Director Jun Lana worked behind a number of memorable films through the years since he started directing movies.

There were some critically-acclaimed and award-winning films that Direk Jun is undoubtedly proud of. There were daring projects that even joined international film festivals abroad.

Direk Jun’s latest project is Your Mother’s Son, actually the tenth anniversary offering of The IdeaFirst Company, jointly put up by Direk Jun and its president Perci Intalan a decade ago.

“For you to spend ten years doing this, it’s a cause for celebration,” Direk Jun admitted. “This is also a reminder for us not to lose why we’re doing this. Not to lose that goal and our reason.

“Box office is important. We’re doing this for our family. But from the name itself, The IdeaFirst, the reason we’re doing this is we want to tell stories that matter. We want to shed light on stories that, otherwise, be simply kept in the dark.

“This is also our way of giving back. Starting April 13, we will not just hold screenings. We will invite filmmakers for a Q&A (question and answer). We want to be able to talk to our audience and share our thoughts. Help encourage other storytellers.”

Direk Perci added, “Hindi kami makapaniwala na ten years na ang IdeaFirst. We produced 35 films already. We couldn’t do this if our other partners and the studios who produced, didn’t trust us.

“This is what we stand for. This is how we do things. This is the way we will tell our stories.”

Direk Jun’s latest film is Your Mother’s Son. “One of my favorite films is Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001),” said Direk Jun. “But this (Your Mother’s Son) is not an homage. It was just the natural flow of the narrative sa ginagawa naming kwento.

“For everybody to be guided, naka story board naman ang love scenes even the sex scenes. Medyo dumating na sa point na boring. I, myself, I don’t want to use story boards as much as possible. I want to have that moment of discovering something while shooting.

“Kapag naka story board ang scenes, masyado ng plakado. But I wanted everybody to feel safe, so I required that story board. I would even show the pictures to the artists to give them an idea what they needed to do for that particular scene. So everybody will feel safe.”

To all of his artists, Direk Jun did not have a problem before filming, during or even after. “We had a discussion in Your Mother’s Son even before we shot the film,” Direk Jun disclosed. “We all went to the location and rehearsed the scenes and took the shots from an iPhone.

“Nagawa na rin namin ang mga eksena na kailangan naming gawin. So by the time that we went, we all knew the blocking. Meron kaming chemistry as a group. When you need to move in a new place, medyo nanganganay ka pa.

“That didn’t happen to us anymore. Na-rehearsed na namin ang scenes. My cast were all very professional. They were able to execute all the explicit scenes.”

The artists were not really new to doing sexy scenes on the big screen. From Sue Prado and Elora Españo to their male co-stars – Kokoy De Santos and Miggy Jimenez – they were able to deliver successfully.

“Kailangan sa eksena,” Kokoy said. “Trabaho lang at kailangan gawin ng mga characters namin. Nagtiwala si Direk Jun sa akin. Hindi ako na-conscious. Mas worried pa ako kung paano ko tatanggalin ang plaster after kasi masakit ‘yun.

“Malaking bagay na may consent kami. Aside from our objectives before doing every scene, we always asked, ‘Okay ba?’ That’s very important para maging comfortable din kami sa isa’t isa.

Nangibabaw pa rin ang respect at the end of the day.”

For Sue, she made sure she is always protected when doing the sex scenes. “Malaking bagay din na may plaster ka, so kahit gumalaw ka, protected ka pa rin.

“Masaya ang naging shoot namin even when it came to the sensitive scenes. To begin with, clear naman ang communication namin sa isa’t isa, especially coming from Direk Jun and amongst us actors. So we didn’t have any doubts.

“We were able to establish that it was a safe space from the start. From our our discussion about the script, na-established na ‘yun. You are always welcome to speak out. The most important is how much we value our relationship with each other.

“More than being workers in the film, the level of our relationships with each other, was already there. Ang dali ng nangyari. When we watched the finished product, that was when we only realized ang hirap ng ginawa namin. But thankfully, it never felt like that while we were doing the film.”