MIAG-AO, Iloilo — For a change, Rosanna “Osang” Roces does not bare flesh. This time, she eats it, and with gusto, in “Wanted: Border”—a dark comedy by award-winning Ilonggo director Ray Defante Gibraltar.

The film is one of five competing finalists in the 2009 Cinema One Originals Digital Movie Festival on Nov. 13-17 at Gateway Cinemas in Cubao, Quezon City.

Osang, star of the 1990s-era sex-oriented flicks branded as “titillating films” (“TF”), was getting cozy with the independent film circuit after appearing in “Baklas” and “Manila,” when Defante’s script came along.

“Luka-lukang project! (Crazy project!)” exclaimed the irrepressible former talk show host during an interview in an almost rundown house here, the setting of the full-length film.

The 37-year-old semi-retired actress compared Gibraltar’s film to Milos Forman’s 1975 Oscar-winning drama, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and just had to say yes—especially after the Ilonggo director said he wanted “bad acting.”

Stumped, Osang had to meet Gibraltar and that was the birth of this zany, thought-provoking and sacrilegious film that was scripted in the Ilonggo language, Hiligaynon.

Osang plays Mama Saleng, a 60-year-old religious fanatic who owns a boarding house-cum-eatery. In her younger years, Saleng and her grandmother were accused by the townsfolk of being aswangs (nocturnal flesh eaters).

Saleng meets her human counterpart in Jessie Beltran, an undercover agent whose task during the martial law years was to assassinate activists on Panay Island. What do they have in common? A thirst for blood and brutality.

The film takes on many twists and turns, mostly focusing on how Saleng butchers and cooks her boarders. It then segues into an unexpected interpretation of the Bible’s “Seven Last Words”—with Saleng being nailed to the cross and spewing words that would probably make the religious want to flog her and the director.

Film over priesthood

The religious undertones are a product of Gibraltar’s years of study as a Philosophy student at Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, Iloilo City, and University of Saint La Salle in Bacolod City.

After realizing that life as a priest was not his cup of tea, Gibraltar went to study theater and filmmaking in Manila, where he lived in a boarding house.

Gibraltar is mostly known for his 72-minute narrative, “When Timawa Meets Delgado,” which was nominated for Best Editing in the 2008 Gawad Urian.

“Timawa” was screened that same year at the Singapore International Film Festival and Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.

“The shock factor of ‘Wanted: Border’ is part of the cycle of violence. It’s in our system, we have to stop it,” said Gibraltar.

On the set of the film in Miag-ao, locals ogled the modestly dressed Osang, who showed off by flawlessly delivering Hiligaynon lines, before blurting out a word best reserved for the men’s toilet.

The kibitzers were taken aback for a while, then broke into laughter.