Piolo Pascual (left) and Sid Lucero (right) joined Manila producer Arleen Cuevas on the Cannes red carpet. This photo was taken during the May 18, 2009 world premiere of Independencia.

Piolo co-produced and starred in the film Manila. Sid plays the lead role in the period film Independencia, which is set in the early 20th century, during the Philippine-American War.

Adolf Alix (right) co-directs the movie Manila, which is divided into two parts: a "Day" segment (inspired by Ishmael Bernal's 1980 film Manila By Night) and a "Night" segment (inspired by Lino Brocka's 1979 film Jaguar). 

 

Sid Lucero (left) plays the son of Tetchie Agbayani in Independecia, the film directed by Raya Martin. The role of the mother was supposed to be played by Vilma Santos but she was unable to accept the role due to  conflict of schedule.

Aside from Sid Lucero, Independencia also stars Alessandra de Rossi (not in photo). This is the first Filipino film to be part of the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes.

Digo Ricio (third from left) was the set designer of the film Independencia. Instead of traveling to an outside location, the producers decided to create a forest inside a studio to serve as the set of the film. They built the set in Scenema Concepts in Marikina.

Senedy Que (leftmost) provided PEP with his personal account of Manila's world premiere. He joins (from left) Raya Martin, Adolf Alix Jr. and Piolo Pascual in this photo.

Piolo Pascual plays dual characters in Manila. In the Day segment, he plays William, a drug addict, who tries to reconnect ties with people close to him. Slowly, as night falls, he learns that there is no one left to trust, not even himself.

In the Night segment, he is cast as Philip, the bodyguard of a mayor's son. He thinks his boss considers him family but after a shooting incident, he discovers his real worth to his boss. As he struggles to hide, he is slowly consumed by the claws of darkness lurking in the city.

"First time kong mag-produce, kasi pangarap ko talaga na magkaroon ng dahon [laurel] ang poster ng mga pelikula ko, e. Kapag nakikita ko yung poster ng Manila, nakikita ko ang mukha ko, tapos yung festival sa Cannes, okay na ako. I mean, kumita man o hindi ang pelikula, just to be recognized... And that poster will be immortalized. So, sa akin, malaking regalo na po yun from the Lord, na parang hindi ko na makalilimutan yun sa tanang buhay ko," said Piolo Pascual in a previous interview with PEP about his first co-production Manila. 

Piolo Pascual graced the world premiere of Manila held last May 19. The ABS-CBN actor is scheduled to stay a week in France for the Cannes International Film Festival.

According to Piolo, Manila will be the opening film of the 2009 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

The delegation members pose candidly for the cameras. Aside from Manila and Independencia, another full-length film made it to Cannes this year. Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay (The Execution of P) is one of the 20 films included in the official selection. 

Manila was screened at the Salle Buñuel of the Palais Des Festivals in France.