Quezon's Game is a joint venture production of Star Cinema, iWant,[3] and Kinetek.[4] The film was directed by Matthew Rosen who is British-Jewish,[5] and the film had a production budget of US$500 thousand. The film produced in color runs for 125 minutes and is filmed in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. Production was finished by October 15, 2018.[2] Rosen spent three months on casting for the film alone.[5]
Lorena and Matthew Rosen were responsible for the film's original story idea while Janice Y. Perez and Dean Rosen wrote the screenplay. The film was produced to tell of a relatively unknown account of President Manuel L. Quezon rescuing Jewish refugees from the Holocaust and temporarily providing them shelter in the Philippines. One of the challenges the writers dealt with during Quezon's Game's research phase was the lack of Filipino historical manuscripts tackling the historical account. They referred to theses and dissertations made by Americans, and corresponded with the descendants of Alex and Herbert Frieder who played a major role in Quezon's plan.[6]
Rosen who is an immigrant who moved to the Philippines in the 1980s, became aware of President Quezon's plan after he learned that his Filipino wife knew the lyrics to the Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila" and local children could sing it, while not being aware of its Jewish origin. Rosen started inquiring at a synagogue and its museum in Manila in 2009 which led him to learning about President Quezon's plan for Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.[7]
Release
Quezon's Game was released in various international film festivals prior to its theatrical release. It was released in Ottawa, Canada as part of the gala event of the 2018 Cinema World Festival as one of the winning films of the 2018 Autumn Selection.[3] It was also an entry in the IndieFEST Film in California, and the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in Texas.[8]
As part of the film's promotion, a VIP screening was held on May 7, 2019 at the Power Plant Mall in Makati where ABS-CBN also presented video interviews of Holocaust Survivors Margot Pins Kestenbaum and Max Weissler, who were both provided shelter in the Philippines by Manuel Quezon and currently reside in Israel.[8] The film's theatrical release in the Philippines was on May 29, 2019.[5]
Spin-off
There will be a documentary series in iWant called The Last Manilaners: A Quezon’s Game Documentary which tells about the Jews who went to the Philippines describing their experience of prosecution and conflict in Nazi Germany and found new life.[9]
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 45% of 22 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review.[10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[11]
The film won at least 20 awards as an entry in various international film festivals.[8] In January 2019, Quezon's Game won 12 accolades at the Cinema World Fest Awards in Ottawa, Canada.[12][3]
