Screen icon Hilda Koronel is set to make her return to the big screen through the historical thriller “Sisa,” which will have its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (POFF) in Estonia this November.
Directed by Jun Robles Lana, “Sisa” follows a woman who feigns madness to conceal her true identity as a spy during the Philippine-American War.
“Returning to Tallinn after his acclaimed ‘About Us But Not About Us,’ Jun Robles Lana shifts from the intimate to the epic. With his signature emotional precision and a searing performance by Hilda Koronel, ‘SISA’ is both a historical thriller and an urgent elegy,” wrote POFF film programmer Milani Perera.
“Sisa” will premiere on November 20 as part of the festival’s official competition, with Lana and Koronel set to attend both the premiere and the awards ceremony.
Lana also shared the news on his X (formerly Twitter) page, writing: “It took an extraordinary team to bring this film to life, and I am deeply excited for them, and the world, to finally see it.”
“I didn’t realize until this year that the two films I was making centered on motherhood, although in radically different forms,” Lana wrote, apparently referring to “Sisa” and the upcoming Vice Ganda-starrer “Call Me Mother.”
“With ‘Sisa,’ we explore the mothering of a nation: the fierce, necessary commitment to teach our people how to resist and survive,” Lana added.
“Sisa” marks Koronel’s return to cinema after going on hiatus and moving to the United States in 2012. She is best known for her roles in Lino Brocka masterpieces such as “Insiang” and “Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag.”
Originally published on ABS-CBN.
