Tikoy goes digital in his next project

Digital cinema, like digital cameras and the Net, is the wave of the future. In this age where cost goes up, up, up, digital cameras make for faster setups and smaller production crew because they are portable.

No more panting and sweating while lugging cameras, wasting precious time setting them up, hiring so many production hands to carry giant equipment on location shoots.

Say goodbye to rolls and rolls of film that make many a producer climb the walls out of sheer despair over money gone down the drain.

Even during post-production, digital technology makes for easier use of special effects through software.

So excited was Tikoy Aguiluz of Flor Contemplacion fame and other award-winning films, he studied digital technology on his own (the field is in its infancy in the Philippines and only Star Cinema has used it in some projects). The result is pinaysex.com, his upcoming feature about a Fil-Am girl caught up in the world of cyber reality.

Joanna, 17, leaves the US for Manila where she works as online sex worker.

The film shows how she discovers fame, love and eventually, herself, through the people she encounters in cyberspace.

There’s the internet entrepreneur, burned out by the dotcom bust, the ex-prostitute who has experienced the difference between real and virtual prostitution and Joana’s online lover, who represents her hope for the future.

Tikoy envisions a fresh, undiscovered face from the Fil-Am community in the pivotal role of Joanna. Unlike in other films where they play lead, veteran actors, among them Albert Martinez and – Tikoy hopes – Ricky Davao, will play support to the newcomer who will be cast as Joanna.

The search is on for a fresh face who will step into Joanna’s shoes when cameras start grinding for pinaysex.com on March 15.

"I want someone fresh and new, someone who doesn’t come from radio nor theater. It’s hard to cast say, a Vilma Santos in a role other than the ones we usually see her in. Besides,veteran actors are so busy they are only available on Sundays. I want my lead actress to be available for the project all the time," explains Tikoy.

He has started the search on his own by e-mailing friends and roaming the streets of Los Angeles himself (Joanna comes from an LA ghetto). Tikoy already has a list of prospects, but he would still like to scout for talents in Manila where auditions will be conducted by Maverick Films’ Eric Cuatico himself.

Those interested may call Bernard of Maverick Films at 727-6107. Deadline for applications is March 1.

"The film is about a new world and the new morality it ushers in. It’s also about hope, about finding redemption in the youth," Tikoy relates. "Joanna will make a 360-degree turn from cynical character to vulnerable child-woman."

If plans don’t miscarry, he will fly to Berlin for another filmfest, one of the many he has been invited to grace in the past several years.

"I’ve been to Prague, Cuba, many countries being suspected of harboring terrorists," Tikoy describes his lifestyle. No wonder he was stranded in a US airport for four hours after an immigration official saw his "multi-decorated" passport. Tikoy, he with the strong Middle Eastern features and moustache to boot, would have been deported back to Manila had not his brother, a ranking embassy official, ran to his rescue. A sign of the troubled times indeed.

But when you’re as well-travelled as Tikoy Aguiluz, you shrug it off, pray that terrorists will disappear from the face of the earth so you won’t get suspected of being one again, and move on to serious business, as usual.