Mondomanila featured at Playboy Philippines Magazine
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Grab the Feb.2010 issue.
MONDOMANILA presents OGO X's DROGA
starring TROPANG PRANING, aka PARANOID SQUAD
This is the 1st monthly teaser for Mondomanila in the month of February 2010 - Khavn.
Like mashing up all his old movies in a blender
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
MANILA, Philippines – Independent filmmaker Khavn Dela Cruz compares the making of his latest feature, “Mondomanila,” to childbirth. Not that he’s ever gone into labor, no.
“The main challenge was making up my mind,” he explained. “Just like a baby – whether to have it or not.”
A crucial question was length. “Should I make it true to the [Palanca-winning] novel [by Norman “Iwa” Wilwayco] or do I make a short version?”
To squeeze the sprawling novel into a two-hour film feature would have been “impossible,” he admitted. “Iwa and I discussed it: We can remove [some elements and still] retain what is essential.”
He described as “collaborative” the writing process with Wilwayco. “Without the novelist, there would be no film.”
The tragedy wrought by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” pushed De la Cruz to finally shoot this, his 26th film, a project that took seven years in gestation. “That’s when I knew we had to grind.”
He called the Palanca-winning short story (2000), novel (2002) and script (2003) a “post-modern version of Edgardo Reyes’ ‘Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag.’”
De la Cruz co-wrote the “Mondomanila” screenplay with Wilwayco.
“I’ve been wanting to do a film on the city, inspired by Ishmael Bernal’s ‘Manila by Night’ and Lino Brocka’s ‘Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag,’” he said. “The novel impressed me as the perfect vehicle.” But in the movie, he added, “the lines between the real and surreal … are thoroughly distorted.”
De la Cruz is a confessed fan of Wilwayco’s novel. “Who isn’t?” he quipped.
The screenplay not only won a Palanca, it was also picked by the esteemed Berlinale Co-Production Market in 2005.
It was another writer, Jun Cruz Reyes, who introduced De la Cruz to “Mondomanila” in 2002. “Jun told me, ‘If you don’t shoot it, I’ll shoot you.’ And he wasn’t referring to his Pentax.”
Using a Panasonic HPX-170 P2 HD camera, De la Cruz finished shooting “Mondomanila” in four and a half days in various slums in the metropolis – mainly in Barangay (village) San Roque near TriNoma in Quezon City.
Another challenge was finding and gathering the cast, led by teen actor Timothy Mabalot (of “Brutus” and “Ang Nerseri”), Marife Necesito (of “Mammoth”) and camp comedians Whitney Tyson and Palito.
“Working with other people could be hell, but it could be heaven, too. That’s just the way it is. You take the ‘better with the sweat,’” Dela Cruz said.
He described “Mondomanila” as a “combination of several of my films – in terms of style.” In a nutshell, “it’s like mashing up all my films in a blender made in Divisioria.”
He hopes to premiere “Mondomanila” next year.
Read more...
“The main challenge was making up my mind,” he explained. “Just like a baby – whether to have it or not.”
A crucial question was length. “Should I make it true to the [Palanca-winning] novel [by Norman “Iwa” Wilwayco] or do I make a short version?”
To squeeze the sprawling novel into a two-hour film feature would have been “impossible,” he admitted. “Iwa and I discussed it: We can remove [some elements and still] retain what is essential.”
He described as “collaborative” the writing process with Wilwayco. “Without the novelist, there would be no film.”
The tragedy wrought by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” pushed De la Cruz to finally shoot this, his 26th film, a project that took seven years in gestation. “That’s when I knew we had to grind.”
He called the Palanca-winning short story (2000), novel (2002) and script (2003) a “post-modern version of Edgardo Reyes’ ‘Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag.’”
De la Cruz co-wrote the “Mondomanila” screenplay with Wilwayco.
“I’ve been wanting to do a film on the city, inspired by Ishmael Bernal’s ‘Manila by Night’ and Lino Brocka’s ‘Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag,’” he said. “The novel impressed me as the perfect vehicle.” But in the movie, he added, “the lines between the real and surreal … are thoroughly distorted.”
De la Cruz is a confessed fan of Wilwayco’s novel. “Who isn’t?” he quipped.
The screenplay not only won a Palanca, it was also picked by the esteemed Berlinale Co-Production Market in 2005.
It was another writer, Jun Cruz Reyes, who introduced De la Cruz to “Mondomanila” in 2002. “Jun told me, ‘If you don’t shoot it, I’ll shoot you.’ And he wasn’t referring to his Pentax.”
Using a Panasonic HPX-170 P2 HD camera, De la Cruz finished shooting “Mondomanila” in four and a half days in various slums in the metropolis – mainly in Barangay (village) San Roque near TriNoma in Quezon City.
Another challenge was finding and gathering the cast, led by teen actor Timothy Mabalot (of “Brutus” and “Ang Nerseri”), Marife Necesito (of “Mammoth”) and camp comedians Whitney Tyson and Palito.
“Working with other people could be hell, but it could be heaven, too. That’s just the way it is. You take the ‘better with the sweat,’” Dela Cruz said.
He described “Mondomanila” as a “combination of several of my films – in terms of style.” In a nutshell, “it’s like mashing up all my films in a blender made in Divisioria.”
He hopes to premiere “Mondomanila” next year.
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