Mike De Leon

This article is about the film director. For the musician, see soulfly.

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Pamintuan and the surname or paternal family name is de Leon.

Mike de Leon
Mike de Leon (center) at the Manila Metropolitan Theater in 2023.
Born	Miguel Pamintuan de Leon (1947-05-24) May 24, 1947 Manila, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Alma mater	Ateneo de Manila University (BA) University of Heidelberg (MA)
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer
Years active	1972–2023
Relatives	Narcisa Buencamino vda. de León (grandmother)

Miguel "Mike" Pamintuan de Leon (born May 24, 1947) is a Filipino film director, cinematographer, scriptwriter and film producer.

Early life and education

Mike de Leon was born on March 24, 1947, in Manila, Philippines, to producer Manuel de Leon and Imelda Pamintuan. Through his father, Mike de Leon is the grandson of LVN Studios matriarch Narcisa "Sisang" de Leon.

De Leon received his bachelor's degree from the Ateneo de Manila University before going on to take up art history at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Career

Early career

In the beginning of his career, de Leon directed two short films, Sa Bisperas in 1972 and Monologo in 1975.

In 1975, he established the production house Cinema Artists Philippines. Its initial film production was Lino Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light, on which de Leon also served as cinematographer.

Itim (1976)

Main article: Itim

De Leon's first feature-length directorial work was the ghost story Itim. Tommy Abuel plays a photographer who documents the Lenten rituals of his provincial hometown. The film also served as the breakout of Filipino actress and future producer Charo Santos, who plays a mysterious young woman who piques the interest of Abuel's character. Itim was a commercial flop, playing in cinemas for just one week, but received positive reviews from critics.

Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising (1977)

Main article: Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising

In 1977, de Leon directed the coming-of-age romantic drama Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising, starring Christopher de Leon and Hilda Koronel. The film was dedicated to de Leon's grandmother, LVN Studio's Sisang de Leon, whose centennial was celebrated that year.

1980s

In the 1980s, de Leon directed several critical hits that were screened at both local and international film festivals.

Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1980)

Main article: Kakabakaba Ka Ba?

After a three-year break from directing, De Leon returned with the musical-comedy film Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, which satirized Philippine foreign relations and organized religion, while also exploring youth culture. In the film, a group of friends, played by Christopher de Leon, Charo Santos, Jay Ilagan, and Sandy Andolong, have run-ins with Japanese and Chinese multinational drug rings, culminating in a musical extravaganza set in a Baguio convent. Kakabakaba Ka Ba garnered the Gaward Urian for Best Director for de Leon.

Kisapmata (1981)

Main article: Kisapmata (film)

While his other film Batch '81 went on a production hiatus, de Leon directed the psychological horror Kisapmata. Inspired by real life events, a controlling patriarch, played by Vic Silayan, dominates the married life of his daughter and her husband, played by Charo Santos and Jay Ilagan, respectively. It was the first major treatment of incest in Philippine cinema. At the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival, the film won 10 awards, including Best Picture as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay for de Leon.

Batch '81 (1982)

Main article: Batch '81

In 1982, de Leon's Batch 81 was released. The film depicted harsh fraternity rituals where neophytes were subjected to violent hazing and dehumanizing tests of blind loyalty, shown through the eyes of an unnamed pledgee played by Mark Gil in his breakout role.

Batch '81 was screened alongside Kisapmata at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight. With this achievement, de Leon became the second director, and first Filipino, to have two films screened at the Directors' Fortnight.

While at the festival, De Leon was interviewed by filmmaker Wim Wenders regarding the future of cinema for the 1985 documentary film Room 666.

Sister Stella L. (1984)

De Leon continued his sociopolitical commentary with the Vilma Santos-led Sister Stella L. In the midst of contemporary debate on liberation theory, Sister Stella L. told the story of a religious sister who becomes involved in a labor strike. Although de Leon initially set out to self-produce the film, limited financial resources forced him to ask producer Lily Monteverde of Regal Films to step in. This would be the first serious political film of Regal Films. It won 10 Gawad Urian awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and also competed for the Golden Lion at the 41st Venice International Film Festival.

Hindi Nahahati ang Langit (1985)

Main article: Hindi Nahahati ang Langit

The most atypical and commercially successful of his work is the romantic melodrama Hindi Nahahati ang Langit (1985), based on the komik of the same name by Nerissa Cabral.

1990s

"Aliwan Paradise" (1993)

The Japan Foundation approached de Leon to direct a segment for the four-country anthology Southern Winds, alongside entries from fellow Asian filmmakers Cherd Songsri, Shoji Kokami, and Slamet Rahardjo. The result of his directorial efforts was the short film Aliwan Paradise, a satire exposing the Philippine entertainment industry's fascination with exploiting poverty for the international film festival circuits. The film is set in a near-future Philippines where a Ministry of Entertainment calls for a national audition of entertainers. The Ministry decide that the poverty-stricken lives of two of the candidates can be exploited for entertainment. Aliwan Paradise takes off from Lino Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light, with the main characters of both films sharing the same names.

Bayaning 3rd World (1999)

Main article: Bayaning 3rd World

In the 1990s, de Leon was in talks with GMA Pictures, then called Cinemax, to helm a José Rizal biopic that would star Aga Muhlach. Both director and star dropped out of the project during the pre-production stage. GMA Pictures went on to produce the 1998 José Rizal biopic starring Cesar Montano and directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya. Nevertheless, according to frequent collaborator Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr., de Leon could not let go of the idea of a film about Rizal.

In 1999, de Leon directed the black-and-white mockumentary Bayaning 3rd World. The film won six Gawad Urian awards, including for Best Film as well as Best Director for de Leon.

Later career

Citizen Jake (2018)

Main article: Citizen Jake

After a nearly two-decade long hiatus from filmmaking, de Leon directed, co-wrote, and produced Citizen Jake.

Awards and recognitions

In 1999, the Cultural Center of the Philippines awarded Mike de Leon the Centennial Honors for the Arts. In 2024, de Leon also declined to receive the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining, the highest award given by the organization.

In 2014, de Leon declined to receive the Natatanging Gaward Urian lifetime achievement award, stating, "I just want to be alone. I’m no longer a director and I’m no longer public property."

Filmography

Year	Original title	English title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1975	Maynila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag	Manila in the Claws of Light	No	No	Yes	Also cinematographer; directed by Lino Brocka
1976	Itim	Black or The Rites of May	Yes	No	No
1977	Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising	When You Dream and Wake Up or Moments in a Stolen Dream	Yes	Yes	No	Co-written with Rey Santayana; also cinematographer
1980	Aguila		No	No	No	Cinematographer; directed by Eddie Romero
	Kakabakaba Ka Ba?	Will Your Heart Beat Faster?	Yes	Yes	No	Co-written with Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr., and Raquel Villavicencio
1981	Kisapmata	In the Wink of an Eye	Yes	Yes	No	Co-written with Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. and Raquel Villavicencio
1982	Batch '81		Yes	Yes	No	Co-written with Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr. and Raquel Villavicencio
1984	Sister Stella L. or Sangandaan	Crossroads	Yes	Yes	No	Co-written with Jose F. Lacaba and Jose Almojuela
1985	Hindi Nahahati ang Langit	The Heavens Are Not Divided or An Indivisible Heaven	Yes	No	No	Uncredited as director on initial release
1986	Bilanggo sa Dilim	Prisoner in the Dark or Prisoner of the Dark	Yes	Yes	No	Co-written with Jose Almojuela and Bobby Lavides, based on John Fowles' The Collector; also editor
1993	Aliwan Paradise	Entertainment Paradise	Yes	No	No	Short film
1999	Bayaning 3rd World	Third World Hero	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-written with Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr.
2001	Motorsiklo	Motorcycle	No	No	Yes	Short film; also writer; directed by Cesar Hernando
2018	Citizen Jake		Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-written with Noel Pascual and Atom Araullo

Frequent collaborators

Artist	Itim (1976)	Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising (1977)	Kakabakaba Ka Ba? (1980)	Kisapmata (1981)	Batch '81 (1982)	Sister Stella L. (1984)	Hindi Nahahati ang Langit (1985)	Aliwan Paradise (1993)	Bayaning 3rd World (1999)	Citizen Jake (2018)
Actors
Charo Santos	Y		Y	Y
Moody Diaz	Y	Y	Y
Christopher de Leon		Y	Y				Y
Danny Javier		Y	Y
Boboy Garrovillo		Y	Y
Laurice Guillen		Y				Y
Johnny Delgado			Y		Y			Y
Jay Ilagan			Y	Y		Y
Nanette Inventor			Y		Y
Charito Solis				Y	Y
Dina Bonnevie							Y			Y
Crew
Clodualdo del Mundo Jr.	Y		Y	Y	Y			Y	Y
Raquel Villavicencio			Y	Y	Y
Rody Lacap	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y
Ike Jarlego Jr.	Y	Y	Y
Jess Navarro			Y	Y	Y
Mel Chionglo	Y	Y
Cesar Hernando			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Lorrie Ilustre			Y	Y	Y				Y

References

Works cited

• Campos, Patrick (2006). "Looming Over the Nation, Uneasy with the Folks: Locating Mike de Leon in Philippine Cinema". Humanities Diliman: A Journal on Philippine Humanities. 3 (2): 35–73.
• Sangil, Anne Frances (2021). "Lost in Adaptation: Antifidelity and/in Mike De Leon's Bilanggo sa Dilim and Bayaning 3rd World". Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance. 1 (2): 71–83. doi:10.59588/2782-8875.1016.
• Vibal, Gaspar; Villegas, Dennis (2020). Philippine Cinema, 1897–2020. Vibal Foundation. ISBN 978-971-97-0717-2.

External links

• Media related to Mike De Leon at Wikimedia Commons
• Mike De Leon at IMDb