CebuAsia.com

A FILM on a Pinoy transvestite won Thursday the top prize at the Berlinale’s Teddy Queer Film Awards.

“The Amazing Truth about Queen Raquela,” which stars Raquela Rios of Cebu, bagged the Best Feature Film Award in the sidebar of the Berlin International Film festival.

“Queen Raquela” was cited by the jury “for its ability to address race, gender and poverty in an entertaining way, while also playing with audiences’ expectations of form.”

Click photos to view their large size.

Filipino director Auraeus Solito won the same award in 2006 for his acclaimed “Ang Pagdadalaga ni (The Blossoming of) Maximo Oliveros.”

The prize includes a 3,000 Euro endowment to the film’s director, Olaf de Fleur Johannesson. Arlene Cuevas co-produced “Queen Raquela” which also features actors from the Philippines and Iceland, including Olivia Galudo, Brax Villa, Amor Alingasa, Raniel Dave Balasabas, Ren Christian Balasabas, Stefan C. Schaefer, Edith Galudo, Luis Labandero, Archie Modequillo, Reynaldo Palatulon and Alexis Yap.

“Queen Raquela,” which also tapped a Pinoy crew that includes Alexis, Butch Maddul, Ragnar Santos, and Beverly Tañedo, was shot in the Philippines, Thailand, Iceland, Denmark, France and the US.

Olaf wrote the plot summary in the film’s IMDB.com entry: “Raquela is a poor ladyboy prostitute who dreams of escaping to Paris, France to supposedly find her knight on Champs-Elysees, marry and have a family… But she has little chance of getting a French visa…

Read the full story.

See the website, The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela.

If you like this story, share this to the world.

Hide Sites