Published: 7 February 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
IT WAS NOT UNTIL Matthew Rosen’s Filipino wife, Lori joined in with singing Hava Nagila at a wedding in the UK ten years ago, that the Manila-based director-cinematographer discovered the strong connection between Jews and the Philippines.
“She had no idea it was a Hebrew song,” explains Rosen, speaking from Manila, where he has lived for more than 30 years. “She was so surprised when I told her because she said it was just something that everyone sang in the street. There are so many dialects in the Philippines, they all assumed it was another one.”
But Rosen was left curious and decided to find out more. He spoke to members of Manila’s small Jewish community and, to his astonishment, learned that between 1938 and the early 1940s, former Philippine President, Manuel L. Quezon had rescued over 1,200 German and Austrian Jews and brought them to the pre-war Philippines, at a time when few countries were prepared to take in Jewish refugees.
The story is relatively unknown which is why, Rosen says, he wanted to tell it. The result is Quezon’s Game, Rosen’s feature directorial debut, which is inspired by true events and stars Filipino actors, Raymond Bagatsing as Quezon and Rachel Alejandro as his wife, Aurora.
FULL STORY The president of the Philippines who saved 1200 Jews (Jewish Chronicle)
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Photo: A still from the film Quezon's Game
