Restored MMFF winner 'Jose Rizal' to be screened at Fiesta in America 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The restored version of the most-awarded 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival entry "Jose Rizal" will be part of the upcoming 27th edition of Fiesta in America in the United States this month. 

The Cesar Montano-starrer that details the life story of the Philippines' National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, leading to his final days in Bagumbayan (now Luneta), will be shown on August 13 in New York City's Dine-In Cinemas. 

Fiesta in America is now holding its 27th edition from August 17 to 18 in the retail and entertainment complex American Dream in East Rutherford in New Jersey. 

The two-day event is free admission to the public that will feature trade shows that highlight the Philippines, its people and its products in the East Coast. 

One of its add-on events is the film screening of the 1998 film directed by the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya, produced by GMA Films as part of the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival. 

"Jose Rizal" took home 17 awards from the annual film fest, the most awards an entry has won in the festival's history. 

"'Jose Rizal' is the most awarded film of the Metro Manila Film Festival... Why 'Jose Rizal'? Because there is already an interest, a captive audience in New York because of a big community that supports Jose Rizal, which is the Knights of Rizal," said Susan de Mundo, Vice President for International Sales and Marketing of Fiesta in America (FIA), to Philstar.com at its recent Manila press conference. 

The restored "Jose Rizal" was also screened at this year's Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. 

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