Brocka was born in Pilar, Sorsogon.[4] He grew up and lived in San Jose, Nueva Ecija[5][6] and graduated from Nueva Ecija High School in 1956.[7] He directed his first film, Wanted: Perfect Mother, based on The Sound of Music and a local comic serial, in 1970. It won an award for best screenplay at the 1970 Manila Film Festival. Later that year he also won the Citizen's Council for Mass Media's best-director award for the film Santiago!