Janine Gutierrez ecstatic over 'Babae at Baril''s stint at 2020 New York Asian Film Festival

Kapuso actress Janine Gutierrez's 2019 film Babae at Baril is set to open this year's New York Asian Film Festival on August 28.

Written and directed by Filipino director Rae Red, Babae at Baril premiered at the QCinema International Film Festival in October 2019, where Janine and Rae bagged the Best Actress and Best Director awards, respectively.

The film was also screened at Osaka Film Festival last March.

Source: QCinema International Film Festival (YouTube)

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with 24 Oras, the actress shared that the milestone was a bittersweet experience since she won't be able to attend the festival in New York, America because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Medyo bittersweet kasi I was really looking forward to going to the festival.

"First time ko sanang maka-attend sa film festival sa ibang bansa bilang artista.

“I was super super excited but nonetheless, sobrang thankful pa rin na kami 'yung magiging opening film representing the Philippines,” she said.

Babae at Baril is a psycho-thriller film which follows the story of a saleslady in a local department store who's had enough of being an underdog.

All that is about to change when she reaches the gate to her boarding house and finds a peculiar looking gun right on her doorstep.

Suddenly, she can do anything she wants, talk back to whoever she wants, and even hurt anyone she wants.

When asked what challenges she had encountered while filming the movie, Janine said: “Madami. Kasi, very deglamorized 'yung role nu'ng babae.

"Tapos madami siyang pinagdaanan na mga abuse--from day to day abuse that women experience kapag nagko-commute, sa trabaho, hanggang sa malalaking violence.”

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Babae at Baril, directed by QCinema International Film Festival Best Director @raeredcc, will be the opening film at the New York Asian Film Festival 2020 💥💥 So excited and soo fffffing wish we could actually go to NY for the North American premiere at the NYAFF but, nonetheless congrats to the team! Babae at Baril is available in the Philippines on Cignal Play streaming. I hope you get to see it. So proud to be part of this female-led team. Directed by @raeredcc Produced by @biancabalbuena @ianabernardez Director of Photography @teyclamor Edited by Ilsa Malsi 💥💥 You also can't miss AMAZING work by @elijahcanlas and @j.c.santos in this film - sobrang idol ko kayo!!! 🙌🏼 #BabaeAtBaril

A post shared by 🌺 JANINE (@janinegutierrez) on Aug 10, 2020 at 9:49pm PDT

The film also stars actors Felix Roco, JC Santos, and Elijah Canlas.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NYAFF has opted to go virtual with the help of Smart Cinema.

Smart Cinema is a platform that offers movie screenings on mobile devices and for which users could pay prices equivalent to a theater ticket.

The 2020 NYAFF films will be geo-blocked to the U.S. and will run from August 28 until September 12.