Veteran actress Jacklyn Jose won the much-coveted Best Performance by an Actress Award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival held in Cannes, France for her stellar acting in the film “Ma’ Rosa.”
Jose is the first-ever Filipino actress who won this award in Cannes, a significant history in Philippine cinema.
Directed by the award-winning Brillante Mendoza, “Ma’ Rosa” tells the story of Rosa Reyes, a mother who owns a sari-sari store in a poor neighborhood in Manila, and who is forced to sell drugs to survive before falling prey to corrupt police.
In an interview aired on TV Festival de Cannes, Jose was thankful to Mendoza and said that she did not expect to win. “I just want to come here and be with my daughter and walk the red carpet,” the actress said.
“I was just sitting there watching the stage, how nice it is…and they call my name. So I got surprised. I’m so happy really, really,” she said.
“But of course I’m so proud of our film. We just didn’t know how the people would react or if they would like our film…but we know we did our best and that we have a good film,” she added.
(Caesar Vallejos)