Behn Cervantes | |
|---|---|
 Detail of the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, showing names from the 2016 batch of Bantayog Honorees, including that of Behn Cervantes. | |
| Born | Benjamín Roberto Holcombe Cervantes August 26, 1938 |
| Died | August 13, 2013 (aged 74) |
| Alma mater | University of the Philippines Diliman (BA) |
| Known for | Activism against the administration of then-President Ferdinand Marcos through theater and film |
| Notable work | Sakada |
Benjamín Roberto "Behn" Holcombe Cervantes (August 25, 1938 – August 13, 2013) was a Filipino artist and activist. He was highly regarded as a theater pioneer, teacher, and progressive thinker who was detained multiple times during martial law in the Philippines.[1]
He directed the film Sakada (1976), about the struggle of Negrense peasants at a sugarcane plantation. Copies of the film were seized by the military under the Marcos dictatorship.[2] Musical scorer Lutgardo Labad described the film as "a major cinematic coup that unearthed the inhuman conditions of our people then."[3] In 1981, the film won a Dekada Award for Best Film of the Decade.[4]
At the University of the Philippines (UP), he founded the theater group UP Repertory Company[5] in 1974 "to combat the censorship that was in place during martial law."[4] He was also a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. He was also founding member of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Filipino.[5]
Cervantes’ name is on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Wall of Remembrance,[1] which recognizes heroes who fought against martial law in the Philippines under Ferdinand E. Marcos.[6]
- ^ a b "CERVANTES, Benjamin Roberto "Behn" H. – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. November 29, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ Pangilinan, Jen M. (June 24, 2005). "Sakada premieres on TV after 30 years". Philstar. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ Tariman, Pablo A. (August 17, 2013). "Behn Cervantes, 74–drama and defiance to the last". Inquirer. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ a b "Activist director Behn Cervantes, 74, dies". GMA News Online. August 15, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ a b "Behn Cervantes, 74". University of the Philippines Diliman.
- ^ "Martyrs & Heroes – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
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