CZECH REPUBLIC
"Quezon's Game" Screened at ASEAN+3 Film Festival in Prague Text by Rebecca Urbančík Garcia Quotes from the Philippine Embassy in Prague
T
he ASEAN+3 Film Festival in Prague was officially launched on September 1, with the participation of six ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, joined by China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. This is the first ASEAN +3 film festival to be held in Prague. My husband and I had the pleasure of attending the official screening of the Philippine film “Quezon's Game” at the Maly Sal of the Prague Municipal Library on September 2. Around 120 guests from the diplomatic corps, private sector, media and the general public attended the event. In her welcome remarks, Chargé d’Affaires
Members of the Filipino community with CDA Bañares
Roots&Wings
Indhira C. Bañares cited “Quezon's Game” to be "a compelling story of a Philippine President who valued above all the sanctity of human life and rallied the Filipino people to speak to power only the truth – the truth that regardless of religion, race or gender, every human deserves the right to live.” She also added, “When countries closed their borders, President Manuel L. Quezon opened the doors of the Philippines to Jewish refugees. Despite odds, the Philippines welcomed more than a thousand Jewish refugees mostly from Germany and Austria, and a number from Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary, among others.” Chargé d’Affaires Bañares said that the Philippines could have welcomed more refugees had it not been for another war that came
The "Open Doors" Monument in Rishon LeZion, Israel
Culture
21
