Filipino film ‘Guardia de Honor’ premiering in Moscow International Film Festival out of competition

April 4, 2024 | 2:59pm

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino drama movie “Guardia de Honor” by Jay Altarejos will have its world premiere at the prestigious Moscow International Film Festival this month.

The film will be in the festival’s Out-Of-Competition program and will not be eligible for any awards.

According to Altarejos, the movie is loosely inspired by a police officer who killed his neighbors, a mother and son, in Tarlac four years ago in cold blood.

For the director, his newest film speculates on the question, “What family breeds a killer?”

“It traces the history of police brutality through the main character’s family and how his traumatic childhood has contributed to his actions as an adult,” he continued.

“Because of the incident, his mother has to face her own tumultuous past and generational abuse to emancipate herself, her daughter, and her granddaughter from decades-old patriarchal abuses.”

“Guardia de Honor” stars Laurice Guillen, Sunshine Cruz, Therese Malvar, and Allen Dizon, with the special participation of Ina Feleo and Oliver Aquino. 

On the eve of a presidential inauguration, the seemingly happy life of a middle-class family is shattered when a policeman (Allen Dizon) kills a mother and son.

Matriarch Mamang Anita (Laurice Guillen) takes the event with quiet dignity while acknowledging a series of familial abuse that started with her late policeman-husband defiling their daughter Minda (Sunshing Cruz) and culminated in her son abusing his own daughter Marie (Therese Malvar). 

As Eddie Boy faces the investigation by a strange young officer (Oliver Aquino) a history of police violence is uncovered, and Mamang Anita makes a great sacrifice to restore the family’s honor.

This year marks the 46th edition of the Moscow International Film Festival where 11 films are competing in the main competition, eight films in the documentary competition, and 18 films in the short film competition.

Selection Committtee member and film critic Evgenia Tirdatova said two more films could be added to the main competition of the festival which runs from April 19 to 26 in the Russian capital.

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