MANILA, Philippines?When screenwriter Senedy Que decided to make his directorial debut, he didn?t shy away from confronting a ?daring and disturbing? theme.

?Dose,? an entry in last year?s Cinema One Originals, dares to ?tackle the issue of pedophilia.?

Even Cinema One producer Ronald Arguelles was initially daunted, Que recounted. ?He thought it was provocative and would encounter problems with the Censors (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board).?

Its original trailer was rated ?X,? but the digital movie itself was eventually rated ?R? (Restricted), without cuts. (?Dose? opens at the Robinsons Galleria IndieSine today.)

?Biggest challenge was conveying the film?s message,? he said. ?I tried to present it as a nostalgic and sentimental love story between two lonely people (a boy and a gardener)
?without any prejudice about their age and gender.?

Tough topic

?I expected a wide range of reactions ? and I welcome them all,? he said. ?I wanted to start a discussion on the complex issue of child abuse and understand it from various points of view.?

As an auspicious start, ?Dose? has been invited to different festivals abroad.

?It was exhibited at the 11th Barcelona Asian Film Festival, in the ?Focus on Southeast Asia? section, in June,? he said.

On July 26, Que will attend the Q! Film Fest in Bali, Indonesia. In November, it will be screened at the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Fest.

Barcelona audiences were appreciative and inquisitive, he recalled.

?I watched the predominantly Spanish viewers laugh and cry.? A 30-minute open forum followed the two screenings and the questions, he said, centered mostly on homosexuality, censorship and child abuse in the Philippines.

?Inevitably, they asked if the film was based on my own life ? [because I said] it?s a personal film. Suffice it to say, it was a night I will never forget,? he said.

He noted that a Catalan film reviewer compared his work with Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar because of ?its colorful images, eccentric lines of dialogue and campy situations.?

To be mentioned in the same breath as Almodovar was an ?honor,? but he explained that he owed a ?cinematic debt of gratitude? to Filipino filmmakers Joey Gosiengfiao and Elwood Perez.

He recalled that he watched Gosiengfiao and Perez?s films in the late 1970s and early ?80s ?before Almodovar became an international sensation.?

?My film is partly a tribute to the legacy of Joey and Elwood,? Que said.

In sum, he said: ?I hope ?Dose? will reach out to victims of child abuse and inspire them to come to terms with their experiences and move on.?