesia), a genredefying piece that is part ethnographic doc, part sexual-violence drama, and part stinging indictment of the patriarchal structures that make life a horror story for many women.”
Shaina Garcia Magdayao is an acclaimed Filipino actress. Known primarily for her dramatic roles in film and television, she began her career as a child actress and starred in her first titular role, Lyra. She has received accolades from various local award-giving bodies such as FAMAS, Metro Manila Film Festival Award, Young Critics Circle, Gawad Pasado, in addition to nominations from Gawad Urian (Philippines’ equivalent to the Oscars).
Her works have also competed and screened in numerous prestigious film festivals around the world such as Cannes Film Festival, Berlinale, Locarno Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival. She could very well be the only mainstream actress in her contemporary whose films have graced and competed in the world’s biggest festivals.
Her penchant for acting in films that are not just in the commercial stream has brought her presence known in the global film stage. In last year’s Busan International Film Festival, she has graced events with Song Kang-ho of Parasite, Lee Byung-hun of Squid Game and Mr Sunshine, and Yoo Teo of Past Lives.
She is known to act in numerous Lav Diaz’s films with the very recent one in Locarno Main Competition, Essential Truths of the Lake. She also wowed the international audience in the Lav Diaz Cannes entry, The Halt and his Berlinale Main Competition masterpiece, Season of the Devil, which won in Cartagena Film Festival and the local FAMAS awards.