Iza Calzado Gets Offers From Producers Abroad After Being A Juror At The Recent Hanoi International Filmfest

IZA CALZADO had a great experience working as one of the jurors in the recent Hanoi International Filmfest. “It’s great meeting filmmakers and stars from other countries, like Geraldine Chaplin, the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, and Adoor Gopalakhrisnan of India, and learning about their own film industry,” she says. “And it’s also nice that one of our own movies won big in Hanoi. This is ‘Pamilya Ordinaryo’ which got the best director award for Eduardo Roy and the best actress award for Hasmine Killip in her role as a teenage mom whose baby was kidnapped.”

Last year, Iza was in a Metro Filmfest entry, “Haunted Mansion”, where she played a malevolent ghost. This year, she’s glad to be in another movie that qualified as an official entry in the coming December filmfest, “Die Beautiful”, which is directed by Jun Lana, who was also the director of “Haunted Mansion”. “I play the host of a gay beauty pageant where Paolo Ballesteros is one of the contestants,” she says. “It’s one of the most hilarious sequences in the movie and I’m so glad Paolo won as best actor in the Tokyo International Filmfest for his performance here. When Eugene Domingo also won in Tokyo for ‘Barber’s Tales’, I’m proud to say na co-star din niya ako sa movie niya.”

Iza is also quite busy acting in two new movies, both with Ian Veneracion as her leading man. First is the horror movie, “Ilawod”, directed by Dan Villegas for Quantum Films which has a January 18 playdate. She plays a young mom whose family is terrorized by an evil spirit. Then there’s a yet untitled movie she did for Jerrold Tarog, who did last year’s acclaimed sleeper hit, “Heneral Luna”. This is a suspense-thriller where we heard she’ll have a topless scene. “Hindi naman siya seksing-sexy,” she says. “More of sensual lang. But it’s my most daring role to date. I’m a risk taker and the project, the role is good, so I accepted it.”

Did she have to ask the permission of her BF Ben Wintle about it? “I told him about it at okay lang naman sa kanya. He just celebrated his birthday and I granted his fervent wish, which is that I cook dinner for him. Nagustuhan naman niya.”

Iza is also in the cast of an international action flick for Mark Dacascos, “Showdown in Manila”, which will be shot here, and she is taping a new soap, “A Love to Last”, with Bea Alonzo and again, with her current ka-love team, Ian Veneracion. After Hanoi, a number of foreign filmmakers also approached her for possible film project collaborations, so she’s looking forward to doing more movies that would merit international screenings. “Ang saya lang!’ says her manager, the indefatigable Noel Ferrer.