Cannes best actress is Philippines's Jaclyn Jose

MANILA, Philippines - Until her surname was mentioned, Jaclyn Jose wasn’t convinced that she had won Best Actress at the just-concluded 69th Cannes International Film Festival.

“I heard my first name but I thought that maybe the announcer was referring to another Jaclyn because there are so many Jaclyns anyway,” she told The STAR in a phone interview five hours after she won for her performance in Ma’Rosa, directed by Brillante “Dante” Mendoza, who himself competed for Best Director. “It was only when he mentioned my surname that I screamed, ‘That’s me, that’s me!’ I didn’t have any idea that I would win because the other nominees were heavyweights.”

Two of the “heavyweights” were Charlize Theron (for The Last Face, the US entry directed by Sean Penn) and Marion Cotillard (for Mal de Pierres/From the Land of the Moon, the France entry directed by Nicole Garcia).

“Marion Cotillard is my favorite and I was star struck when I saw her at the red carpet,” said Jaclyn, who walked the same red carpet with her daughter and Ma’Rosa co-star Andi Eigenmann who was voted by Vanity Fair among the Best Dressed stars at the event.

“I was just enjoying the ceremony, watching from my seat. As I walked to the stage to get my trophy, I still couldn’t believe it even if I was telling myself, ‘Ikaw ‘yon, ikaw yon! Talo mo sila!’ I am overwhelmed. Sobra!!!”

She didn’t even prepare a thank-you speech. All she could say was “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” as she held back tears.

Jaclyn is the second Filipino artist to have won such honor at Cannes, said to be the world’s biggest film festival and among the top five, including the New York Filmfest, Berlin Filmfest, Venice Filmfest and Toronto Filmfest.

The first was Mendoza who won Best Director for Kinatay (Butchered) in 2009, beating the likes of Ang Lee and Quentin Tarantino.

Mendoza, a fifth-timer in Cannes (his two previous entries in the Competition Category; his other film Taklub was entered in the Un Certain Regard category), lost the Palme D’Or plum to Ken Loach (of UK, director of I, Daniel Blake).

Other directors in competition and their entries were: Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade (Germany); Julieta, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain); American Honey, Andrea Arnold (UK); Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas (France); La Fille Inconnue, Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne (Belgium); Juste La Fin Du Monde/It’s Only the End of the World, Xavier Dolan (Canada); Ma Loute/Slack Bay, Bruno Dumont (France); Paterson, Jim Jarmusch (USA); Rester Vertical, Alain Guiraudie (France); Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil); Bacalaureat, Cristian Mungiu (Romania); Loving, Jeff Nichols (USA); The Handmaiden (Agassi, The Handmaiden), Park Chan-Wook (South Korea); Sieranevada, Cristi Puiu (Romania); Elle, Paul Verhoeven (Netherlands); and The Neon Demon, Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark).

In Ma’Rosa, Jaclyn plays Rosa Reyes, a woman who owns a convenience store in the squatter area who makes ends meet by selling drugs along with her husband Nestor (played by Julio Diaz who is currently recovering from a stroke). Their fate changes one night when a neighbor begs her to sell him a small pack of methamphetamine without knowing that it’s a ploy for a pending buy-bust operation leading to Rosa’s and Nestor’s warrant-less arrest by a police team.

Australian director, screenwriter and producer of the Mad Max series fame George Miller headed the jury that awarded the prestigious Palme d’Or (Golden Palm).

According to journalist Anne Thompson, writing for Indiewire/Hollywood, “The jury defended the choice of Best Actress Jaclyn Jose for Ma’Rosa from Philippine director Brillante Mendoza, which some critics had suggested was a supporting role in a sprawling ensemble.” 

Actor Donald Sutherland was quoted by Thompson as saying, “The critics were wrong. It’s a big-time leading role,” seconded by critic Arnaud Desplechin who said, “She’s the film. She broke my heart.”

The jury admitted that there were many strong actress contenders, including Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake) and Romanian actress Maria Dragus (Graduation) but explained that they couldn’t award more than one prize for winners of the top three awards. Shahab Hosseini won Best Actor for The Salesman.

“I will sleep with my trophy,” said Jaclyn. It was 4:30 a.m. in Cannes during the STAR interview. “I want to make sure that when I wake up, I am not just dreaming,” she said, adding with a laugh, “I am hand-carrying my trophy when we fly back home tonight.”