MANILA, Philippines ? Filipino filmmaker Raymond Red, Cannes Palme D?Or winner for the short film ?Anino? in 2000, returns with the full-length feature film ?Himpapawid,? an entry in the Main Competition of the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival this month.

With his new work (English subtitle: ?Manila Skies?), Red marks a milestone since it?s the first Filipino film to compete in a major category in Tokyo.

Coincidentally, Red recounted that his first feature ?Bayani? was included in Tokyo?s Young Cinema competition 17 years ago.

In his own words, he recalled that ?it took eight years of brooding and brewing, thinking and rethinking? before work began on his ?comeback,? only his fourth full-length feature.

In the meantime, he toyed with other concepts in his head (including historical and futuristic projects).

In early 2008, he suddenly remembered an idea he first thought of ?on the morning we won the Palme D?Or.?

That concept was ?Himpapawid.?

On that fateful morning of May 25, 2000, Red chanced upon an Internet news account of a ?lone deranged Pinoy hijacker who jumped out of a plane without a parachute.?

Red said, ?I was struck by the paradox of what social conditions could bring a man to the heights of this kind of insanity. From there, the concept evolved.?

Soon enough, friends and frequent collaborators like co-producer Roger Garcia, Dave Hukom of Ignite, media execs Jimmy Duavit and Butch Jimenez, and Oli Laperal of RS Video joined Red in this grand adventure.

Although big names got involved, the film remained ?indie and alternative,? he insisted.

?It?s pure guerrilla filmmaking at its core. At a very low cost, I was able to pull together these high-end resources because of my independent spirit.?

In the process, he candidly admitted, ?I depleted my savings, sold two cars and lived on the edge.?

To make matters extra challenging, he chose to use a digital camera that?s a namesake: The Red One 4K Ultra-HD.

?It was an entirely new technology,? he noted. ?As my own cinematographer, I felt it was the wave of the future. It resulted in an easy and efficient shoot and saved us money compared to the film format. But, at the same time, it gave us nightmares in figuring out the system. We were discovering new technical approaches as we went along ... Hopefully, other people would benefit from our learnings.?

He believes that all these state-of-the-art technology and equipment are ?just tools.?

?In the end,? he said, ?I focus on the true intent of filmmaking, which is communicating with an audience. I am very happy now to have returned to the independent filmmaking movement of which I was very much a part of from the very beginning.?

?Himpapawid? will also be screened on October 25 at the Market! Market! Cinemas, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig ? as the closing film of the Cinemanila International Film Festival.

E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com