“Quezon’s Game,” a movie that pays tribute to former Philippine president Manuel L. Quezon’s heroic rescue of over a thousand Jewish people seeking refuge from the Holocaust, continues to get worldwide recognition after it bagged four awards at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival last Saturday, April 13 (Sunday, April 14 in Manila).
 
The film, a joint venture production of Star Cinema, ABS-CBN’s streaming service iWant, and Kinetek Productions, won the Best Foreign Movie trophy.
 
It also won three Gold Remi Awards for Best Art Design, Best Producers for ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, Star Cinema managing director Olivia Lamasan, iWant originals production head Linggit Tan-Marasigan, and Lorena Rosen, and Best Director for Matthew Rosen, an award-winning TV commercial and music video director and pioneer in the data post-production field.
 
WorldFest, based in Houston, Texas, is the oldest independent film and video festival in the world and third competitive international film festival in North America.
 
In January, the period movie also brought home 12 awards from the Cinema World Fest Awards in Ottawa, Canada, including Awards of Excellence for its lead actor Raymond Bagatsing, who portrayed the titular character, and Rachel Alejandro, who played his wife, Aurora.
 
It continued getting honors in the international film festival circuit in February, when it reaped six awards at the IndieFEST Film Awards in California, US.
 
Inspired by true events, “Quezon’s Game” tells the epic story of heroism that began in 1938, when Manuel L. Quezon joined future US president Dwight Eisenhower, and several other notable figures to rescue Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Faced with mounting obstacles—including Quezon’s battle with a relapse of tuberculosis—the group fought through and saved around 1,200 refugees.
 
It is said that in his final days, Quezon asked the question "Could I have done more?" as he recounted one of the least known, but most inspiring stories in Philippine history.
 
“Quezon’s Game” will be shown in theaters in the country starting May 29.