Jun Lana's new dramedy Die Beautiful has dropped a new teaser-trailer just in time for its world premiere at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival. There's enough spectacle here to make up for 2013's harrowing Barber's Tales and color to make up for 2015's bleak Shadow Behind the Moon. That's not saying the new film will not tread dark trails, however: the story, in fact, pivots around the death of a Filipino transwoman.
Here's the full synopsis:
Trisha, a Filipino transgender woman, suddenly dies while being crowned in a beauty pageant. Her last wish was to be presented as a different celebrity on each night of her wake, but her conservative father wants to bury her as a man. Trisha’s friends are left with no choice but to steal her body and hold the wake in a secret location. And as Trisha is transformed to look like different celebrities, they also look back at the colorful and extraordinary life that she has led - being a son, a sister, a mother, a friend, a lover, a wife, and ultimately, a queen.
Die Beautiful is directed by Jun Lana from a screenplay written by Rody Vera (who wrote the 4-hour Lav Diaz drama, Norte: End of History). It stars Paolo Ballesteros, Christian Bables, Gladys Reyes, Joel Torre, Luis Alandy, and Lou Veloso. It opens at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival on October 27, 2016.