Independent filmmaker Eric “Kidlat Tahimik” de Guia ‘59 is this year’s recipient of the highest award given by the University of the Philippines (UP) to a media practitioner, the UP Gawad Plaridel. De Guia received the award for his outstanding contributions to independent filmmaking last July 10 at the Cine Adarna of the UP Film Institute.

Kidlat Tahimik was chosen for his excellence in the art and craft of cinema, as well as for pioneering efforts in introducing Philippine independent filmmaking to the global audience. His independence as an artist is reflected in the non-commercial nature of his films, inspiring budding Filipino filmmakers to follow his example and to listen to their “inner duwende (dwarf).” Last October, De Guia received the Gawad Urian Lifetime Achievement Award for Filmmaking. Congratulations brod!