Kidlat Tahimik
The first installment of the Early Monthly Segments film series debuts with Kidlat Tahimik’s Perfumed Nightmare. A sensation upon its debut at the Berlinale in 1977, the film has gone on to achieve legendary status. In this strikingly engaging hybrid, Tahimik himself stars as a Jeepney driver who sets out from the Philippines in search of rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. Instead of America, he finds himself in Munich, Paris and in a series of adventures he could never have imagined upon departure, observing the clash of cultures and the seductive dreams of technological modernization along the way. Werner Herzog once declared, “Kidlat, you are best in your detours,” and this film is full of them, as Tahimik’s wit and penchant for observable ironies makes this film an insightful adventure into the heart of cultural imperialism.
Programme:
Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare)
A film by Kidlat Tahimik, Philippines, 16mm, 1977, 91 minutes
Thank you to the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre.
Screened with Arabesque for Kenneth Anger, Marie Menken, 16mm, 1961, 4 mins.
@ the Art Bar, Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Tuesday March 24, 2009
7:30pm screening