Kidlat Tahimik of Baguio returns home with global masterpiece, “Rizal Indio-Genius ng Ating Lahi”

Baguio City, Philippines— National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik returns home with his internationally acclaimed exhibit, “Rizal Indio-Genius ng Ating Lahi,” bringing pride to Cordillerans.

Rizal Indio-Genius ng Ating Lahi is an exhibit and artistic concept by Kidlat Tahimik that reinterprets Jose Rizal as a bridge between Western education and indigenous Filipino genius. 

The exhibit, which has toured Spain and Manila, is now on display at the Baguio Museum following a special homecoming launch held on June 19, 2025. 

Who is Kidlat Tahimik? 

Kidlat Tahimik, born Eric Oteyza de Guia, is an 82-year-old Baguio-based National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts and a long-serving trustee of the Baguio Museum.

He is the Father of Philippine Indie Cinema, a National Artist for Film (2018), and a strong advocate for indigenous culture. 

After pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he returned to Baguio to highlight Igorot culture through films that challenge ongoing neocolonialism. 

His debut film, according to the National Museum of the Philippines, was Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmares), which follows a jeepney driver aspiring to become an astronaut in the U.S., only to awaken to the flaws of Western ideals. 

His multimedia exhibit was first launched as “Magellan, Marilyn, Mickey, and Fray Damaso: 500 Years of Rock Star Conquerors” at the Palacio de Cristal del Retiro in Madrid, Spain, in 2022. 

It was later renamed “INDIO-GENIUS: 500 Taon ng Labanang Kultural (1521–2021)” and shown at the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila for six months. 

Renamed for the third time as “Rizal Indio-Genious ng Ating Lahi,” the exhibit returns to Baguio on the 164th birth anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal, in honor of his legacy and the revolutionary spirit of Filipinos.