The Philippines has lost another Titan of Cinema; for me, Amable Tikoy Aguiluz VI was the guy who first brought me to the Philippines. We met at the Brisbane International Film Festival in 2006 where I was screening They Call Her Cleopatra Wong with its star Marrie Lee. He saw my "I Heart Weng Weng" shirt and said, "I love Weng Weng too!" I had no idea he was Filipino until he invited me to do my Bamboo Gods mash-up at his own film festival in Manila that November. "Find the airfare and I'll put you up for a few days..."
 |
| BIFF 2006: Tikoy, festival director Anne Demy-Geroe, Marrie Lee and Andrew Leavold |
Cinemanila International Film Festival was my introduction to the Philippines, and it became so addictive that I was back in February 2007 on what would become the most important shoot for The Search for Weng Weng; Tikoy picked me up from the airport and for the entire two weeks was my line producer, taking me on the cab ride to TayTay to interview Eddie Nicart, even lending me the $25 exit fee when I'd run out of my meager budget. Even though we stopped talking for a while after he ditched me at the last minute for Tarantino at his 2007 Cinemanila, Brendan Young and I still interviewed him in 2008; that footage finally ended up in the finished film, which Tikoy screened at the 2013 Cinemanila.
 |
| The Four Lions of Cinemanila 2007: Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Romero, Cirio H. Santiago and Tikoy |
He was also a highly accomplished director, and his undisputed masterpiece The Boatman (1984) gets a good mention in my next documentary on Filipino cinema; shame I never got around to a second interview. And although we'd stopped communicating after that last Cinemanila screening, I'll be forever grateful to the man who, perhaps more than anyone else (with the possible exception of BIFF head Anne Demy-Geroe!), was responsible for the start of my Philippines adventures - and changed my little world forever. Rest easy, Uncle Tikoy....
No comments:
Post a Comment