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Ishmael Bernal is a Director and Writer Philippin born on 30 september 1938 at Manila City (Philippines)

Ishmael Bernal

Ishmael Bernal
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Nationality Philippines
Birth 30 september 1938 at Manila City (Philippines)
Death 2 june 1996 (at 57 years)

Ishmael Bernal (30 September 1939 – 2 June 1996) was an acclaimed Filipino film, stage and television director. He was also an actor and screenwriter. Noted for his melodramas, particularly with feminist and moral issues, two of his films City After Dark (1980) and Himala (1982), are often cited as one of the greatest Filipino films of all time. He was declared a National Artist of the Philippines in 1991.

Biography

Born in Manila on 30 September 1938, Bernal was the son of Elena Bernal and Pacifico Ledesma.
He studied at Burgos Elementary School, Mapa High School and at the University of the Philippines where he finished his Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1959. After graduation he worked with Lamberto Avellana's documentary outfit before proceeding to France where he earned his Licentiate in French Literature and Philosophy at the University of Aix-en-Provence. He received his Diploma in Film Directing in 1970 at the Film Insititue of India in Poona under the Colombo plan scholarship. An active pariticipant in the struggle for artist's rights and welfare, Bernal was also a board member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines and the Directors Guild of the Philippines, Inc. Until his demise, he remained part of DGPI, an organization that studies the role of film as an instrument of entertainment, education and development.

Usually with

Charito Solis
Charito Solis
(3 films)
Pen Medina
Pen Medina
(3 films)
Peque Gallaga
Peque Gallaga
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Ishmael Bernal (4 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Hinugot sa Langit
Directed by Ishmael Bernal
Origin Philippines
Genres Drama
Themes Pregnancy films, Films about religion, Films about sexuality
Actors Maricel Soriano, Al Tantay, Charito Solis, Amy Austria, Dante Rivero, Pen Medina
Rating69% 3.464733.464733.464733.464733.46473
The center of the drama is the young unmarried but pregnant Carmen Castro (Maricel Soriano) who during the first few minutes of the film informs her cousin Stella (Amy Austria). Stella scoffs and recommends abortion. The father of the child, Jerry, also recommends abortion. Her over religious landlady Juling (Charito Solis), who is busy juggling her religious aims and her legal quarrel with the poor families illegally living in her land, however strongly suggests that she keep the baby on the grounds that having an abortion would be a sin against God.
Shake, Rattle & Roll
Directed by Ishmael Bernal, Peque Gallaga
Origin Philippines
Genres Comedy, Horror comedy, Horror
Themes Serial killer films, Comedy horror films
Actors Charito Solis, William Martinez, Rey Abellana, Janice de Belen, Joel Torre, Herbert Bautista
Rating70% 3.5284353.5284353.5284353.5284353.528435
Paolo (Rey "PJ" Abellana), Girlie (Arlene Mulach) and Johnny (Joel Torre) decide to perform a spirit of the glass in an abandoned house. When they contact the spirits; namely Isabel, Ibarra and Juanito, the spirits break free from the glass and possess the teens.
Himala
Himala (1982)
, 2h4
Directed by Ishmael Bernal
Origin Philippines
Genres Drama
Actors Nora Aunor, Joel Lamangan, Pen Medina, Ama Quiambao
Rating80% 4.0289854.0289854.0289854.0289854.028985
The setting is a small town named Cupang, a community set in an arid landscape. The townsfolk believed that the drought they were having was a curse placed on the upon the town for driving away a leper years before.
City After Dark
Directed by Ishmael Bernal
Origin Philippines
Genres Drama, Fantasy
Actors Charito Solis, Gina Alajar, Evangeline Rose Eigenmann y Gil, Rio Locsin, William Martinez, Alma Moreno
Rating70% 3.5224553.5224553.5224553.5224553.522455
The film's events take place in the course of several nights, involving various protagonists and the city itself. William Martinez plays a folk singer from a rich family who becomes addicted to heroin through the influence of lesbian pusher and pimp, Cherie Gil. Martinez's mother in the movie, played by Charito Solis, is herself a reformed prostitute who, like Lady Macbeth, is obsessed with cleaning her hands to remove the dirt of her past. She does her best to be respectable after marrying an ex-cop played by Johnny Wilson. Meanwhile, Cherie Gil's character is in love with a blind masseuse, played by Rio Locsin, with two illegitimate children. Locsin lives with Jojo Santiago, whose character fantasizes of earning American dollars while working in Saudi Arabia. Another character, portrayed by Alma Moreno, is a nurse who, in reality, is a call girl. Her live-in taxi-driver lover, played by Orestes Ojeda, is fooling around with a waitress played by Lorna Tolentino, who is the presumed girlfriend of a gay couterier played by Bernardo Bernardo. As dawn breaks over the city, the bizarre lives of the characters of Manila's nightlife seem like an alter-ego of the respectable, busy daytime world.

Scriptwriter

City After Dark
Directed by Ishmael Bernal
Origin Philippines
Genres Drama, Fantasy
Actors Charito Solis, Gina Alajar, Evangeline Rose Eigenmann y Gil, Rio Locsin, William Martinez, Alma Moreno
Roles Writer
Rating70% 3.5224553.5224553.5224553.5224553.522455
The film's events take place in the course of several nights, involving various protagonists and the city itself. William Martinez plays a folk singer from a rich family who becomes addicted to heroin through the influence of lesbian pusher and pimp, Cherie Gil. Martinez's mother in the movie, played by Charito Solis, is herself a reformed prostitute who, like Lady Macbeth, is obsessed with cleaning her hands to remove the dirt of her past. She does her best to be respectable after marrying an ex-cop played by Johnny Wilson. Meanwhile, Cherie Gil's character is in love with a blind masseuse, played by Rio Locsin, with two illegitimate children. Locsin lives with Jojo Santiago, whose character fantasizes of earning American dollars while working in Saudi Arabia. Another character, portrayed by Alma Moreno, is a nurse who, in reality, is a call girl. Her live-in taxi-driver lover, played by Orestes Ojeda, is fooling around with a waitress played by Lorna Tolentino, who is the presumed girlfriend of a gay couterier played by Bernardo Bernardo. As dawn breaks over the city, the bizarre lives of the characters of Manila's nightlife seem like an alter-ego of the respectable, busy daytime world.