Catalino Ortiz Brocka (1939-1991) was a Filipino director and activist known for his politically conscious filmography.
Brocka directed about forty films in his lifetime, most of which were made during Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship. Brocka was a staunch Marcos critic and his films often focused on poor and/or marginalized groups (such as the LGBT community, prostitutes, and slum residents) who suffered under a corrupt, oppressive, and ineffectual system. After flying back from the Cannes Film Festival, where he was promoting This Is My Country, he was imprisoned alongside other political dissidents until Marcos was deposed in 1986. In the years before his death, Brocka remained well-regarded by the local film community and continued to portray the new government's corruption and failings.
He was also openly gay, as well as a convert to Mormonism. He died in a car accident on May 22, 1991, and was posthumously considered a National Artist of the Philippines.
Selected filmography:
- Manila in the Claws of Light (1975)
- Insiang (1976)
- This Is My Country (1984)
- Macho Dancer (1988)
- Natutulog Pa Ang Diyos (1988)
Tropes across his works:
- Country Mouse: Some of his films, such as Jaguar, Manila in the Claws of Light, and Macho Dancer, have a naive country boy arrive in Manila, only to be exposed to its dark underbelly.
- Production Posse: Directed Hilda Koronel in her own show before making her the leading lady of two of his films, Insiang and Manila in the Claws of Light.
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: His works often featured the seedier areas of Manila, such as the slums of Tondo in Insiang or the red-light districts of Macho Dancer, as well as the types of people who lived and worked there.
