Cinemalaya winner 'John Denver Trending' joins Busan Int'l Film Fest

"John Denver Trending", winner in Cinemalaya 2019's Best Full-length Film Award, is set to compete in the 24th Busan International Film Festival this year.

The film will be heading to South Korea next month to compete with films from India, Vietnam, China, and Japan among others in the New Currents division.

According to the film's Facebook page, the festival made an exception for "John Denver Trending" since most of the films joining the competition are required to premiere on an international status, but the film premiered in the Philippines already.

The post said, "Requiring a world premiere status most of the time, the festival made an exception of allowing our film to compete even if it has already premiered in the Philippines."

"This is also the first Filipino film to be selected in the section after 5 years," it added.

The film features the story of John Denver, a poor high school student, who, after being falsely accused of stealing a classmate's iPad, goes trending online and is cyber-bullied.

Directed by Arden Rod Condez, the film also bagged the Best Actor, Best Original Music Score, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and the NETPAC award at the Cinemalaya this year.

—Kaela Malig/LBG, GMA News