NEW YORK (Jan 24, 2018) — Filipino American filmmaker Michael Manese has watched his short film “The Pleasure of Being Served” receive positive reception and reviews after showings at several film festivals.
According to the filmmaker, “The Pleasure of Being Served” has been selected by 12 film festivals so far. Within the past three weeks alone the film has been accepted to appear at the Pelikultura film festival at the University of the Philippines in February; the Albany Film Festival in Albany, Calif. in March; and Brightside Film Festival in Jersey City, N.J. in March.
“The Pleasure of Being Served” will also appear at the New York City International Film Festival in March. The film has already been screened at the 40th Asian American International Film Festival in New York last July, and the Golden Door International Film Festival in Jersey City, N.J. last September.
The film stars Maan Cruz as Rosa, an undocumented immigrant who works for Hudson, a young American man (played by Graham Powell) who is having a relationship with both a Filipina and an American woman. In the process of getting to know these two women, Rosa gets caught between moral integrity and fulfilling her dream of giving her son a much better life.
Born in the Philippines and raised in Passaic, N.J, Michael Manese now lives and works in Inwood, Manhattan. He studied filmmaking at Rutgers University and is currently a web project manager by trade who enjoys karate, short story writing, traveling and playing bass in the band BRAM.
Manese said “The Pleasure of Being Served” is a production straddling the familiarity of an American setting while telling the story of Filipinos.
“It’s an American movie about Filipinos,” he said.
Manese said it’s time for Hollywood to have some Filipino chic. The goal of this film is help start a trend of telling Filipino American stories with lead characters played by Filipino actors. The hope is that this leads to big budget feature length movies with an all Filipino cast telling a uniquely Filipino story that also casts non-Asian American acting roles in a story about the Filipino experience set in America.
For more information the film and to see the trailer visit http://ow.ly/bcGF30e3DtQ.
