MMFF best director Jadaone: Give right role models to our youth

In winning as best director during the 46th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Gabi ng Parangal, Antoinette Jadaone drove home the point of Fan Girl: that it takes a country and a whole society to raise its next generation.

“Sana pagkatapos nating manood ng Fan Girl, sana’y lagi nating isipin na palakihin natin ang ating kabataan at kababaihan sa isang mapagpalayang Pilipinas. Laging iniisip na sila ang kinabukasan ng ating bayan at tayong mga matatanda, ang dapat ang nagbibigay sa mga kabataang ito ng dapat nilang gayahin,” said Jadaone, whose Fan Girl dominated the MMFF awards night held online on Sunday, December 27.

(After watching Fan Girl, I hope we always remember that we must raise our youth, our girls in a liberating Philippines. We should always remember that they’re the future of our country and that we, as elders, should give them the right role models.)

Fan Girl is a dark coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old girl who longs after and later, meets the actor she idolizes. But it’s in meeting her idol that “Jane” realizes there’s more to him than meets the eye.

The movie won all but one of the 9 awards it was nominated in, including Best Picture. Its leads, newbie Charlie Dizon and veteran Paulo Avelino, won top acting awards. Jadaone also won best screenplay for the movie.

Jadaone’s latest work is the latest in a line of movies that have spoken about the realities of being a woman in the Philippines. In most of her work, the director and screenwriter almost always focuses on the female protagonist’s growth and struggles as a woman in Philippine society.

In an earlier interview with Rappler, Jadaone said that she wanted to discuss how young people – especially women – are formed “in this sexist, misogynist country.”

“Do you think that this is a safe environment for them to grow up into the strong independent women that we want them to be?” the director had told Rappler in October, ahead of the film’s worldwide premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Fan Girl stars Dizon as “Jane,” the titular fan girl, and Avelino as a fictionalized version of himself.