COMEDIENNE Ai Ai delas Alas tried her hand on a dramatic film and got rewarded for it: a nomination in the 7th Queens World Film Festival.

Delas Alas, who stars as a prostitute in the drama Area, is nominated for Best Female Actor Narrative Feature. She will compete with three other actresses: German actresses Karin Hanczewsk in Lotte and Dorothea Hagena in Mann Im Spagat – Pace, Cowboy, Pace, and American Amy Redford, daughter of Robert Redford.

Area director Louie Ignacio is also nominated for Best Director Narrative Feature.

“To be nominated in an international film festival is a big thing for me. Congratulations to our director Louie Ignacio… To God be the glory,” Delas Alas said in Tagalog.

The film festival will be from March 14 to 19 at the Museum of the Moving Image and across other venues in Queens, New York.

According to the official synopsis for Area: “A short distance from the city’s red-light district is ‘Area,’ a neighborhood of brothels where over-the-hill sex workers can be had for a can of sardines or even on credit. During its heyday, Area had up to 700 brothels servicing thousands of low-income men, hormonally active boys and society misfits—all taking advantage of the bargain price of sex available only at Area.”

The movie also stars Allen Dizon, Sue Prado, Sarah Pagcaliwagan and Bambalito Lacap.