NICK DEOCAMPO: A PROFILE
CNC Director Nick Deocampo . click image above to view in high res.
Nick Deocampo stands out as a multifaceted personality in Philippine cinema. He is a prizewinning filmmaker, author, film teacher, scholar, film festival organizer, film historian, and now the director of the newly established Center for New Cinema.
Deocampo’s academic credentials include a Master of Arts degree in Cinema Studies at the New York University under a Fulbright Scholarship Grant (1988 – 1989). He received another Fulbright Grant in 2001 – 2002 as an International Senior Research Fellow at the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He received his Certificate in Film as a French Government scholar at the Atelier du formacion au cinema direct in Paris, France (1981 – 1989). He graduated Cum Laude with a degree in A.B. Theater Arts at the University of the Philippines (1977 – 1981).
Named as a Scholar-in Residence at the New York University in 1998, he has been accorded various international academic honors, among them: Chancellor’s Most Distinguished Lecturer at the University of California, Irvine; International Fellow at the University of Iowa; International Fellow of the Japan Foundation; Asia Society (New York) Travel Grantee; British Council Fellow; and Artist-in-Residence at the Walker Arts Center, Minnesota. In 2001, he was among the first to be awarded the Asian Public Intellectual (API) Fellowships by the Nippon Foundation.
Deocampo is the author of several groundbreaking and prizewinning books in cinema: the pioneering Short Film: Emergence of a New Philippine Cinema (Manila: Communication Foundation for Asia, 1985) [Translated into El Cortometraje: Surgimiento de un nuevo cine filipino (Bilbao: Certamen Internacional del cine documental y cortometraje de Bilbao, 1986)]; Beyond the Mainstream: The Films of Nick Deocampo (Winner of the “National Book Award” from the Manila Critics Circle, 1997). He is currently writing a monumental five-volume history of Philippine cinema. The first volume Cine: Spanish Influences on Early Cinema in the Philippines (Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2003) won for Deocampo his second “National Book Award” from the Manila Critics Circle, 2003. Next year, his second volume on cinema in the Philippines during the period of American occupation will be published.
As an international scholar and writer, his articles have been published in various important publications: Encyclopedia of Early Cinema edited by Richard Abel (Routledge Press: London and New York); Vestiges of War (The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999) edited by Angel Shaw and Luis Francia (New York University Press, USA); Queer Looks edited by Martha Gever, John Greyson and Pratibha Parmar (Routledge Press, London and New York); Documentary Box published by the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (Japan); Making Documentaries and News Features in the Philippines edited by James Kenny and Isabel Enriquez Kenny (Anvil Press, Philippines),
Deocampo’s API travel to various Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan has greatly inspired his recent project to bring various Philippine islands film programs that are exhibited in urban schools as well as remote village communities. In a year, he organizes three major film festivals and visits more than 15 islands and sites attracting thousands to watch Filipino and foreign film classics, premiere new works and launch independent productions. He too organizes seminars and workshops and distributes faculty manuals to teachers to help remote audiences to appreciate the art of cinema.
In his chosen field of filmmaking, he is the only Filipino who has served the most number of times as a member of the international film jury in film festivals held in Berlin, Rotterdam (Holland), Hawaii, Bilbao (Spain), Singapore, Oberhausen (Germany), Brussels (Belgium), Brisbane (Australia), New Delhi (India), Pusan (South Korea), Yamagata (Japan) and the New York University Student Film Festival. For his outstanding achievements in cinema, he was awarded the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World” Award in Kobe, Japan (1993) after receiving the “Ten Outstanding Young Men” (TOYM) Award in the Philippines (1992). He has also received prestigious recognition from his country, among them a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his outstanding contributions to Philippine cinema from the Filipino Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Lamberto Avellana Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines. The International Biographical Society in Cambridge, England has named Deocampo among the Who’s Who of the 21st Century.
Known for his gritty documentaries and personal films, he won the Grand Prize in Brussels in 1987 for his trailblazing documentary trilogy: Oliver (1983), Children of the Regime (1985) and Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song (1986). His films are damning documents of lives lived under the military dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. He won two more documentary awards in Brussels for A Legacy of Violence and The Sex Warriors and the Samurai. The last film also won the “Special Mention Award for the Best Asian Documentary” in Tokyo. Other awards include the “Prix du court metrage” (Best Short Film) in Fribourg, Switzerland for Memories of Old Manila and the “Audience Prize” in Yamagata, Japan for his autobiographical film, Private Wars.
With a teaching experience in various universities such as the University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, and the Ateneo de Manila University, Deocampo is presently the director of Center for New Cinema (CNC).