Billie and Emma is a film from the Philippines written and directed by Samantha Lee. The film is partly in Tagalog, and partly in English.
Zar Donato plays Billie, a young woman from Manila, who has been sent to the smaller city of San Isidro, because her parents hope she'll lose her attraction to girls. Billie stands out immediately--she's the only student with short hair, she wears heavy boots, and she defends same-sex attraction. (The lesson plan on her first day is that same-sex attraction isn't a sin, but acting upon that attraction is a sin. Billie disagrees.)
Gabby Padilla portrays Emma, the perfect student in their Catholic school. She's bright, beautiful, and popular.
You can tell from the title that the plot will revolve around the relationship of the two girls, and it does. However, their are plenty of plot twists along the way.
The two leads do a good job, but I would single out two supporting actors for special praise: Cielo Aquino as Billie's aunt, who is a teacher at the school, and
Beauty Gonzalez, as Emma's childlike mother.
We saw this movie at The Little Theatre, as part of Rochester's excellent ImageOut LGBT Film Festival. If you can't find it at a festival, it will work will on the small screen.
Billie and Emma was shown as a "New York Sneak Preview." Obviously, it hasn't been shown much. It only has 26 IMDb ratings, and I'm the first reviewer. The few people who have rated it produced an strong rating of 7.3, and I think that it's at least that good.
