A shattering loss: cinematographer, visual artist, and photographer Kidlat de Guia passed away yesterday, March 9. He was 47 and is survived by his wife Lissa, their son Kalinaw, and daughter Amihan.
With Agam Agenda’s Padmapani Perez, Kidlat helped produce the short international video Midnight. Climate. Survival which was the final creative expression in 2020 of the 55-government strong Climate Vulnerable Forum’s (CVF) global campaign to persuade countries to raise their climate ambition. We grieve with Padma, who considered Kidlat her twin brother, and we grieve with Kidlat’s siblings Kabunyan and Kawayan, and his parents, National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik and cultural activist Katrin de Guia.
Kidlat was deeply loved by so many. To write about him in the past tense is painful. To say Kidlat and Padma were close is an incredible understatement. Padma and Kidlat grew up together and like the closest of kin quarreled, laughed, cried, loved, and experienced much of life together.
Padma worked with Kidlat and other colleagues such as Luisa Igloria, Gawani Domogo Gaongen, Marjorie Evasco, and Maria Faciolince to produce the Midnight video as an expression of their commonly held hope: to draw in poets, artists, and communities everywhere to re-assemble, reimagine, and fight to bring about a kinder future for all amidst the worsening climate crisis. We post this again in remembrance of Kidlat, and as a reminder to ourselves that our work is far from done and that however difficult the challenges ahead are, we must persist.
Main Photo: Kidlat de Guia with his daughter Amihan, Christmas 2021. Photo by Padmapani Perez; (2) Kidlat de Guia in December 2020 editing ICSC’s Midnight video for the global CVF campaign. Photo by Padmapani Perez; (3) Younger days: visual artist, photographer and cinematographer Kidlat de Guia with Padmapani Perez, Agam agenda chief strategist, poet, and lead editor of the recently released international climate anthology Harvest Moon.
