‘Jake and Charice’ docu bests in int’l film fest

A documentary about Jake Zyrus’s life won the Gold Camera award in an international film festival that has been around since 1967.

In a Facebook post, exactly a month after the singer-songwriter’s birthday, his official page brought out the good news.

“Congratulations Jake Zyrus and to the whole team for winning the Gold Camera award in US INTERNATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL for his documentary aired in Japan last November 2019,” the page wrote, thanking all the people behind the success of the film.

“Jake and Charice” was produced by NHK and co-produced with ABS-CBN.

It won against four entries in the Social Issues category: “My Birthday: Keeping Memories Alive Through Love” (Hong Kong), “RT Reporta: “La Bestia” Y Sus Ángeles” (Russia), “Pakistan Child Protection,” and “From The Soil: How One Village Cut Poverty Through Flowers” (China).

The documentary’s producers were Shin Yasuda, Akiko Tabakotani, Keiko Tsuneki, and Kenji Hyodo. It was directed and edited by Hiroko Ninomiya with Yusaki and Mitsuwaka and Jayson Pajarillo as cinematographers. Kenichi Tominaga and Larry Steven Ojeda were the people behind its sounds.

This is not the first time for Jake to work with filmmakers from Japan as he was tapped for the role of Akira in the film “Yaru Onna (She’s a Killer)” in 2018, when he was still Charice.

“Jake and Charice” follows his journey of transition.

“The singer Charice was the first Asian artist to have a Billboard top-ten hit. Mentored by producer David Foster, she wowed the world with her incomparable talent. Seven years later, she came out as a transgender man, changed her name to Jake Zyrus, and made a fresh start without the renown or voice that he had established as Charice. Why did Charice choose to live as Jake? How did his family and other people dear to him react? NHK documented Jake’s life and new challenges, his joys and sorrows, and the journey he took to finding his own voice. We hope the documentary will be watched by a wide range of viewers including those who are not interested in gender issues,” read the synopsis.

According to its website, US International Film & Video Festival was born as U.S. Industrial Film and Video Festival in 1967 in Chicago. Its mission is “to recognize quality work produced for industry, associations, government, religious or education organizations whose purpose is to inform, motivate, stimulate or educate an audience.” It houses five mini-competitions in one: Corporate, Education, Entertainment, Documentary, and Student productions.