‘Jose Rizal’ remastered film comes to New York this August
By Marivir Montebon
New York – Philippine actor Cesar Montano has regarded his role as Dr. Jose Rizal in the 1998 film of the same title as the best movie he has ever made in his career.
“Jose Rizal was the best, most important portrayal I have done so far,” he recounted when asked during the 2023 Philippine Independence Day cruise on New York’s Hudson River. Montano, 62, won Best Actor for this role.
‘Jose Rizal’ was the best and most important film I have ever made, says Montano during the Hudson River cruise in June 2023. In photo, he is with PIDCI Executive Director Nora Galleros and then Grand Marshall Dely Go.
This August, the highly acclaimed film by the late National Artist Marilou Diaz Abaya comes to New York, presented by the Philippine Consulate General in New York (PCGNY) and Sentro Rizal New York.
The remastered edition of the 1998 legacy film opens the Sinehan sa Konsulado (Movies at the Consulate) on August 27, 6pm, at New York University, King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, New York. Admission is free.
With a budget of over ₱80 million, ‘Jose Rizal’ portrays the final days of Dr. Rizal before his execution in December 1896. Rizal, a medical doctor, poet, and novelist, is regarded as the national hero and patriot of the Philippines. His two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, exposed the abuses of Spanish friars and colonial government, which inspired and sustained Filipino uprisings that led to Philippine independence from Spain in 1898. His death by firing squad sparked revolution in the Philippines.
Actor Cesar Montano as ‘Jose Rizal’ in the Marilou Diaz-Abaya 1998 film.
Abaya’s ‘Jose Rizal’ won seventeen awards at the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival and received international acclaim, screening in Berlin, Toronto, Chicago, and Spain.
The remastered film is presented in partnership with Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative of New York University and Knights of Rizal New York chapters. It is sponsored by GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV, and GMA News TV.
On August 13, Tuesday, Jose Rizal will premiere at LOOK Cinemas W57, on 657 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019. The screening is sponsored by the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), the Manila International Film Festival (MIFF), and Fiesta in America. Part of the proceeds will go to flood victims of Typhoon Carina in the Philippines.
There is a special Introduction by Gil Quito, a New York-based writer, and a talkback session with Rochelle Ona, Metro Manila Film Festival Executive Director at 5:30PM before the 6:30PM screening.
The New York premiere follows its first screening at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in the Philippines, marking its first international showing. # (With press releases from the Philippine Consulate General in New York and Fiesta in America.)
