Kidlat Tahimik

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

In Tagalog, de Guia's name "Kidlat Tahimik" translates to "quiet lightning".

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). That latter of these two 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 [http://www.zoetrope.com/index.cgi/ American Zoetrope Films] was instrumental in helping to release "Perfumed Nightmare".

Filmography

Director

*"Mababangong bangungot ["Perfumed Nightmare"] " (1977)
*"Turumba" (1981)
*"Sinong lumikha ng yoyo? Sinong lumikha ng moon buggy?" (1982)
*"Why is Yellow Middle of Rainbow?" (1994)
*"Japanese Summers of a Filipino Fundoshi" (1996)

Writer

*"Mababangong bangungot ["Perfumed Nightmare"] " (1977)
*"Turumba" (1981)

Producer

*"Mababangong bangungot ["Perfumed Nightmare"] " (1977)
*"Abong: Small Home" (2003)

Actor

*"Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (Every Man for Himself and God Against All)" (1974)
*"Mababangong bangungot ["Perfumed Nightmare"] " (1977)
*"Jag rodnar ["I Am Blushing"] " (1981)
*"Smaragd" (1987)
*"Jose Rizal" (1998)
*"Abong: Small Home" (2003)

Awards

*Berlin Film Festival International Critics Award: "Perfumed Nightmare" (1977)
*Mannheim Film Festival Top Cash Award: "Turumba" (1981)

Recent news

Tahimik's 4-story home in Benguet, Philippines burned down in February of 2004. The family was able to escape safely, but the director's film stock and collection of art and artifacts were destroyed.

Trivia

Kidlat Tahimik studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, earned 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.

Kidlat, worked in Paris as an Economist before "returning home to be a filmmaker and ending as a G-stringed (bahag) adopted son of Ifugao.

He was also president of the University of the Philippines Student Council from 1962 to 1963, then known as the University Student Union.

He is a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi.

External links

*imdb name|id=0846684|name=Kidlat Tahimik
* [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Interview/8544/filmmakers/kidlat/kidlat.html The Philippine Movie Database: Kidlat Tahimik]
* [http://www.homegrownart.net/kidlatprofile.htm Homegrown: Kidlat Tahimik]
* [http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=B119EB99-A8A0-0C68-3BF8470C5232F120/ The-Artists.org: Kidlat Tahimik]
* [http://www.zoetrope.com/index.cgi/ American Zoetrope Films]