Milo Tolentino, whose eight short films have won awards, makes his feature film debut via “Si Baning, si Maymay at ang Asong si Bobo,” an entry to CinemaOne Originals Digital Film Festival that will premiere on Nov. 14 at the Gateway Cineflex 10 in Cubao, Quezon City.

“I would like to make a film that celebrates the playful and generous spirit of a Filipino child as well as pay tribute to the often colorful, crude tapestry of an impoverished but proud rural Filipino family,” he says of his first full-length movie which will have another screening on Nov. 17.

It tells the story of six-year-old Baning whose desire to learn her ABCs leads her to lessons from the lives of people around her, particularly her friend Maymay whose father works abroad while her mother would rather flirt with a local drunk than look after her.

“Sabi nila I work well with kids,” Tolentino replies when asked why children figure prominently in his works.

His last short film, “Blogog,” which won the special jury prize award in this year’s Cinemalaya, is about a boy whose life changed after picking up a filthy yellow ball down the creek.

Prior to that, he did “Lan-ay: Candles Burning on Still Water,” a recipient of United Nation Mdg’s Award for Short Film and entry to the Cinemanila both in 2008. It’s described as a pseudo-documentary on siblings Laleng and Elmer’s quest for spiritual cure for their ill mother as they collect used candle wax.      

Also in 2008, Tolentino came up with a five-year-old boy’s obsession in “Andong,” his most awarded work so far. It copped the best short film and best screenplay awards at the Cinemalaya, the Sonje award at the 13th Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, and the audience and press prize awards at the Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival.                            
Another boy’s story captured his imagined and became 2007’s “Si Pepe at ang mga Bulaklak,” one of the 10 short films commissioned by Unesco for its podcast series project.

2006’s “Buog,” which is about the friendship between a battered boy and a playful little boy, made it to Cinemanila and Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands.

In the same year, Tolentino made “Apak,” a story of a poor boy who wishes he could play tumbang preso even if he doesn’t own a pair of slippers. It was awarded the special jury prize at the Chinh India Kids Film Festival and special mention at the Sedicicorto International Film Festival in Italy.

He points out, though, that his earliest works “Alimuom” and “Orasyon” tackled more adult subject matters.  The former is about “a man who committed a murder and a dead man who refuses to stay dead” while the latter is a “stark tale of personal frailty, unanswered prayers and a dark secret that hides and taunts in a broken-down shed.”

Meaning, he can work at anything that interests him and can put his heart into.

Tolentino is even open to working for a big studio that will impose limitations as long as the end product will still have its integrity.