ISHMAEL

BERNAL
LEDESMA
Ishmael Bernal Ledesma
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY
• Ishmael Bernal was a Filipino filmmaker, stage
and television director, actor and screenwriter.
• he directed many landmark Filipino films such
as Nunal sa Tubig (1976), City After Dark
(1980), Relasyon (1982), Himala(1982), and
Hinugot sa Langit (1985)
• Noted for his melodramas, particularly with
feminist and moral issues
• He wa sborn in Manila on 30 September 1938,
he was the son of Elea 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 participant 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.
 AS AN ARTIST
Ishmael Bernal truly loved the arts. He nurtured his passion for
literature and theater by actively participating in the U.P. Dramatic
Club while finishing a college degree. He was also an avid fan of
classical music including opera. During the 1960s, Bernal put up When
It's a Grey November in Your Soul, in Malate which became one of the
favorite watering holes of Manila's artists and intellectuals. Unfazed
by its short-lived success, Bernal put up Kasalo in Quezon City three
decades later, which became the hang-out of students, journalists,
poets, bands, theater and film artists.
 ACHIEVEMENTS
 He won the Urian for best director four times for Dalawang Pugad, Isang Ibon (Two
Nests, One Bird), 1977; Broken Marriage, 1983; Hinugot sa Langit (Wrenched From
Heaven), 1985; and Pahiram Ng Isang Umaga (Lend Me One Morning), 1989; and the
best screenplay for City After Dark, 1980. His film Pagdating sa Dulo, won for him the
FAMAS for best screenplay award while Himala (Miracle), 1982, garnered nine major
awards in the Metro Manila Film Festival.

 In that same year, Bernal was chosen by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino as the
Most Outstanding Filmmaker of the Decade 1971-1980. Among the 10 best films
chosen by the critics, five were his. These include Pagdating sa Dulo, Nunal sa Tubig,
Manila By Night, Himala and Hinugot sa Langit. He was also hailed as Director of the
Decade by the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA).

 Bernal also won the CMMA Best Director Award (1983), the Bronze Hugo Award in the
Chicago International Film Festival (1983) for the movie Himala. The Cultural Center of
the Philippines presented him the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining for film in 1990. In 1993,
he received the ASEAN Cultural Award in Communication Arts in Brunei Darrussalam.
DEATH
He died on June 2, 1996 in Quezon City,
Philippines.
Bernal died of a heart attack Sunday
night after a long bout with heart and
pancreas ailments, relatives said. His
career as a director began in the early
1970s after he studied filmmaking in
Poona, India.
 CPAR ACTIVITY

HUMSS 12-A

MA'AM KHAZEL MENDOZA