Metro Manila Film Festival Best Director awardee for the film “Gomburza,” Pepe Diokno, shares his surprise at how a serious movie about history has drawn mainstream audiences.

He talks to Howie about researching how the idea of a Filipino nation was born and how faithfully his movie tries to portray history.

They discuss the challenge of dramatizing historical events without battlefield heroes and the need to set the record straight about what happened in the 1872 Cavite Mutiny which led to the martyrdom of the three priests Gomes, Burgos and Zamora. The executions inspired Jose Rizal’s life work.

Pepe addresses the Majoha reality-show brouhaha sympathetically and what it says about the way history is taught. Howie asks him how coming from the illustrious Diokno family influences his choice of subject.

“Gomburza” is the 36-year-old Pepe’s first film in eight years, after a period of self-doubt about his career. Audience response in recent weeks seems to have restored his faith.

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