A Coming-Out Story Starring the Filipino Clint Eastwood The story is one familiar to filmgoers: a gay man afraid to come out of the closet because his Roman Catholic guilt won't let him acknowledge his true sexuality. But the setting of "Bwakaw," the Philippines' submission for the Oscar for best foreign-language film, is hardly typical: a quiet village in the tropics of Southeast Asia. Not only that, but also, the main character's co-star, for whom the film is named, is a stray dog. The Tagalog-language "Bwakaw" was written and directed by Jun Robles Lana, a Filipino playwright and screenwriter who has also written extensively for television. No Filipino submission has ever made it to the select group of five films nominated each year for the foreign-language Oscar, and Mr. Lana, 40, is aware his film is a long shot. But "Bwakaw" has received good reviews and a strong audience response this fall at festivals like Toronto and New York, where Mr. Lana sat down to talk about his film. Here are edited excerpts from that interview: You have chosen a really unusual mix of subjects. What drew you to the idea of a movie about a cantankerous, closeted older gay man whose only companion is a dog? The character is heavily based on my mentor, the playwright Rene Villanueva, who was definitely grumpy and came out late in life. I wanted to do a project to honor him, but I didn't have a story to begin with. But since I've always also wanted to do a dog movie, it was natural for me to juxtapose those two characters and to have this story revolve around themes I wanted to play with, like old age and death. But your mentor was an urban intellectual. What made you decide to set the story in a small rural village? I have a nostalgia for the countryside. My first screenplay, "In the Navel of the Sea," is also set in the same province, and I've always wanted to do more stories like that, but then I shifted to writing for television for a very long time. This was my chance to go back to my roots and do a similar story. And at the same time, because it was a film about old age, about this old man, I also saw it as a film about silences. That dictated the unhurried pace of the film, and the countryside was thus the perfect setting for the story. Religion plays an important part in "Bwakaw," specifically Roman Catholicism. Your lead character sleeps in a bed alongside a santo entierro, the wooden statues of Jesus Christ that figure heavily in Holy Week processions in your country. Where did that idea come from, and what is its significance? Actually, I got that idea from a producer's grandma, who actually had one in her bed. The use of the santo entierro is a device for us to understand why Rene is a prisoner of his own making; it is the visual representation of the faith that has imprisoned him. He was greatly influenced by his mother's religiosity, but at the same time it's his faith that kept him from coming out for a very long time and made him a very conflicted man. Initially, I was quite startled to see Eddie Garcia in the role of the lonely old gay man. It might be helpful if you would explain to American filmgoers just who Eddie Garcia is and his importance in the history of the Filipino movie industry. He's the Filipino Clint Eastwood, or maybe even bigger in the context of local showbiz. He started his career in the 1950s as a character actor, playing villains most of the time, but he was able to reinvent himself later on as a director. He's a brilliant filmmaker, a multi-awarded director. And in his 50s, he reinvented himself again, as an action star. Now he acts in a lot of soap operas, he's a huge star in Filipino television. Did he have any hesitation about playing a role so against type for him? As I was writing, I really could not think of any other actor who could play the role except Eddie Garcia, and since I've been working with him for several years, it was really easy for me to approach him and offer him the part. He is also a really staunch supporter of independent film and independent filmmakers, and so once he read the script, after three days he called me to say he loved the role and signed up for the project without even asking me how much he was getting for it. At the same time, I think this is one of the few movie offers he's getting where he is the lead at his age. So that also really attracted him to the project. But you also said earlier that you wanted to do a dog movie, so let me take you back to that subject. Where did that desire come from? I just love dog films, but I didn't want to do an adventure, I wanted to do something that was quieter and subdued. I'm a huge fan of the films of Ozu, the Japanese director; I love how his films are simple and profound at the same time, with subtle layers of meaning. I remember watching "Tokyo Story" when I was in high school, and I don't remember a film moving me quite the way "Tokyo Story" did. It's really pared down and quiet, and so I was trying to mesh the two ideas, to do a dog movie and make a really quiet film. Do you have a dog yourself? I have five. I have four toy dogs because I live in a condo, but I also have a rescue dog from one of the typhoons that hit Manila. But he lives with my mom, because my mom has a bigger place. So I just visit him there. As regards the Academy Award, what outcome are you shooting for? You've had a good initial response on the festival circuit. So what kind of Oscar result would satisfy you? We want to be one of the five finalists. When we submitted this, we had very simple aspirations. We just wanted Eddie Garcia to win best actor at the festival for independent film in the Philippines. But this film has really exceeded my wildest expectations, and now that we're here, we just want to see how far we can take this.