A documentary on Paco Larranaga's plight with the Philippine justice system, "Give Up Tomorrow," wins big at the 10th Tribeca Film Festival in New York city. The movie, which documents Paco's conviction and "wrongful" incarceration for the rape and murder of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong in 1997, bagged the Heineken Audience Award and brought home $25,000 in cash prizes. The film is directed by Michael Collins and produced by Filipino Marty Syjuco who is Larranaga's brother-in-law.
The Heineken Audience Award is chosen by the audience themselves, completing a nomination ballot after viewing of films participating in the Festival.
A description of the film is found in the Tribeca Film Festivalwebsite:
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The Heineken Audience Award is chosen by the audience themselves, completing a nomination ballot after viewing of films participating in the Festival.
A description of the film is found in the Tribeca Film Festivalwebsite:
In 1997, Paco Larrañaga was arrested for the murder of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong on a provincial island in the Philippines. Though 35 witnesses could attest to his obvious innocence, Paco and 6 co-defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Their sentence was raised to death by lethal injection in 2004 until the Spanish government (Paco was a dual citizen of Spain and the Philippines) intervened and helped abolish the Philippine death penalty entirely. Over the next 13 years, his case became the highest profile in the nation's history, and the focal point in a far-reaching exposé of gross miscarriage of justice. Paco spent 12 years in a Philippine prison before being transferred to Spain in 2009. He remains imprisoned there today.
In 2004, filmmakers Michael Collins and Marty Syjuco quit their jobs and flew to the Philippines to tell Paco's story in Give Up Tomorrow.
