8/8/2019 View Philippine Daily Inquirer / Thursday, December 9, 2010 / Y-10: PAGE 42

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INQUIRER ENTERTAINMENT TELLING THE FILIPINO STORY TO THE WORLD10 THURSDAY, DECEMBER9, 2010

Mike Sandejasmovies as producer—amongthem“Saranggola”(1999),“Hes-usRebolusyonaryo” (2002)and“Homecoming”(2003).

Hisown first feature film, “Tu-ladng Dati,”wonthreeawards,including BestPicture,at Cine-malaya2006. Thefilm, whichhecalls an “alternate reality musicaldrama,” isaboutthe rock bandTheDawn.

In 2007,“Tulad ng Dati”bagged fiveUrian trophies,in-cluding Best Actorfor Jett Pan-gan. It also competedat thePu-sanIFFin Koreaand wasscreenedat the Hawaii IFF.

Three years later, Mikecame up withanotherCinemalaya entry,“Dinig SanaKita,”about thestrug-gles ofa deaf boy. It wontheAudi-ence ChoiceAwardand Best Mu-sical Scorefor FrancisReyes.Itparticipated infestivalsin Canada,Belgium,India andthe United

States. Mike wasalso a finalistintheCinemalaya 2009short-film

categorywith“WatFloorMa’am?”Mike isconvinced that theindie

filmmaking culture hasbecome“stronger” inthe last five years. Heeven goes asfar assaying weareinthemidstof a new age inlocalcinema.Digital technology, whichmakesfilmmaking“cheaperandmoreflexible,” helped makethispossible,he observes.

“[It isnow]possibleto createfilms [thatare] cheaper. This

couldbe thebestthingthathas happenedtotheindustry,” he stress-es.However, Mike warnsthat the indiescene “hasstartedtoplateau ... ifwe don’t[raise]our standards,itwillfizzle out.”

Headdsthatissuesconcerningfilm pro-duction anddistribu-tionremainunre-solved.“Filmmakers

maybe fulfilledin expressingthemselves butveryfew make realmoney,” Mike explains.“[Peoplestill expect] localindependentfilmsto be shownfor free—somefilmmakers dothisif only to getanaudience.” He believesviewersshould “payfor quality.”Thisway,hesays,makersof substandardmovies “will either elevate theirproduction values or quitfilm-making.” MarinelR. Cruz

Milo Soguecoduced anddirectedthe 20-minute“Eroplano,”whichwontheGrandPrizeat theGawadCCPAlternatibongVideoat Pe-likula.He wasalso commissionedbythe CCPto produceanddirect“Groovy,” a documentaryon thelife of painterPacita Abad.

“Sanglaan,” Milo’s first full-length feature, wasa finalistinCinemalaya2009. It alsowontheBestActressawardforIna

Feleo andBest SupportingAc-tressfor Tessie Tomas.It then went onto bagthe2nd PrizeGrand PrixAsian Cinema and3rdPrize GrandPrixdu Public AudienceChoice atthe 15th Ly-on (France) AsianFilm Festival.

At the 16thVesoul (France)IFFof AsianCinema,“Sanglaan” copped the Inalco

Institute JuryPrize, followedby the Student’sChoice award atthe Asian NewTalent Award(Anta) Competitionof the 13thShanghai IFF.

“Sanglaan” wasselectedforthe International Discoveriessection of the 59thInternation-al Filmfestival Mannheim-Hei-delberg,the second oldest filmfestival in Germany dedicatedto emerginginternationalfilm-

makers.Milo considers the emer-gence of digital technology asthe best thing that ever hap-pened to the local film indus-try. “Filmmakers, rich or poor,now have easy access to [theirgoals],” he explains. “Thereare no more excuses not tomake films; the instrument

just got cheaper.”To keepforeignaudiences in-

terested,Milosays, thereis a needforconstantreinvention.“We can-

notgetstuckwith ‘formula-indie’movies.Everyfilmmaker shouldhave hisownway oftellinga story.Ifa certain style... made wavesin

Cannes [forinstance],don’t justcopy it.Findyourown voice.[Make films thatreflect]who youare.” MarinelR. Cruz

MILO SOGUECO: “Westill havemuchto prove

as a generation.”“SANGLAAN”

“DINIG SanaKita”

MIKESANDEJAS: “Ifwedon’t raise ourstandards,theindie scene willfizzle out.”

J I M G U I A O P U N Z A L A N

F ILMMAKINGis nolongerjustan artprofession,saysMike

Sandejas. “It’s an extreme

sport.”Thedirectorof criticallyac-

claimedindiefilms“Tulad ngDati” (2006) and“Dinig Sana Ki-ta”(2009)believes that oneneeds tothink longandhardbe-forejoiningwhat is nowa “super-saturated” filmmaking industry.“Eitheryou makeyourselfstandoutor youfloatin oblivion,” hepointsout.

MikeEscarealSandejas tookupOrganizationalCommunicationsat theUniversity of thePhilippinesin Manila.

“Filmmaking wasa childhooddream,”Mikeintimates. “I makefilmsto entertainand educatepeople aboutsubjectsthat I’dlikethem to take part in.”

Before venturinginto directing,Mike workedin a numberof

A S FAR as MiloSoguecois con-cerned, thelocal

independent moviesceneis just starting to blos-som.

Milo, whodirectedthe award- winning “Sanglaan,” saysit is pre-mature to saywe areexperienc-inganother “goldenage”in cine-ma.“[We’re]not there yet.There

ismoreto belearned and done,”he observes. “Whenever I lookattheworksdonein the pastby themasters, [I seethat]we still havemuchto prove as a generation.”

Also a professionalphotogra-pher, Milohas produced works in video andprint.Witha grantfrom the NationalCommissionforCulture andthe Arts, he pro-