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What Kidlat Tahimik told Duterte during that National Artist selfie

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Miguel Dumaual, ABS-CBN News

<p>TOKYO — Taking a selfie with bamboo sticks twisted and tied into the shape of a camera, Kidlat Tahimik drew applause, not curious amusement, from the mostly Japanese audience who trooped here to see his latest film, as part of the bustling capital’s annual international film festival.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Kidlat Tahimik was given flowers by Tokyo International Film Festival organizers as congratulatory gesture on his National Artist award. Posing w/ him for his signature bamboo camera selfie are Kabunyan de Guia, Brillante Mendoza, Wilson Tieng <a href="https://twitter.com/ABSCBNNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABSCBNNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/bc9gEtbWtA">pic.twitter.com/bc9gEtbWtA</a></p>— Jose Miguel Dumaual (@migueldumaual) <a href="https://twitter.com/migueldumaual/status/1056190962089656320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2018</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>Kidlat was posing for a photo call for the international press when he brought out his own, symbolic camera, and gestured for his companions to join him in the selfie. Looking at the bamboo figure as if it had an actual lens, Kidlat held a smile, as did his son Kabunyan de Guia, collaborator Brillante Mendoza, and film producer Wilson Tieng.</p><p>Just moments prior, he had explained what the equipment stands for — a message warmly welcomed by the audience, going by their reaction after an interpreter relayed Kidlat’s words.</p><p>“Because of the strong influence of Hollywood, we lose track of our local stories. So this is not just a prop. This is a symbol of ‘Let’s tell stories with our own indigenous eye, with our own local eye, let’s tell the local story.’ The bamboo camera is for all Asian films,” he said.</p><p>Days before he flew to Tokyo for the festival — his omnibus film with Mendoza and Lav Diaz, “Lakbayan,” is part of the World Focus section — Kidlat had a similar moment with President Rodrigo Duterte at the awarding ceremony in Malacañang.</p><p>Four decades into his career, the filmmaker dubbed the “Father of Independent Philippine Cinema” was proclaimed National Artist for Film and and Broadcast Arts.</p><p>The President, Kidlat recalled, was initially surprised by his request for a selfie, using a wooden item no less. Speaking with ABS-CBN News, the director said he had set out to let President Duterte know, firsthand, about his crusade.</p><p>“He put the medal on me. It even got caught in my hair. Ang tagal! And then at the end, I said, ‘Mr. President, can we have a symbolic selfie?’ He wasn’t sure what it was. ‘Sige,’ sabi niya. And then I pulled out my bamboo camera. I said, ‘Sir, let’s look at the camera,’ and he smiled! And all the audience in the Malacañang just enjoyed that relaxed moment. Usually, napaka-stiff ng mga ganu’n. It was a light moment,” he narrated.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/tvpatrol/10/29/20181029_kidlat_00.jpg"/><figcaption>National Artist Kidlat Tahimik takes a symbolic selfie with President Rodrigo Duterte using his signature bamboo camera. <em>Rolando Mailo, Malacañang Photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>“I told him, ‘Sir, the bamboo camera is my symbol of telling our story, not the Hollywood formula story. I think we should tell more of our legends, our local indigenous stories.’ And he said, ‘Yes, I support you on that.’ And I said, ‘You know, Mr. President, I like your distancing of the Philippines away from America. I support you on that,’” he said.</p><p>Kidlat, born Eric de Guia, had long advocated for cultivating local filmmaking that’s truly independent of Western influences. Achieving that entails forgoing of what he termed as the “PST” (patok sa takilya) formula, which, itself, had been determined by the pervasiveness of passed-on culture from decades of colonial rule, he said.</p><p>There’s a wealth of indigenous Filipino stories to tell, and many means to tell them, Kidlat has asserted over the years. But he is not sure that he’s been heeded by many. </p><p>Being National Artist, he surmised, must be a “cosmic” gift in that regard. With the title, perhaps more would lend him an ear.</p><p>“For me, awards are awards, trophies are trophies, prizes are prizes. It’s mainly a pat on the back, that you’re doing the right thing, by staying away from commercial industry… As a National Artist, I hope I am being heard by my people to bring back our old cultures into our modern day,” he said.</p><p>Fittingly, the coming together of Kidlat, Mendoza and Diaz for “Lakbayan” (Journey) is intended to celebrate the centenary of Philippine cinema. The film depicts three different journeys — of miners crossing sea and land to go home (Diaz’s ‘Hugaw’), farmers on a protest march that spans a thousand miles (Mendoza’s ‘Desfocado’), and a family man on a lone road trip to relocate from Baguio to Davao (Kidlat’s ‘Lakaran ni Kabunyan’).</p><p>Kidlat’s own personal “lakbayan” was no less colorful. He could have been an economist on Wall Street today, he supposed, but he had a purposeful turning point in 1971. After five years of being an economist in Paris, he tore the MBA diploma he had earned from the University of Pennsylvania, and left the pieces where he would then start his “straying on track”; that is, being bravely apart from the norm and embracing new roles as a performance and installation artist, among others.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Two days after being awarded National Artist for Film, Kidlat Tahimik here in Tokyo for the international film festival where four Philippine films are participating, including his omnibus project, “Lakbayan,” with Lav Diaz and Brillante Mendoza. <a href="https://twitter.com/ABSCBNNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABSCBNNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/isNLCDJORd">pic.twitter.com/isNLCDJORd</a></p>— Jose Miguel Dumaual (@migueldumaual) <a href="https://twitter.com/migueldumaual/status/1056076292116774912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2018</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>“I decided I want to be free to become an artist. [Tearing my diploma] was symbolic for me not to go back. I was burning my bridges, so to speak. You know, the usual dictum — to be successful, stay on track — I didn’t follow that. Over the years, I’ve gone here, there, here, there, here,” he said.</p><p>Along that track, Kidlat has collected numerous recognition from around the world. In 2012, for instance, he was given the Fukuoka Prize for arts and culture, and next month, he will be named Prince Clause Laureate in Netherlands.</p><p>“If I’m getting these prizes now, they’re saying, ‘Hey, you’re okay.’ Ah, that validates my ‘straying on track,’” he said.</p><p>Drawing parallels with his “Lakaran” entry in “Lakbayan,” Kidlat said he sees becoming National Artist as a mere highlight of his journey, a byproduct of his strides toward his destination.</p><p>“The word ‘lakaran,’ it meant — during the revolutionary days against Spain — a physical journey from here to there, but also it meant an inner journey, so that when you arrived at the end of the journey, there would be an approach to enlightenment. You would see more clearly the essence of your life,” he said.</p><p>“Okay lang mag-stray on track, basta sinusundan ng puso mo ang kaliwanagan.”</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">WATCH: National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik gives impromptu performance at end of “Lakbayan” screening at Tokyo International Film Festival, to warm applause from mostly Japanese audience <a href="https://twitter.com/ABSCBNNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABSCBNNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/IJZXvwj9G0">pic.twitter.com/IJZXvwj9G0</a></p>— Jose Miguel Dumaual (@migueldumaual) <a href="https://twitter.com/migueldumaual/status/1056184158991437824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2018</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>

<p>Four decades into his career, the filmmaker dubbed the “Father of Independent Philippine Cinema” was proclaimed National Artist for Film and and Broadcast Arts.</p>

Four decades into his career, the filmmaker dubbed the “Father of Independent Philippine Cinema” was proclaimed National Artist for Film and and Broadcast Arts.

What Kidlat Tahimik told Duterte during that National Artist selfie

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What Kidlat Tahimik told Duterte during that National Artist selfie

Miguel Dumaual,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 29, 2018 06:28 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 29, 2018 07:57 PM PHT

Read More:

Kidlat Tahimik

Kabunyan de Guia

Brillante Mendoza

Wilson Tieng

Lakaran ni Kabunyan

Lakbayan

Tokyo International Film Festival

National Artist

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