Pera-perahang Lata (Penny from the Tin Can)

About the Film

HD, melodrama, 30 mins., 2009

This film presents the plight of a young man who tries to make up for his inconsiderate moves towards a needy stranger, but he ends up seeing another tragedy from it.

This film explores the many facets of a struggling life in a world that is full of unpredictable moments — where some things are beyond one’s control.

Trailer

Abstract

Set during the Christmas season when people from all social classes come together and find connections in various ways, the world of Nilo, a young, struggling factory worker and family breadwinner, examines the diverse culture of Filipinos around Metro Manila. Like his work at the quality control room, this underprivileged man who is determined to support his family in the province sees through the vicious cycle of poverty, while being a stone's throw away from the two sides of the economic spectrum in a third-world country. His character exposes a critical look at the depressing social issues happening in his generation.

As the observant Nilo travels to work and back home everyday, he rides the jeepney, and he gets to see the two sides of the metro: the rich and finely-lit buildings, the Christmas music enlightening people's moods, the beautifully crafted Christmas lanterns and trees adorning highways, the colorful billboards promoting the exciting Filipino traditions of gift-giving and "Simbang Gabi" (nine days of devotional Christmas masses), and the able ones' Yuletide shopping sprees vs. the beggars knocking doors of cars for some alms, the street kids' Christmas carols, and the dirty alleys of depressed areas. The Christmas season makes his eyes ponder more every time — on how to make life much better for him, for his family, and hopefully for others as well.

Traveling often allows people to contemplate on life's many facets. It may bring some realizations coming from one's subconscious, whether receiving some physical stimuli from the outside world or not. It may also raise some questions such as, “With delivering the best you can be and the best you can do, how fair or unfair can the world ever be?” Indeed, a life's journey is a struggle all along.

Production Team

Nilo		Von Arroyo
Gary		Arnold Reyes
Juda		Paul Sy
Adult beggar		Gio Respall
Carinderia owner		Via Antonio
Gary's mother		Judith Soriao
Factory boss		Dido dela Paz
Boss' wife		Marnie Lapus
Snatcher		Rey Solo
Office girl in jeep		Ellen Estrada

Director/Writer/Producer		Rianne Hill Soriano
Director of Photography		Wowie Hao
Production Designer		Joy Puntawe
Assistant Director		Karla Pambid
Production Manager		Gavin Herrera
Art Directors		Armi Rae Cacanindin
		Kiko Ortega
Associate Producer		Ayeen Pineda
Editor		Rianne Hill Soriano
Musical Scorer/Sound Engineer		Philip Arvin Jarilla
Casting Coordinator		Gigi Pirote
Field Sound Recordists		Mark Locsin
		Joseph Santos

Production Notes

“Pera-perahang Lata” (Penny from the Tin Can), a film grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), is Rianne's third film. It is her first film to be shot in HD format using a Panasonic Varicam courtesy of Unitel Pictures. The project's lighting and grip equipment were borrowed from the production house Filmex. This short film and her other short film “TechNOphilia” are the first Filipino independent films successfully projected in HD format in the Philippines in June 2009 at the Gateway Cineplex in Quezon City.

The film’s look is a combination of the dark and gritty; and the light and Yuletide. The realistic treatment mainly shows the dark alleys, well-lit buildings, and different kinds of people around the metro's many public places.

Amidst the fact that the tin cans cost Nilo his living and another one’s death, the sound of tin cans heard over the streets as beggars ask for alms inspires the story. Along with the “tansans” made into tambourines, they are also utilized as accompaniment for the kids' Christmas carols.