"My father left the family when I was only six months old and I grew up with the image of my mother who worked hard to send five children to school on her own. I was the youngest. Everytime we were shooting a scene from Tanging Ina, I felt the presence of my mother in it. Doon ko talaga hinugot sa mother ko ang character ng Tanging Ina. I grew up without a father and didn’t miss having one. Be that as it may, I’d say I did have a happy childhood. Now I am having a hard time doing a story revolving around fathers. If you notice, the male characters in my soap operas are the weak kind. Probably because I didn’t have a model of a strong father in real life."
Direk Wenn Deramas, whose latest directorial job, Volta is again doing well at the box-office said he didn’t expect Tanging Ina to surpass the P200 million mark. "I was praying for at least a P7 million opening day gross and Ai-Ai was praying for at least a P3 million opening day take."
When the picture grossed P13 million on opening day, it was more than answered prayers.
"I guess it was a case of perfect timing," direk Wenn says. "Everything was perfect, including the cast. The title was also catchy. At the time, people were looking for a kind of comedy that will tug at their heartstrings and Tanging Ina was it. That was also a proof of movies about great mothers was another factor."
Now he is tackling superhuman heroines in both film and telenovela. Thrice a week, he is taping a story around a sea creature named Marina and four times a week, he has shooting a flying character named Volta.
Working with Ai-Ai de las Alas for the second time, he can’t help but dig into the Tanging Ina formula at least in the story treatment. "Although I did animation and special effects for the first time in Volta, I made sure the audience can connect deeply with the story. I still did the kind of comedy that will surely tug at the heart. Of course, I introduce something new in every new project I do but I make sure I succeed in telling a good story."
But there is nothing in direk Wenn Derama’s academic background that would prepare him for film work.
He finished a Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Santo Tomas but ended up as production assistant and scriptwriter, then executive producer, of some TV and film productions of ABS-CBN and Star Cinema.
Hence, he is a classic case of a promising director rising from the ranks. With very little experience behind the camera, he had to bank on something else.
"I didn’t take a course in film directing and so I have to use my instinct," he points out. "But it did help that I came from theater (he is a member of Teatro Tomasino at UST) and had some experience as scriptwriter."
Camera movements he learned from working as production assistant but the more important thing to him is to be able to visualize the story well.
"The most important thing is to be sincere," he adds. "Whether you are doing a cheap comedy or lachrymose drama, you must be sincere in what you are capable of doing. The thing is to be able to achieve your objective. In my case, I want people to laugh while watching my film and cry a little bit. My goal is to entertain. If I succeed in that, "I’d be happy already. The rest I leave to the audience to find something else in my film."
Growing up without a father, direk Wenn loved to watch movies since age six. He was a big fan of Lino Brocka (he loved Insiang and Ismael Bernal (he still believes no one can surpass Himala), he loved Peque Gallaga’s Oro, Plata, Mata, the Private Show of Chito Roño and Gerry de Leon’s Dyesebel.
When he gets a respite from telenovelas and fantasy films, he is mulling to do a story of two men treated like black comedy. "But every- time I intend to take it up with the right persons, I am suddenly swamped with new projects."
Outside his work-a-day world, he enjoys the company of his three-year old son, Gabriel and the comfort and warmth of his family where sprung the story of Tanging Ina.
The grateful son speaks in the image of his mother.
"Now that I am finally earning, my focus is on my family. We didn’t have much, we struggle all the time but we survived. Sabi ko, it’s about time my family deserved something better. Palagay ko tama na yong paghihirap."