Yeng Constantino's 'Shift' Won Grand Prix in the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2014

'SHIFT' is the first movie project of Philippines' Pop Rock Princess Yeng Constantino. The film also stars Felix Roco, Matthew Valeña and Alex Vincent Medina.

Directed by Siege Ledesma, Cinema One Original's “Shift” was named best picture, beating 10 other entries from six other participating countries and will be will be receiving ￥500,000.

The fest jury said that films from South Korea and The Philippines stood out, and that they had awarded the Grand Prize to “Shift” from Philippines for “its simplicity, honestly and its integrity for pushing boundaries.”

The film is the story of a tomboy call center agent Estela (Yeng Constantino) with vague ambitions of being a singer or a photographer. She develops a friendship with co-worker Trevor (Felix ROCO), and despite the fact that he is gay, she falls for him and when he breaks up with his boyfriend, she hopes he may finally reciprocate her unspoken love.

WATCH 'SHIFT' TRAILER HERE

The other winners in competition were Ha Jung-woo's airborne comedy 'Fasten Your Seatbelt' won $2,000 for Most Promising Talent, Hong Kong's Carina Lau won Best Actress Award for 'Bend', 'Taiwan's "Forever Love" for the ABC Award and “Kano” for the Audience Award.

Meanwhile, another Filipino movie, 'Anita’s Last Cha-Cha' that stars Angel Aquino and young newcomer Teri Malvar was given a special mention.

Directed by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo, 'Anita's Last Cha-Cha' is story of a 12-year-old tomboy Anita gets a hopeless crush on a 37-year-old woman who returns to her village after a decade away. This charming tale of sexual confusion and pubescent rebellion features a terrific performance from Teri Malvar.

WATCH 'ANITA'S LAST CHA-CHA' TRAILER HERE

In a statement posted in its official website, Actress Eugene Domingo, who is part of the jury of this year's festival, thanked all all the nominated films and filmmakers.

“While all of us on the jury agree that this year the Korean films and the films from The Philippines are the ones that impressed us the most, the hard work all of you filmmakers did made our jobs watching so many movies in such short amount of time a whole lot easier,” Domingo said.

“This year, we merit a film for it's simplicity, honestly and it's integrity for pushing boundaries,” she added.

Aside from Domingo, the other members of the jury were Taiwan’s Tom Shu-yu Lin, and China’s Yang Lina.

The 8th Osaka Film Festival ran from March 7 to 16.

For more updates straight on your feed, please follow us on Twitter: @dailybabbleph, like us on Facebook: dailybabbleph and leave your comment below. Thank you for your support!!!