BALIKBAYAN #1: MEMORIES OF OVERDEVELOPMENT REDUX VI

Filipinas, 1979
Director: Kidlat Tahimik

Written and directed by: Kidlat Tahimik
Cinematography: Santos Bayucca, Kawayan de Guia, Kidlat de Guia, Abi Lara, Lee Meily, Kidlat Tahimik, Boy Yniguez
Editing: Malaya Camporedondo, Charlie Fugunt, Chuck Gutierrez, Abi Lara
Costumes: Katrin de Guia
Music: Los Indios de Espana, Shanto
With: Kidlat Tahimik, Mitos Benitez, Jeff Cohen, Kabunyan de Guia, Katrin de Guia, Ka-wayan de Guia,

BalikBayan, which means “returnee” in Tagalog, is partly about the homecoming of the historical figure Enrique of Malacca, a Malay slave of the 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who circumnavigated the Earth, before returning home as a free man. Kidlat Tahimik refuses to settle on anything, whether it’s the telling of a colonial past, or any version of this film, which he has been making and revising for nearly four decades.