MANILA, Philippines ? Director Joel Lamangan tapped real-life activists for ?Sigwa,? a film based on true accounts of students who fought the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970s.

Big-name actresses Dawn Zulueta, Zsazsa Padilla and Gina Alajar lead the cast of the indie production, one of five finalists in the ?Directors? Showcase? category of the 6th Philippine Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.

?This project doesn?t seem like an indie film at all,? said production manager Dennis Evangelista, who also worked with Lamangan in ?Dukot? and ?Sagrada Familia.? ?We have about a hundred extras per shooting day, and have a lot of big scenes to shoot.?

Last week, Lamangan shot two ?rally? scenes?one with Zulueta at the Quiapo Park in Manila, and Dizon, Pauleen Luna, Marvin Agustin, Lovi Poe and Jay Aquitania on Bustillos Street.

Costly production

The scenes shot on the first shooting day, held in three different locations in Quezon City, were said to have cost P260,000.

The five Cinemalaya finalists are given only a seed production grant of P500,000, plus P100,000 as post-production grant.

?Sigwa? is based on stories documented by an American reporter (played by Zulueta) who covered student activism in Manila in the ?70s. The film features four other characters?Eddie (Allen Dizon), Oliver (Tirso Cruz III), Cita (Padilla) and Azon (Alajar)?who were former student activists. Forty years later, they reunite and discover that their beliefs have changed.

Evangelista said that with the actors? busy schedules, arranging for them to meet for shooting was also very difficult. ?Luckily, they are all very cooperative,? he pointed out.

Dream project

On the set of ?Sigwa,? Lamangan is visibly in his element. Evangelista said. ?He is happy to be working on his dream project. He is actually the first director from among the five finalists to have started shooting last week,? she added. ?After the festival, he plans to have a series of special screenings for ?Sigwa? all over the country.?

Lamangan will be competing with Gil Portes (?Two Funerals?), Joselito Altarejos (?Pink Halo-Halo?), Mark Meily (?Isang Pirasong Pangarap?) and Mario O?Hara (?Ang Paglilitis ni Andres Bonifacio?). The nine-day Cinemalaya film fest begins on July 9.