When Is Ilo Ilo Coming To Malaysia?

After Ilo Ilo (爸妈不在家- Absent Parents - literally, Father Mother Not At Home) won the coveted Camera d'Or prize for Singapore director Anthony Chen at the Cannes Film Festival this year, the film has gone places.

The film is about the relationship between a Filipino maid and the Singaporean family who hire her to help look after their problematic son, set against the backdrop of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

It has gone on to garner many other awards including 4 "Chinese Oscars" at the recent Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan including for best picture, beating out established names in Chinese language cinema like Wong Kar Wai's "The Grandmasters", Johnnie To's "Drug War" and Malaysia's Taiwan based director Tsai Ming-liang's "Stray Dogs"

The film has screened successfully in over 100 cinemas in France and will be screening in the US and in the UK early in the coming year.

It has also screened in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines and of course in Singapore.

Ilo Ilo has also been shortlisted for the Oscars for the best foreign film.

The film has even brought the director Anthony Chen and his younger brother to reconnect with their former Filipino nanny on whom the film is partly based, after a search found her still living in Ilo Ilo in Philippines.

But when will Ilo Ilo be screened in Bolehland?

I hope it won't be a long wait, or worse still not be brought here.

But I am heartened to read in their Facebook page that they are trying to lock down a date.