#itim

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Mike De Leon (1947-2025)

We learned yesterday of the passing of one of the greatest Filipino directors, his family confirmed to French film distributor Carlotta Films (they released a box set of his films in France).

Mike De Leon's path in filmmaking is already a part of him. He's the grandson of LVN Pictures founder Narcisa "Sisang" De Leon, the matriarch who established their family's film business and gave it a commanding presence in the years following World War II in the country. When her son, Manuel De Leon took over, he pursued social-realist stories veering away from his mother's taste for popular romances mixed with song and dance (traditional awit and corrido).

De Leon emerged as one of the leading filmmakers in "Second Golden Age" of Philippine cinema along with directors Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. Directors in these era experimented with new techniques despite tecnological constraints and persisted with their bold political themes as Martial Law threatened and prevented a creative renaissance in local filmmaking.

He first started as a producer and cinematographer. He produced what is considered as the greatest Philippine film of all time, Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Light - 1975). Collaborating with Lino Brocka and Clodualdo A. del Mundo Jr.

Then he made his first directorial debut with Itim (1976), starring Charo Santos in her first film role. Despite being a commercial failure, it has garnered favorable reviews over the years and provided insight in his style and vision. His next film, Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising (1977), a romance drama he dedicated to his grandmother's centennial birthday and perhaps a nod to her love for romance movies, which helped make their studio well-known.

Itim (1976)

Kung Mangrap Ka't Magising (1977)

A visionary and known for his razor-sharp social commentary, De Leon didn't hesitate to expose the problems in society that lies within normalcy, often critiquing his upper class upbringing and institutions. From domestic violence that simmers within a single home perpetuated by a tyrant father, outwardly symbolizing the Marcos dictatorship in Kisapmata (In the blink of an eye - 1981) to using fraternity life as lens in the nature of fascism and how even intelligent minds can sacrifice their humanity and free will in order to comply and belong in Batch '81 (1982).

In his lighter moments, he laced his work with biting satire in films like Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (Does Your Heart Beat Faster? - 1981), a closer look on how foreign control influences the Philippine economy. Aliwan Paradise (1993), a black comedy short part of the anthology film Southern Winds, set in semi-futuristic Philippines that critically examines and unsettlingly predicted the fixation of the entertainment industry in showcasing "poverty porn" and current trends to be the new opium of the masses.

He was also in initial talks to direct a Jose Rizal biopic with GMA Pictures but both dropped out. He eventually directed a mockumentary Bayaning 3rd World (3rd World Hero - 2000), starring Joel Torre, Ricky Davao and Cris Villanueva.

In 2018, he came out of retirement to co-write, produce, and direct Citizen Jake (2018), a bold return to filmmaking which he didn’t hold back a scathing critique of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

Mike De leon, despite his known temperamental personality, has remained steadfast in pursuing cinematic excellence. He found courage to pursue and bring out the truth from the realities of the troubled years of the nation. From beginning til end, he slammed authoritarian regimes using his cinematic voice and gift of visual language. We hope that new and current film audience, filmmakers, practitioners and scholars still seek his works.

In Wim Wenders' documentary Room 666 (1982), he asked selected directors, which one of them is De Leon to answer the principal question about the future of cinema, he stated, “To ask a director like myself from the Philippines what the future of cinema is, I find, an absurd question. To ask what the future of cinema is in the Philippines, is like asking what the future of the Philippines is.” 

Kisapmata (1981)

Batch '81 - 1982

Sister Stella L. (1984)

Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1981)

Aliwan Paradise (1982)

Citizen Jake (2018)

My last memory of Mike De Leon was during the pandemic, when he was working to restore vintage Filipino films from his family’s studio archive and make them available online, perhaps his final gift.

[susan-mya-91]

New pic on my Only Fans account, link in bio ❤️

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"Human rights groups" refuse to help a Palestinian being imprisoned and tortured for his beliefs

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

Earlier this week we reported on the case of a Palestinian man who just completed his conversion to Judaism who was then, on the even of Yom Kippur, arrested and imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority on Yom Kippur and reportedly tortured. I found two small Israeli NGOs working to help this man. One is B'Tzalmo, which works for equal rights for all concentrating on religious Jews in Israeli courts, and the other is Itim, which works to help people (including converts) navigate through Israel rabbinical bureaucracy. One would think that this case would appeal to the larger human rights organizations working in Israel - Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, Amnesty International, Rabbis for Human Rights, Yesh Din. All these groups are pro-Palestinian, and here is a Palestinian who is being oppressed simply because of his beliefs. Yet when B'Tzalmo asked for help from these organizations, they refused. These organizations either don't care about human rights, or they don't consider Jews to be fully human. All they need to do is a single tweet to defend a man who is being persecuted for his beliefs. A Palestinian, no less. Public pressure from any major human rights organization will shame the PA into releasing them. But they refuse, even when asked. The hypocrisy of the so called "human rights" community is disgusting.

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+Chibi Tino+ 

Birthday gift for @itimsorashi ~! 

Happy Birthday, friend! QwQ

[gisud]

[leandro-ctba]

Zoo CTBA, Cisne... #cygne noir, #schwarzer Schwan, #البجعة السوداء, #чорны лебедзь, #黑天鹅, #黑天鵝, #검은 색 백조, #sort svane, #itim na sisne, #musta joutsen, #swan du, #μαύρο κύκνο, #ברבור שחור, #zwarte zwaan, #black swan, #cigno nero, #黒鳥, #svart svane, #черный лебедь, #siyah kuğu.

[ellewritesph]

QCinema 2022: ‘Itim’ and the Ghosts of Injustice

Originally published on December 6, 2022 at Sine Liwanag.

By Elle Yap

Itim (also known as The Rites of May), Mike de Leon’s feature film debut released in 1976, revolves around a photographer (Tommy Abuel) who returns to the province to be with his father (Mario Montenegro) and to document the town’s Holy Week practices. During this time, he finds himself drawn to Teresa (played by Charo Santos in her debut role), and they become entangled with the ghosts of their families’ past.

The best ghost stories tend to be rooted in unfinished business, in the quiet darkness that exists between the past and the present. The horror in ghost stories is as much rooted in the existential dread of the unknown—or worse, unknowable—world as it is about scaring people with spectral beings. You can see that in films like The Others (2001) or the Netflix TV adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House. Recently, director Scott Derrickson even played around with that thematic string in ghost stories for The Black Phone, to potent crowd-pleasing results.  

It’s an ethos that works effectively, and it’s one that Mike de Leon uses well in Itim, embodying a theme of injustice that can only be remedied by otherworldly powers. The ghost’s unfinished business here is a series of grave crimes that were covered up with ease due to the societal privilege of the criminal, and the screenplay written by Clodualdo Del Mundo Jr. and Gil Quinto thrills at the opportunity to build up that sense of dread and fear as we uncover each piece of the puzzle with patience and methodical grace.

It’s certainly an interesting choice to pair Jun, the photographer, with Teresa, since their chemistry together and the sense of unease that they feel around the world seems almost otherworldly (It’s because it is: their direct relation to the criminal and the ghost, respectively, appears to be what drew them together as much as it was mutual attraction). Tommy Abuel and Charo Santos certainly have a sense of camaraderie together that makes their budding friendship and trust in each other believable despite the short timeline and circumstance. 

The justice-seeking ghost is a very common trope in ghost stories, but de Leon uses it as an allegory of the greater crimes that go unpunished across the nation against women, minorities, and the poor. 

It hints at those larger themes of injustice, and de Leon shows how people seek comfort in their lives through religion: the penitence in churches, the recreation of the torturous whippings that Christ faced while in the journey of crucifixion, the prayers and chants honed through decades of practice. It’s fascinating to watch de Leon implicitly connect these to the main ghost story at hand: akin to how these religious acts are supposed to give the marginalized hope for forgiveness and justice, Rosa, Teresa’s sister and the ghost haunting the story, is using supernatural means to find equal footing and justice after it was denied to her while she was alive. 

There’s also interest in how de Leon uses the parallelisms of religion as a comforting act of penitence and the haunting as an act of a ghost asking to be comforted in the afterlife. The writing and the direction certainly help bring these to the surface, and it makes for a richer viewing experience as de Leon’s direction guides you wordlessly through these acts of penitence, increasing in intensity until the final climactic reveal occurs. 

The film’s restoration for the big screen is very vibrant, and the viewer gets a sense of what awed critics and audiences at the time of its initial release: de Leon uses these great widescreen shots to build tension in the story, and it has a sense of scale in its proceedings that is largely missing from future ghost story films made in the Philippines. 

The way de Leon introduces the church in the province feels very inspired, a way of defamiliarizing what a church is; and the early shots inside of Jun’s family home give a sense of geography that allows the audience to know where everything is, setting up the actual horror scenes later on that rely on the audience’s familiarity with where these rooms are in relation to each other. 

Itim is a confident and assured debut for de Leon, showing his eye for images and his intentional approach to tackling social commentary that will show up in many of his future films. It is also a great film in its own right, with potent imagery and storytelling that stays compelling throughout the film. There’s a timeless appeal with Itim that doesn’t necessarily exist with other horror films, grounded in a societal condition that exists even today, and it’s something that modern audiences can connect with easily.

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I Tried This Incredible Jacket Weeks Ago and Can’t Stop Thinking About It—I’m Buying It for Payday

Over the years, I’ve explored my private aesthetic, toying with vibrant maximalism, following each arising pattern, and lastly have settled on minimalism as my true type identification. The concentrate on kind, cloth and construction is innately polished and withstands the influxes of sudden traits, a lot in order that my wardrobe has remained the identical for a few years. Ready for one thing to…

I Tried This Incredible Jacket Weeks Ago and Can’t Stop Thinking About It—I’m Buying It for Payday