On 06 March 2015, the Consulate, participating in the 8th Asian Film Festival in Jeddah, hosted the Philippine Movie Night and screened the indie movie “The Bit Player (Ekstra). The filmfest was held under the auspices of the Asian Consuls General Club (ACGC), which consists of 13 Asian countries namely Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. For this year, majority of the participating films were shown at the auditorium of the residence of Indonesian Consul General. A short documentary story about Vigan City preceded the screening of “Ekstra”.
More than 200 guests, including diplomats, other foreign nationals and film lovers, members of the Filipino community, media people, and PCG personnel and their spouses attended the Philippine movie night. Upon arrival of everyone, they were treated with Filipino fare such as the famous tender juicy Purefoods hotdogs, Jollibee burgers, pancit and guyabano juice. Philippine made food products such as chichacorn and peanuts were also distributed during the movie show, while Philippine tourism promotional brochures and mugs were handed to the guests as they left after the movie.
Consul General Leo Tito L. Ausan, Jr. welcomed the guests and thanked them for their indispensable and very much appreciated presence. He expressed special gratitude to the Consulate of Indonesia for hospitably hosting the Philippine night and the Consul General of Japan for his commendable coordinative leadership of the ACGC. ConGen Ausan underlined that this annual film festival is a genuine opportunity to showcase Philippines’ independent cinematic produce while promoting its public and cultural diplomacy programs.
The 8th Asian filmfest commenced last 28 February 2015 at the garden residence of the Consul General of Japan in conjunction with Japan’s movie screening. It formally ended on 13 March 2015, with the screening of an Indonesian film and the traditional Asian Food Festival.
The Food Festival enabled all the participating countries to showcase their various native cuisines for the savoring and enjoyment of their collective, not less than 400, invited guests that included diplomats, prominent Saudi personalities, media people and Asian expatriates.
At the Philippine food booth, the Consulate served the famous deep-fried chicken adobo, boneless bangus (daing) with atchara, steamed rice, chichen empanada, pichi-pitchi, cassava cake and guyabano juice. It was evident that the Consulate’s offerings at the foodfest did not fail to satisfy the guests, most of whom (expats and Filipinos alike) came back for extra servings. END.
