At the 66th Venice International Film Festival last month, the oldest film festival in the world, a young Filipino director took center stage and showed the world what Filipino filmmakers are made of.

With his debut film “Engkwentro,” Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno brought pride to the entire Philippine cinema by winning the Lion of the Future or the Luigi de Laurentiis Award, as well as the Orizzonti Prize, the plum prize in the festival’s Horizons section for new trends in cinema.

“My goal was simple - just to show the film. If one person liked it and came up to me and would say ‘The film is okay’ that was enough prize for me but when the awards came in, that’s really wow!” Pepe gushes.

For the Orizzonti Prize, “Engkwentro” vied with 22 other films from different countries. For the Lion of the Future Award — which came with $100,000 cash award — it bested films from all of the festival’s parallel sections.

Both awards were conferred by two separate international juries — the jury for the Lion of the Future Award watched all the first features including those in the main competition.

Seventeen of the directors in the official competition were either first or second time directors. They unanimously awarded the film for its “bravery, novel storytelling, and technical achievement.”

Winning was both overwhelming and surreal for this 22-year old Film major at the University of the Philippines.

“To think that just three months ago, we were struggling to finish our film and to receive an award in front of the world’s best film professionals, that was just surreal!” he says.

STORYTELLER, NOT LEGAL EAGLE

His name alone speaks a lot about progeny– but in another field. His lolo and namesake (and nicknamesake) is Senator Jose W. Diokno, an eminent statesman, a nationalist, a most respected freedom fighter. His great grandfather Ramon Diokno was a Supreme Court associate justice. His father, lawyer Jose Manuel, is the dean of the newly-established College of Law of the De La Salle University.

But the young Pepe has chosen not to be a legal eagle but a filmmaker with a future.

“I can’t ever be a lawyer, hindi ko kaya ‘yun and I don’t want to get into politics either. This is a matter of choice,” he quips.

When he was younger, Pepe used to watch a lot of Hollywood movies. “You would hear a lot of movie directors who would be exposed to movies early. But that didn’t really happen with me. My being exposed to social realizations has led me to tell stories that many people would not talk about,’’ Pepe says.

His passion for filmmaking stemmed from his need to tell a story. “If you have a story inside you that you can’t wait to tell, tell it now. That’s how I felt. I have a story inside me and if I didn’t make the film, I would feel bad,’’ Pepe says.

The young director discovered his interest in filmmaking in high school at La Salle Greenhills. “For Filipino class, we would have productions like ‘Ibong Adarna,’ ‘Florante at Laura,’ ‘Noli me Tangere,’ ‘El Fili.’ I would direct that every year and I thought kaya ko ito ah!’’ he recalls.

His first foray into film competitions was with his first short film called “No Passport Needed” at the Cinemalaya Film Festival in 2006.

Since then, Pepe has been making films that deal with subjects that he feels are relevant. “It’s not about an advocacy, I just look around me and then I see things that I feel needed to be talked about,” he says.

MAKING ‘ENGKWENTRO’

The same goes for “Engkwentro” the story of which came to him when he did a documentary for RockEd Philippines. He found the story in the several jails that he had to visit for that docu from North Luzon to Mindanao.

Pepe, who was 19 at that time, met two kids in Davao who were being chased by vigilantes for being members of two different gangs.

“They were the same age as I was and the same age as my brothers — 15 and 17 — but unlike us, they had no hope for themselves. They faced death as soon as they were released,” he recalls.

Meeting these kids became a turning point in Pepe’s life. “That really hit me, that whole experience of meeting these brothers and I felt that this is the story that I needed to tell.’’

In the last decade, over 814 people have been killed by “death squads” allegedly sponsored by local governments in the Philippines. “Many of the victims are minors — supposed gang members, petty criminals, drug dealers, and street children — and the Philippine government denies the existence of these vigilantes,” he says.

Given the continuing inadequacy of the country’s justice system, Pepe says many Filipinos seem to accept the need for such brutality in approaching the nation’s crime problem.

“The issue is rarely talked about here and with ‘Engkwentro’ we want to raise it to the international stage,” he shares.

Clocking officially at 61 minutes, “Engkwentro” is a story inspired by “Richard’’ and “Raymond,’’ two teenage brothers who are on the opposite sides of a gang war — “Batang Dilim” where Richard is the leader, and “Bagong Buwan” where Raymond has just been inducted. Conflict arises when Raymond is asked by his leader to kill his older brother. On top of that, Richard is also being hunted down by a real-life vigilante group. To save their lives, the brothers break away from the cycle of violence by running away.

Pepe produced and wrote “Engkwentro” or “Clash” that stars Felix Roco, Zyrus Desamparado,
Daniel Medrana, Eda Nolan, Moises Mag-isa and Bayang Barrios with special appearances by directors Jim Libiran and Celso Ad Castillo. “The film is not set in a specific city because the vigilante problem is a national problem and it’s happening all over,” Pepe says.

Making and finishing the film was a complicated and challenging process, admits Pepe.

“To create the impression of the film’s signature long tracking shot, we had to build a set — a 2,000 square-meter slum area in Sta. Ana — and had some 500 extras in the film.”

Pepe and his team also struggled with the technical process because some elements had to be digitally erased to make it look seamless.

“The sound design was also recreated entirely in post-production and our sound designer — Mark Laccay — built the film’s audioscape from the ground up,” he shares.

“Engkwentro” was first shown in Cinemalaya and was given a Special Mention at the awards ceremony.

PRIDE FOR ALL

Pepe stresses that there should not be a division anymore between indie films and mainstream because the only reason why young directors are going indie is that mainstream doesn’t give opportunities to first time filmmakers.

“It’s just a matter of how your film is funded. So let’s not call it ‘recognition’ for indie films or movies because the recognitions in Cannes, in Venice, and in other festivals are recognitions for the whole industry.”

Everybody — even in the mainstream — are all standing on the shoulders of the likes of Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal, he acknowledges.

“I love directors who can stand up for themselves and have paved the paths for filmmakers like me,” he says. He dreams to just make more films.

Now a graduating student, Pepe barely juggles things.

“But I manage naman. Nagpapaalam kung kailangan umalis and you have to do your work overtime,” he quips.

He says that in these days, age is no longer an issue when it comes to treading paths that older people traditionally dominate. No more clouds of doubt hover over the newbies.

“It feels good to see young directors now getting into filmmaking and winning in international film festivals. This is a function of digital technology,” Pepe avers. “That’s what’s driving the films now and I think people my age can grasp that the most.”

He tells students who are planning to direct films to pick up a camera and just do it. “Don’t be afraid to make your film and make it the way you want to make it,” he ends.

(“Engkwentro” will be shown on Oct. 21 as a special presentation of the Cinemanila International Film Festival at Market! Market in Taguig City, where the profits of the screenings will go to the victims of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.)