Independent filmmaker Mike de Leon dies at 78

Metro Manila, Philippines - Mike de Leon, a renowned independent filmmaker behind classics “Kisapmata” and “Sister Stella L,” has died at the age of 78.

French distributor Carlotta Films, which released eight films of De Leon in a Blu-ray box set, heard the sad news from the industry legend’s relatives on Thursday, Aug. 28.

The Film Development Council of the Philippines also mourned the death of De Leon.

It said the director gave light on the “beauty and pain of the downtrodden and repressed, bringing their stories to the cultural forefront.”

“[His] life was dedicated to film,” FDCP Chairman Jose Javier Reyes was quoted as saying. “His consistent imagination to explore the language of cinema shaped what we understand of Philippine filmmaking today.”

Other known pieces from De Leon were “Itim” (1976), “Batch ‘81” (1982), and “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?” (1980).

His final directional feature film was “Citizen Jake” in 2018, where journalist Atom Aurallo played a fictional ex-journo struggling with contradictions within his own social class and the demands of a dysfunctional political family.