HONG KONG, February 8, 2017 — SPOTLIGHT: Philippine Cinema 2017 opened in Hong Kong with an opening screening and Hong Kong premier of Sunday Beauty Queen. A Q&A session followed afterward with film director Baby Ruth Villarama, Hong Kong producer Michael Wong, and cast members Leo Selomenio, Rudelie Acosta and Hazel Perdido.

Shot over the period of four years, the film was “a love letter to the many domestic works and helpers overseas who choose to channel feelings of displacement or homesickness into something positive and uplifting,” said Mary Liza Diño, Chairman of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. Sunday Beauty Queen focused on a Hong Kong phenomenon where Filipino workers spent their hard-earned money on beauty pageants. Such pageants can be traced back to provinces in the Philippines, where roots run deep. The film unified the voices of this phenomenon that was a necessary way for Filipino foreign workers to cope with living in a foreign country.

As Michael Wong described his experience working in this film that the pageant was not there to look for beauty, but to look for a cause and a dream. (56 min.)

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