‘Itim’ director Mike De Leon says he’s “utterly humiliated to be a Filipino” following Bongbong Marcos election win

Filipino director Mike De Leon has shared his thoughts on the recent election victory of Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, saying “I feel utterly humiliated to be a Filipino today.”

The director – whose 1979 cult classic horror film Itim was restored and screened at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on Friday (May 20) – shared a statement via Paris-based film distributor Carlotta Films on social media.

Itim tells the story of a young photographer who returns home to the Philippines to visit his father who was paralysed during an accident. During his trip, he gets close to a mysterious woman named Teresa, who is haunted by the ghost of her dead sister.

Announcing that he would not be attending the Cannes Film Festival, the director’s statement included a passage from his upcoming book that touched upon an incident he faced with the Philippine government after he first screened Itim in the United States decades ago.

“I was asked if the government was doing anything to support films like Itim. I was young and I had an attitude. I said that the government’s sole commitment to filmmaking was documenting the daily existence of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.”

Writing that he was just “being a smartass” at the time, De Leon said his comments caught the attention of Philippine Consulate officers who were at the screening. De Leon alleged his passport was “pulled” by a prominent columnist with close ties with the Marcoses and he was warned to not leave the US.

His father was forced to intervene, and got De Leon out of trouble with an apology to the Philippines’ Board of Censorship and the explanation that his comments were out of context. “It was made clear that nobody had any right to criticise the reigning couple, not even in jest,” De Leon wrote, continuing, “So I was made to apologise to this panel of government bureaucrats puffed up with undeserved power. And apologise I did. What choice did I have under those conditions? Besides, I wanted my passport back.”

The section De Leon included in his statement was titled ‘Surreal Mix of Horror and Politics’. He added that the title is still appropriate in 2022 following Marcos’s recent electoral win, saying: “Horror has now acquired a more sinister meaning. It is no longer about a ghost but about the monsters of Philippine politics, monsters that, after a long wait in the subterranean caverns of hell, have returned to ravish and rape my country all over again. The crazy thing is that we invited them back.”

“I am happy that my film is participating in this great festival, but I feel utterly humiliated to be a Filipino today.”

Bongbong is the son of Ferdinand Marcos, president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. In 1972, Marcos instituted martial law, a nine-year period of military rule marked by widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Marcos’ main opponent in the election, current Vice President Leni Robredo, had garnered the public support of a number of prominent Filipino artists in the lead up to the election, including Ely Buendia, Nadine Lustre, Ebe Dancel, Ben&Ben, Rivermaya, Gloc-9, Juan Karlos, Moira dela Torre, Sam Concepcion, Noel Cabangon and more.

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