214:, stated that she is making movies that her younger self "needed to see", as she had grown up without seeing representation of herself as a queer youth in the media, and was left feeling invisible. According to her, she made sure this film did that which she thought would never happen in her lifetime: cast queer actors to play queer roles, in a film directed by a queer director. Lee also relates that her trigger for writing the screenplay was actually a series of anti-LGBT tweets, particularly surrounding the legislation of same-sex marriage in Taiwan. One tweet in particular called for "No to
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through the last year of high school without incident, and then go back to Manila to study music. But with her short hair and combat boots, she is a clear outlier, drawing the scorn of her fellow students, including the popular Emma. Emma is the daughter of a single mother who is looked down upon in town, but she gains recognition as the star student and most popular girl in the school. Emma and Billie are assigned to do a class project together, and very soon, the two begin to influence each other, and then they fall in love.
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231:, liked the sweetness with which the central characters' developing relationship was treated, and found the film charismatic; he did not like the resolution for one of the characters. Preview Magazine listed five reasons to see Billie and Emma, among them that the film is more than an LGBT coming-of-age story, but also deals with other teenage issues such as unwanted pregnancy and personal agency; the reviewer found the film lighthearted, and lauded it for casting lesbian actors in the lesbian roles.
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The complication in the story comes when Emma finds out she is pregnant with her boyfriend Miguel, whose role in her life remained unclear during her time with Billie. Miguel wants to marry her, her mother encourages her to get an abortion, and Billie wants to win money at a talent show to help take
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to attend a
Catholic girls school, where her father hopes she will learn not to be a lesbian. She lives with her aunt, who is also the religion teacher at the school, who instructs the girls on the sinfulness of homosexuality and abortion. Billie tries to fit in at her new school, hoping to make it
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The review on
Philippines news channel ABS-CBN found reviewer Andrew Paredes "gratified" that in the movies, "LGBTQ people feel less and less apologetic about existing". He appreciated the way Lee manages to include worlds inside worlds in this apparently limited setting of small-town school, but
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also found some of the character development hard to swallow. Matthew
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Outstanding performance by an
Actress in a Supporting Role
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set in the mid-1990s, and is Lee's sophomore feature film.
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Outstanding
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
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624:"Billie and Emma | TLVFest"
195:Shiara Joy Dizon as Twinkle
189:Cielo Aquino as Miss Castro
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177:Gabby Padilla as Emma
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106:Running time
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894:4th Man Out
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784:Latter Days
774:Madame Satã
118:Philippines
110:107 minutes
77:Mycko David
54:Produced by
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1008:2018 films
1002:Categories
914:Sisterhood
814:The Bubble
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403:References
302:Nominated
286:Nominated
275:Nominated
206:Background
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137:is a 2018
94:2018-10-22
69:Zar Donato
864:Margarita
669:Instagram
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354:Frameline
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222:Reception
884:Tru Love
764:Gypsy 83
754:Big Eden
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583:June 10,
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452:Preen.ph
429:June 10,
361:See also
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155:Synopsis
139:Filipino
123:Language
64:Starring
984:Sisters
854:Weekend
345:TLVfest
256:Result
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115:Country
92: (
987:(2024)
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247:Award
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244:Year
216:SOGIE
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320:Won
172:Cast
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