A Portrait of Kidlat Tahimik, A Godfather of Filipino Indie Cinema

I catch sight of Kidlat Tahimik on our first morning in Ifugao. He is filming a ritual of the burning of the bones of more than a thousand nameless Japanese soldiers near the site where, at the close of World War II, Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita had surrendered to the returning Americans. Kidlat is garbed in a well-worn hand-painted shirt and a bahag (g-string). A beaded necklace and a mini-DV camera are hanging round his neck, tangled with his long grey beard and hair. He is pointing his lens, now here on a puppy strolling among charred bones, now there on