Good old golden guys, plus all that jazz
Hearty congratulations to Eric de Guia, better known as Kidlat Tahimik, the long-acknowledged Father of Philippine Indie Filmmaking, for winning yet another international award after a hiatus of decades.
Well, with Eric a.k.a. Kidlat, there’s really never any hiatus, as even in his sleep he dreams up scenes to complete the movies in his mind. Make that films rather than movies, as the latter term seems to apply more to that aspect of his chosen genre that’s related to commercialism, or what he calls “aliw-wood.”
In any case, over a week ago social media was in a buzz over his garnering the Caligari Prize in the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, for his film Balikbayan #1 (Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III).
We should recall that in 1977, Kidlat won the Fipresci (International Critics’) Prize at the Berlinale for his first film, Perfumed Nightmare. This was followed in 1979 by Who Invented the Yo-Yo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy? And in 1981 by Turumba, which won the top cash award at the Mannheim Film Festival.
In 1980, Kidlat started filming Memories of Overdevelopment, about Enrique, Ferdinand Magellan’s slave, now claimed to have been the first circumnavigator of the globe. We saw it screened in various stages since the ’80s, when a much younger Kidlat, then still in his late 30s, played Enrique, with a cast composed mostly of friends from his home city of Baguio.
If I recall correctly, that original cast included his wife Katrina de Guia, Pepito Bosch, Laida Lim Perez and Wig Tysmans. Since then, that cast has been “youthened” to include George Steinberg, Danny Orquico, Marlies V
d. Brevern, Mitos Benitez, Marita Manzanillo, Jeff Cohen, Craig Scharlin, and his now grown-up sons Kawayan de Guia and Kabunyan de Guia.
At least that’s how it’s listed in the fact sheet for the completed film, which also credits the following as cinematographers over the 35 years of its making: Boy Yñiguez, Lee Briones, Abi Lara, Santos Bayucca, Kidlat Tahimik himself, and his sons Kidlat and Kawayan de Guia.
The Caligari Prize has been awarded since 1986 among films sporting thematic or stylistic innovation in the Forum of the New Cinema Section, in which 42 films competed this year.
Sponsored by the German Federal Association of Communal Film Work and Filmdienst magazine, the Caligari award comes with a cash prize of 4,000 euros — “half of which is given to the director while the other half is meant for fund distribution.”
Stefanie Schulte Strathaus reviewed the fim thus:
“Language is the key to the empire. Enrique is the slave of Ferdinand Magellan… Aside from bathing Magellan every evening, Enrique also has to translate Filipino languages into Portuguese and Spanish. The film opens with a cardboard box containing film rolls being dug up from the ground. Shot in 1980 and now showing their age, the images tell the story of the circumnavigation. …Enrique carved his memories of the journey into wood, with the sculptures adorning his garden. Balikbayaan #1 weaves together the official story with that of Enrique, as well as with the director’s cut of what Tahimik started filming 35 years ago in order to find out the truth, and continued in a village in the province of Ifugao in 2013.
“The actors are no longer the same, and Tahimik, who himself played Enrique in 1980, has grown older, just as children have been born. Balikbayaan #1 is a home movie, a flamboyant epic, a study of colonialism, a historical corrective and an homage to what Tahimik calls ‘Indio Genius’.”
Now at 72, Kidlat Tahimik not only finally completed his epic home movie, but capped his brilliant career with this latest prize. Sadly, it came on the same week that his mother Virginia de Guia, a lady of great substance as Baguio’s former mayor, passed away — a couple of years before she reached her centenary. Eric dedicated his latest prize to her.
Only a little over a year ago, “Lula” still made it with her son and grandsons to the Singapore Biennale in late 2013. Oh, it was a picture of delight all right, with her G-stringed son pushing her wheelchair around the Singapore Art Museuem as she smiled and waved graciously at everyone.
Congratulations again, Kidlat Tahimik of the “alter-native” cinema. And farewell to Lula, the grand old lady of Baguio City.
Exactly a week ago, I revisited the UP Diliman campus to help honor another dear old friend, now also of Baguio, who generously donated a priceless artwork to the University Theater.
The formal turnover of Variations of Sabel by BenCab, National Artist, was held at the Bulwagan ng Dangal, with UP president Fred Pacual accepting the donation — a vertical series of free-standing, thick aluminum panels from where figures of the artist’s mythic muse Sabel had been cut out. As Ben intimated, it was like displaying a series of negatives, each of which now stood at close to 10 feet tall on steel bases, and painted in various flat colors.
The treasure was donated to the University Art Collection in celebration of UP Diliman Month and the National Arts Month. The event also kicks off the “BenCab: 50 Creative Years” yearlong celebration, highlighted by a retrospective exhibition in eight museums.
While the original plan was to install the vertical panels out in the open in front of the theater, he now hopes they would find space in the theater lobby, if only to protect the artworks from environmental wear and tear.
Meanwhile, his BenCab Museum turned six years old this past weekend with the opening of two exhibitions, “Paintings & Drawings” at the Gallery Indigo and “Black & White: Film Photography” at the Print Gallery.
Yet another milestone is to be achieved by another good old golden friend of ours when the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in partnership with Archivo 1984 gallery, mounts a major retrospective of Jaime de Guzman’s paintings starting on March 4 and running till April 26.
The exhibit marks the artist’s timeline from his 1960s and 1970s dark expressionist period to his present landscapes and “light-scapes.” Meant to be a looking-back retrospective as well as a reintroduction to De Guzman’s newer works, the paintings, including the mural-sized canvases in CCP’s collection, will be displayed in periods at the following galleries: Bulwagang Juan Luna (Main Gallery), Pasilyo Juan Luna (Main Gallery Hallway), and Pasilyo Guillermo Tolentino (third floor Hallway Gallery).
Jaime de Guzman certainly deserves the grand honor. Like Kidlat Tahimik and BenCab, he belongs to that generation of war babies whose paths crossed early in the Cordilleras in the Flower Power years, and who, even now as septuagenarians, continue to show that their respective creative geniuses may yet have to peak.
We celebrate the 10th year of PIJazzFest or the Philippine International Jazz Festival, which is currently being held in various venues, thanks to the dedication to jazz of partners Sandra Lim Viray and Jun Viray.
It started on Feb. 12 with components such as the bar tour, mall tour and special show, to which will now be added Jazz at the Hyatt and other nightly, multi-venue features.
A pity we missed out on last Wednesday’s Bar Tour with Cookie Chua and Bluesviminda at The Bar@1951 in Malate, while the following night had Nino Mendoza and Jun Lopito at the same venue. Also regrettable was having to miss out on Sinosikat’s Kat Agarrado and the Kristen Fletcher Trio at Rustique Kitchen on Pasay Road last Saturday, while at Murphy’s in Legaspi Village were Margaux Salcedo and the Romy Posadas Trio.
This morning at 10 a.m., the Asian Youth Jazz Orchestra conducts an open audition at UP Diliman, while the AMP Big Band is featured in the Bar Tour tonight at 9 p.m. at Balete on 175 Kamias Road, Q.C.
Tomorrow, Feb. 24 is Cultural Night, starting at 6 p.m. at 12 Monkeys in Century City Mall, with Diwa de Leon, Mantra Fusion, Humanfolk, Rose Fostanes, Kristen Fletcher Trio, Romy Posadas Latin with Popoy Valmonte & Mitch Frohman, The 4th Element and Claude Diallo Situation.
Feb. 25 features Pianofest at 6:30 p.m. at Manila Pianos on the second floor of CW Wine Depot on 2248 Chino Roces Ave. with Wowee Posadas, RJ Pineda, Kristen Fletcher, Bong Infante, Elhmir Saison, Claude Diallo and Vincent Saavedra. The Bar Tour starts at 8:30 p.m. in Strumms with the 4th Element (from India), Bratpack, and Manila Blues Experience, while Mitch Frohman performs at 8 p.m. at Hyatt City of Dreams.
On Feb. 26, Mitch Frohman conducts a Sax Workshop at 10 a.m. in St. Scholastica’s College, while the Special Show features Fil-Israel Night at 7:30 p.m. at the Music Museum with Rose Fostanes and Arthur Manuntag, and Jazz at the Hyatt has Romy Posadas with Johnny & Rosanna Gaerlan and Luis Sollano of Singapore starting at 8:30 p.m.
The Feb. 27 International Jazz Gala at the Shangri-La Mall Atrium at 6 p.m. will have Raoul and the Wild Tortillas, Kristen Fletcher Trio, Rose Fostanes, Claude Diallo Situation, Joe Bataan, Mitch Frohman and The 4th Element, while Jazz at the Hyatt starts at 8 p.m. with the Leo Lesaca Quartet.
On Feb. 28, Dancefest at Robinson’s Magnolia starts at 5 p.m. with Diwa de Leon, Chillitees, Russell Flamenco, and Las Duras with Ana & Michael, while Latin Jazz Fiesta starts at 7 p.m. at Solaire Eclipse of Solaire Resorts & Casino, with Claude Diallo Situation, Romy Posadas Latin, Mitch Frohman, Fred Block, Joe Bataan and Penthouse. On the same night, starting at 8 p.m. for Jazz at the Hyatt is the group Yonggi from Hong Kong.
On the last day, Sunday, March 1, the Alvin Cornista Trio plays at 11 a.m. at Hyatt City of Dreams. Concluding the fest (with the Festival Awarding rites) is the Pijazzfest Gala billed as “Ang Galing ng Pinoy” — at 7 p.m. at the Solaire Theatre of Solaire Resorts and Casino, with Baihana, Rose Fostanes, and Diane Schurr with the AMP Big Band.
Congrats and kudos on your 10th year of spirited musical partnership in/and all that jazz, Sandra and Jun Viray!
