Filipino film director Mike Sandejas says he would like to shoot a movie in Toronto, "if I could find the funding for it."

The award-winning director in the Philippines made the comment in an informal lunch with Atin Ito at a seafood restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown area during the opening day of the Toronto International Film Festival, where one of his films was entered.

"While it is only my first time in Toronto, I am impressed by the people and the city, its cleanliness and the  perceived quality and joy of living here.  You know, I like to make "feel good" movies, one that entertains, and not the type that depresses or highlights gore or violence.  Perhaps, a storyline that features a succesful caregiver or migrant worker would be a good movie project for me here," Sandejas said.

Sandejas festival entry, Dinig Sana Kita (If I Knew What You Said) represents that "feel good" genre.  It is a story of love between Kiko, a deaf young man who loves to dance, with Nina, a troubled rocker girl who has engrossed her self in the world of rock music and abuses her hearing by listening to blaring basses and heavy metal tunes.

The two meet in a Baguio camp's deaf seminar that mixes deaf and normal-hearing teens in team building activities, which helped them discover that they have a lot more in common with each other than with their own kind. They eventually realize that they understand each other better and more than anyone else despite the gap in communication.

The film is the first Filipino movie to use a deaf actor as leading man.  It was one of the finalists for the Cinemalaya Film Festival 2009 where it won National Council for Children’s Television Award, Audience Choice (Full Length) and Best Musical Score.

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