Sakada (film)

Sakada
Directed byBehn Cervantes
Screenplay byLualhati Bautista
Story byOscar Miranda
Starring
CinematographyEdmund Cupcupin
Edited byEdgardo Vinarao
Music byLucio San Pedro
Production
company
Sagisag Films
Distributed bySagisag Films
Release date
  • February 20, 1976 (1976-02-20)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryPhilippines
Languages
  • Filipino
  • English
  • Spanish

Sakada (The Tenants, also Seasonal Sugarcane Workers) is a 1976 Philippine social-realist film about the ordeals of sugarcane farmers on the island of Negros in the Philippines. It is "a thinly-veiled criticism of the country's feudal power structure."[1] The film was directed by Behn Cervantes and written by Oscar Miranda (story) and Lualhati Bautista (screenplay). Music was done by Lucio San Pedro.[2] It starred Alicia Alonzo, Robert Arevalo, Hilda Koronel, Pancho Magalona, Bembol Roco, Gloria Romero, Rosa Rosal, and Tony Santos Sr.[1][3]

The movie spent three weeks in theaters before Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos ordered the military to seize copies of the film.[1][4][5] The director was also arrested under the order of Marcos.[5] Sakada was first screened on Philippine television in 2005.[4]

Musical scorer Lutgardo Labad described the film as "a major cinematic coup that unearthed the inhuman conditions of our people then."[6]

  1. ^ a b c "Activist director Behn Cervantes, 74, dies". GMA News Online. August 15, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  2. ^ The Tenants, retrieved June 24, 2018
  3. ^ Lo, Ricky (August 23, 2009). "Days of Blood & Rosa". Philstar. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Pangilinan, Jen M. (June 24, 2005). "Sakada premieres on TV after 30 years". Philstar. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  5. ^ a b de Leon, Job (November 15, 2012). "Five films Imelda shouldn't have let you see". GMA News Online. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  6. ^ Tariman, Pablo A. (August 17, 2013). "Behn Cervantes, 74–drama and defiance to the last". Inquirer. Retrieved June 24, 2018.