Kidlat Tahimik and the Determination of a Native Filmmaker

Abstract

Using field notes drawn from participative research in the context of his home life in Hapao, Ifugao and Baguio City, Benguet, as well as information gathered through interviews with his family, confidantes, and mentees, the article revaluates the oeuvre of pioneering independent filmmaker, Kidlat Tahimik. It is written self-reflexively, approximating the critic's process of understanding Kidlat's work through the lenses of a personal encounter. It critiques Kidlat's cinema, with special focus on Why is Yellow the Middle of the Rainbow? (1994), and reads it as his determination to author himself as "native" and "Third World" filmmaker, the same determination that animates the "independence" of his film practice.

Local Film Production in the Philippine Cordillera: Processes, Motivations, and Constraints

“…In Ifugao, there are also some individuals who have begun to take videos and photographs that aim to document their ways of life in their communities. In fact, Patrick Campos (2015) writes that the elders from Barangay Hapao in Hungduan, Ifugao "are now documentarians and photographers" (p. 70). Hapao locals such as Lopes Na-Uyac, a tribal leader, and Santos Bayucca, both of whom were influenced by Kidlat Tahimik, have taken footage of cultural activities in their community for the purposes of preserving it for their children (Campos, 2015).…”