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| Godfather of independent filmmaking in the Philippines |
| Written by staff | |
| Monday, 11 August 2008 | |
 Long before the term “indie” film was coined, there was Kidlat Tahimik (Quiet Lightning) a.k.a. Eric de Guia. The iconic filmmaker put the Philippines in the world map of independent art films when his semi-autobiographical oeuvre Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmares) won the International Critics Award in the 1977 Berlin Film Festival.De Guia’s art speaks beyond the dialogue and cinematography; his entire persona embodies his art. The iconic image of Kidlat Tahimik wearing an Ifugao bahag (loincloth) and wielding a video camera is ripe with meaning, a neo-primitive embracing modernity without giving up the wisdom of the old, a fusion of the East and the West. Kidlat Tahimik is all that and much more. The son of Victor de Guia, a civil engineer, and Virginia Otayza de Guia, the first woman mayor of Baguio City, Kidlat Tahimik was born on October 3, 1942 in the country’s summer capital. He acquired his grade school education at the Maryknoll Convent School and attended high school at St. Louis University Boy’s High School. Baguio’s multicultural environment cultivated De Guia’s eclectic artistic perspective. “In Session Road, you can see Igorots dressed in blazers and G-strings,” he narrates. De Guia recalls that in his young mind, he saw in that scene the meeting of two different cultures. “It doesn’t necessarily mean though that I labeled one as good and the other as bad,” he points out. Becoming the country’s preeminent independent filmmaker was never his ambition. Yet even as a youngster, De Guia displayed sparks of creative genius. In 1954 at the age of 11, he won an essay-writing contest with an entry entitled “The Evils of Communism.” In 1956, De Guia joined a soapbox derby. His car was recognized not because of its speed but because of its unique appearance. “The other boys were so concerned with the principle of aerodynamics, but my car, I covered it with pine bark,” he narrates nostalgically. De Guia’s soapbox, which he dubbed Pine Cone Fury, failed to win the race. Instead, it garnered the Most Original Car award. The young De Guia also started shooting photos with an instamatic camera. Thus began his love-affair with the camera, a device that has to become integral to his persona. He later studied at the University of the Philippines from 1958 to 1963 where he earned his degree in Speech Drama. This episode of De Guia’s life signaled his decision to embrace art as a lifelong profession. But then he took a sudden detour. After college, he pursued a master’s education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Armed with an MBA, he landed a job as a researcher for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris from 1968 to 1972.
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