In his statement aired via facebook on Friday, May 20, award-winning director Mike De Leon said that he is proud of his film, Itim, but he felt humiliated as a Filipino following the results of the May 2022 elections.
His first feature film, Itim, was selected to be part of the Restoration World Premieres section under the Cannes Classics category, and as one of the restored films that will be highlighted.
The 1976 film features Charo Santos, Tommy Abuel, Mario Montenegro, Susan Valdez, Mona Lisa, and others.
De Leon shared an anecdote from his days as a young filmmaker during the country’s Martial Law era.
“It was my fate to get dragged into politics even with a genre film like ITIM. The film was shown abroad at FILMEX in Los Angeles in 1979. It was well received by the largely American audience and at the time of the Q&A session that followed, I was asked if the government was doing anything to support films like ITIM.
“I was young and had an attitude. I said that the government’s sole commitment to filmmaking was documenting the daily existence of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.
“I didn’t realize that officers of the Philippine Consulate were in the audience. One of them told my cousin, ‘We didn’t know Mike was an activist. I wasn’t. I was just being a smartass.
“For this flippant remark, my passport was ordered pulled by a respected columnist-turned-rabid Marcos apologist. I didn’t know about it until I planned to attend the Locarno International Film Festival the following year, where my second film was programmed. This journalist warned me not to even try leaving the country because I will be stopped.
“I was upset and scared. Martial Law was in full swing and the government smelled subversion everywhere. My father interceded with this journalist because they had once been friends.
“This journalist acceded to my father’s request on the condition that I appear before the Board of Censors and explain my remark. I bluffed my way out by saying that I was taken out of context. After all, ITIM wasn’t remotely a political film; it was a ghost story.
“Like my overnight detention by the Marcos-controlled military in 1972, the whole affair was intended to intimidate me.
“It was made clear that nobody had any right to criticize the reigning couple, not even in jest. So I was made to apologize to this panel of government bureaucrats puffed up with undeserved power. And apologize I did. What choice did I have under those conditions? Besides I wanted my passport back.
“43 years later, the film is being shown again in an international film festival, this time in the Cannes Film Festival, no less. The title of the section that I read is Surreal Mix of Horror and Politics. It is still appropriate, but Horror has now acquired a more sinister meaning. It is no longer about a ghost but about the monsters of Philippine politics, monsters that, after a long wait in the subterranean caverns of hell, have returned to ravish and rape my country all over again. The crazy thing is that we invited them back,” De Leon stated.
Although he is happy that his film was chosen to be highlighted at the film festival, he conveyed his detestation towards the newly elected leaders of the country.
“Our constitution constrains me to recognize our newly elected leaders, but morally, I can never give my trust to people who are nothing more than the basest of criminals.
“I am happy that my film is participating in this great festival, but I feel utterly humiliated to be a Filipino today.
“Nevertheless, I hope you appreciate the film,” he ended.
was proclaimed on Wednesday, May 25, as the 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines after Congress. Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio is the country’s 15th Vice President.
