MANILA, Philippines ? When Milo Sogueco was shooting his debut film ?Sanglaan? on the streets of Pritil, Tondo, flying to France was the farthest thing from his mind.

?Sanglaan? won two awards at the 15th Lyon Asian Film Festival held late last year. It bagged the Bronze Grand Prix du Public and the Silver Prize New Asian Cinema.

His biggest challenges in finishing this movie, his Cinemalaya 2009 entry, were ?budget and time,? Sogueco said. ?We?d work 24 hours straight sometimes. It was tough shooting in Tondo. Traffic was hard to control. Yet this can?t be seen in the finished film.?

Between takes

What happened between takes, he explained, was ?as important as what happened in front of the camera.?

He happily recalled: ?The people of Pritil were so appreciative... they would clap every time I yelled ?Cut!??

He had a cooperative and committed cast and crew to boot.

?I couldn?t have worked with anybody else but them,? said Sogueco. ?Tessie (Tomas), Ina (Feleo), Joem (Bascon), Flor (Salanga), Jess (Evardone) and the rest were all intelligent and thinking actors.?

The actors helped him tell a story that?s particularly close to his heart, he said.

Sogueco, who grew up in a pawnshop, knows the film?s milieu very well. ?Sanglaan? chronicles the struggles of ordinary people who depend on a pawnshop during financial straits.

?It?s a story so simple that you may think it?s not worth telling. It seems the characters are just waiting ? but working in a pawnshop is all about waiting. [This story is about] finding beauty in the mundane.?

Honor

Sogueco hopes foreign audiences will also see such gems in quotidian lives. He said screening ?Sanglaan? in France was an honor. ?It?s always an experience to show a film to a different audience. We went to Lyon without expectations, [except] for a small film like ours to touch audiences who live so far from the Philippines.?

He also hopes Filipino viewers will catch his film when it?s screened locally again. It was shown at the IndieSine Robinsons Galleria last month.

?My wish for Pinoy films and filmmakers is that local audiences will give them the same respect and recognition they receive in the international arena. We are Filipinos; it should start here,? he pointed out. ?What is a film without an audience? To see somebody smiling, crying, laughing or even cringing while watching your film is the most fulfilling part of the job.?

Next stops for him are ?a short film to be unearthed next year and a feature film to be scripted as well.?

As for ?Sanglaan,? post-Lyon? ?I just want for it to [make some money]. We have loans to pay,? he quipped.

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