Behn Cervantes

In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Holcombe and the surname or paternal family name is Cervantes.

Behn Cervantes
Detail of the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, showing names from the 2016 batch of Bantayog Honorees, including that of Behn Cervantes.
Born
Benjamín Roberto Holcombe Cervantes

(1938-08-26)August 26, 1938
Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Commonwealth of the Philippines
DiedAugust 13, 2013(2013-08-13) (aged 74)
Muntinlupa, Philippines
Alma materUniversity of the Philippines Diliman (BA)
Known forActivism against the administration of then-President Ferdinand Marcos through theater and film
Notable workSakada

Benjamín Roberto "Behn" Holcombe Cervantes (August 25, 1938 – August 13, 2013) was a Filipino artist and activist. He was highly regarded as a theater pioneer, teacher, and progressive thinker who was detained multiple times during martial law in the Philippines.[1]

He directed the film Sakada (1976), about the struggle of Negrense peasants at a sugarcane plantation. Copies of the film were seized by the military under the Marcos dictatorship.[2] Musical scorer Lutgardo Labad described the film as "a major cinematic coup that unearthed the inhuman conditions of our people then."[3] In 1981, the film won a Dekada Award for Best Film of the Decade.[4]

At the University of the Philippines (UP), he founded the theater group UP Repertory Company[5] in 1974 "to combat the censorship that was in place during martial law."[4] He was also a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. He was also founding member of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Filipino.[5]

Cervantes' name is on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Wall of Remembrance,[1] which recognizes heroes who fought against martial law in the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos.[6]

  1. ^ a b "CERVANTES, Benjamin Roberto "Behn" H. – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. November 29, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  2. ^ Pangilinan, Jen M. (June 24, 2005). "Sakada premieres on TV after 30 years". Philstar. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  3. ^ Tariman, Pablo A. (August 17, 2013). "Behn Cervantes, 74–drama and defiance to the last". Inquirer. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Activist director Behn Cervantes, 74, dies". GMA News Online. August 15, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Behn Cervantes, 74". University of the Philippines Diliman.
  6. ^ "Martyrs & Heroes – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. Retrieved April 22, 2018.