BAGUIO CITY—KIDLAT TAHIMIK, CONsidered father of independent filmmaking in the country, will receive the lifetime achievement award for filmmaking during the Gawad Urian rites at the CCP Little Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

The Gawad is given by the pioneering critics group, Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. The program starts at 6:30 p.m.

As the first “indie” filmmaker to receive the award, Tahimik, born Eric de Guia on Oct. 3, 1942 in this city, considers the recognition as a victory, too, for those who spurred independent filmmaking in the country.

“The wall between Philippine independent and mainstream cinemas is already crumbling,” Tahimik said. “The award is a way of acknowledging that there are new storytellers.”

When independent filmmaking was unheard of, Tahimik said, 16-mm films were not considered mass media because commercial movies were made on 35-mm. Because he worked with 16-mm celluloid films, he said, his works were sidelined by award-giving bodies.

He recalled an “awkward” moment: “We had just screened my film, ‘Moonbuggy.’ They told me, ‘Sorry we can’t consider your film because it is in 16-mm.’ I felt they did not know how to deal with Kidlat Tahimik back then.”

‘Moonbuggy’

“Moonbuggy,” short for “Sino ang Lumikha ng Yoyo? Sino ang Lumikha ng Moonbuggy?,” is only one of several full-length films that earned raves for Tahimik.

“Maybe they’re giving me an award [now] because I fought for my sariling dwende, my own voice,” he said.

Tahimik’s most celebrated full-length film, “Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare)”—first shown in the Berlin Film Festival in 1977—earned him his first award, the International Critics Award.

“Bangungot” has since been shown in 20 festivals around the world and continues to be discussed in film schools. In 2005, it was featured in the Venice Art Biennale.

Not prolific

Tahimik said his Gawad is bound to be a constant reminder that the younger generation of filmmakers can relate to his work.

“I am also glad [that I] relate to them through my video essays and journals.”

He said his friendship with his three sons—Kidlat, Kawayan and Kabunyan—reminds him that he is both a father and a filmmaker “in that order.”

Links

They are his links to the youth, he added.

Tahimik’s other films include “Turumba,” “Bakit Yellow ang Middle ng Rainbow” and “Banal Kahoy.”

A film in the works is “Balikbayan,” which he started shooting in 1980.

It is about Magellan’s slave, Enrique de Malaca, Tahimik said, “the first Filipino to circumnavigate the globe.”