Berlin.  Film director, writer and actor Eric de Guia, aka Kidlat Tahimik, returned to the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) with his film, “Balikbayan #1 Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III”, which premiered on 9 February 2015, and would later win the Caligari Film Prize, which is given to a stylistically and thematically innovative film under the Berlinale’s Forum section.

Kidlat, dubbed as the “Father of Philippine Independent Cinema”, has come full circle with the premiere of Balikbayan #1 at the Berlinale.  He first participated at the festival 38 years ago with his film, “Mababangong Bangungot” (Perfumed Nightmare) which earned him the International Critics Award in the 1977 Berlinale.

As explained by Kidlat, Balikbayan #1 is a project that was 35 years in the making.  It reimagines the history behind Magellan’s expedition from the perspective of the “native” Enrique of Malacca.  Enrique, Ferdinand Magellan’s slave and translator, is revealed to be the first true circumnavigator of the globe.  The film, a blend of storytelling and documentary insight, weaves together Enrique’s story and Kidlat’s mission to produce and finish the movie.

Shortly after the film’s premiere, Kidlat garnered the the Caligari Film Award which is conferred annually to a stylistically and thematically innovative film screened at the Berlinale’s Forum section. Sponsored by members of the Bundesverband Kommunale Filmarbeit (German National Association of Communal Film Work – see: http://www.kommunale-kinos.de/) and FILMDIENST, the award includes a Euro 4,000 endowment, half of which is given to the recipient and the other half is used to fund the distribution of the film.

This year’s Caligari independent jury was composed of Michael Baute, Maximillian Becker, Barbara Fischer-Rittmeyer, Nils Daniel Peiler, and Dr. Margarete Wach.  The Berlinale’s International Forum of New Cinema (Forum) section “features avant garde, experimental works, essays, long-term observations, political reportage and yet-to-be-discovered cinematic landscapes… in short, (it) is the most daring section of the Berlinale.

Kidlat explained that it was not until 2012, when he was showcasing 16mm footage of the original movie on his tour of four American universities, that he had the real impulse to finish the film.  After a twenty hour flight and bus ride back to Baguio, Kidlat attended his second son’s art exhibit in Hapao.  It was then that he realized that the long bearded and shaggy haired Kawayan de Guia could serve as his recycled Magellan.

Kidlat further revealed that he believed Filipino talent was a force to reckon with, “We must be proud of our culture and heritage.  We are a very talented people, we can become a global force if we combine learnings from the west with that of our ancestors.”

Kidlat Tahimik was joined in Berlin by his wife Katrin, his son Kidlat, and Balikbayan #1’s producer, Mr. Chuck Gutierrez.

Following the screening, the Philippine Embassy in Berlin hosted a cocktail reception at the Akademie der Kunste (Academy of Arts). *END