Mike de Leon
The film also served as the breakout of Filipino actress and future producer Charo Santos, who plays a mysterious young woman who piques the interest of Abuel's character.After a three-year break from directing, De Leon returned with the musical-comedy film Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, which satirized Philippine foreign relations and organized religion, while also exploring youth culture.In the film, a group of friends, played by Christopher de Leon, Charo Santos, Jay Ilagan, and Sandy Andolong, have run-ins with Japanese and Chinese multinational drug rings, culminating in a musical extravaganza set in a Baguio convent.The film depicted harsh fraternity rituals where neophytes were subjected to violent hazing and dehumanizing tests of blind loyalty, shown through the eyes of an unnamed pledgee played by Mark Gil in his breakout role.It won 10 Gawad Urian awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and also competed for the Golden Lion at the 41st Venice International Film Festival.[9] The most atypical[5] and commercially successful[2] of his work is the romantic melodrama Hindi Nahahati ang Langit (1985), based on the komik of the same name by Nerissa Cabral.The Japan Foundation approached de Leon to direct a segment for the four-country anthology Southern Winds, alongside entries from fellow Asian filmmakers Cherd Songsri, Shoji Kokami, and Slamet Rahardjo.