Director: Kidlat Tahimik
TEAM
Directed, written and edited by: Kidlat Tahimik
Cinematography: Hartmut Lerch, Kidlat Tahimik
Music: Hanns Christian Müller
Cast: Kidlat Tahimik, Mang Fely, Dolores Santamaria, Katarina Muller, Hartmut Lerch, Georgette Baudry
Perfumed Nightmare focuses on the adventures of a Filipino jeepney driver who dreams of emigrating to America and becoming an astronaut there. As president of the Wernher-von-Braun fan club in his native village Balian and a devout listener to the Voice of America, he dreams of an ideal West. When he finally makes it to Paris in his jeepney, his real-life encounter with the West destroys his illusions and he returns to the Philippines.This virtuosic and boundary-transcending feature debut, full of imaginative visual metaphors, won the Berlin Film Festival International Critics Award in 1983, six years after its completion. As Susan Sonntag wrote, “reminds one that invention, insolence, enchantment – even innocence – are still to be had in cinema”.