Kidlat Tahimik

Kidlat Tahimik

Kidlat Tahimik (right) and his son Kidlat de Guia
Born Eric de Guia
(1942-10-03) October 3, 1942
Baguio, Benguet, Commonwealth of the Philippines
Nationality Filipino
Occupation movie director, film maker, writer and actor

Eric de Guia (born October 3, 1942 in Baguio City, Philippines), better known as Kidlat Tahimik (a Tagalog translation of "silent lightning"), is a film director, writer and actor whose films are commonly associated with the Third Cinema movement through their critiques of neocolonialism.

One of the most prominent names in the Filipino film industry, he has garnered various accolades locally and internationally, including a Plaridel honorarium for Independent Cinema. He is dubbed by fellow filmmakers and critics as the "Father of Philippine Independent Cinema".

Education

Tahimik attended the University of the Philippines,[1] where he was a member of the Student Council, then known as the University Student Union, from 1962 to 1963. While attending the university he became a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity.

Kidlat Tahimik studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, earning a Master in Business Administration, and worked as a researcher for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris from 1968 to 1972.[2]

Influences

Tahimik grew up in Baguio City, Philippines, a summer resort community established in the presence of several U.S. Military bases. This experience was a weighty influence on the themes of his films, most notably the semi-autobiographical Perfumed Nightmare (1977) and Turumba (1981).

The latter of these two films provides some insight into the circumstances that brought him to Europe and into the presence of filmmaker Werner Herzog, who along with director Francis Ford Coppola and his American Zoetrope studio, was instrumental in helping to release Perfumed Nightmare.

Personal life

Kidlat lives in a 4-storey home in Benguet, Philippines with his wife, German artist and writer Katrin De Guia, and their children Kidlat Tahimik Jr., Kawayan Thor Kalayaan and Kabunyan De Guia.

In February 2004 a fire was reported to have spread in their home. The family was able to escape safely, but the director's film stock and collection of art and artifacts were destroyed.[3]

Filmography

Director

Writer

Producer

Actor

Awards

References

  1. ↑ University of the Philippines alumni listings
  2. ↑ Manilla Bulletin article
  3. ↑ Newsflash.org article on the fire

External links

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