Lamberto V. Avellana

Lamberto Vera Avellana (February 12, 1915 – April 25, 1991) was a prominent Filipino film and stage director. Despite considerable budgetary limitations that hampered the post-war Filipino film industry, Avellana's films such as "Anak Dalita" and "Badjao" attained international acclaim. In 1976, Avellana was named by President Ferdinand Marcos as the very first National Artist of the Philippines for Film. While Avellana remains an important figure in Filipino cinema, his reputation as a film director has since been eclipsed by the next wave of Filipino film directors who emerged in the 1970s, such as Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.

Life

Born in Bontoc, Mountain Province, Avellana was educated at the Ateneo de Manila, where he developed what turned out to be a life-long interest in the theater. He taught at the Ateneo after graduation and married his teen-age sweetheart Daisy Hontiveros, an actress who eventually also became a National Artist in her own right.

Film career

Avellana made his film debut with "Sakay" in 1939, a biopic on the early 20th century Filipino revolutionary Macario Sakay. The film was an immediate sensation, particularly distinguished for its realism atypical of Filipino cinema. The treatment of the subject remains a source of some controversy today. Avellana's "Sakay" toed the line with the American-fostered perception of Sakay as a mere bandit, different from the current-day appreciation of Sakay as a fighter for Filipino independence. Raymond Red's 1993 film, "Sakay" hews closer to this modern view of Sakay. Interestingly, Leopoldo Salcedo, who played Sakay in the 1939 Avellana version, portrayed Sakay's father in the 1993 version in his final film role.

Avellana directed more than 70 films in a career that spanned six decades. "Anak Dalita" (1956) and "Badjao" (1957) perhaps stand as the most prominent works from his oeuvre. "Anak Dalita", which was named Best Film at the 1956 Asia-Pacific Film Festival, was a realistic portrayal of poverty-stricken Filipinos coping with the aftermath of World War II. "Badjao" was a love-story among the sea-dwelling Badjaos, an indigineous Filipino people hailing from Mindanao. Rolf Bayer was the screenwriter for both films.

References

*"Filipinos in History: Volume III", National Historical Institute (Manila, 1996)

External links

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