16 Facts About Ishmael Bernal

Ishmael Bernal was a Filipino filmmaker, stage and television director, actor and screenwriter.

Ishmael Bernal studied at Burgos Elementary School, Victorino Mapa High School, and at the University of the Philippines where he finished his Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1959.

Ishmael Bernal received his Diploma in Film Directing in 1970 at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune under the Colombo plan scholarship.

An active participant in the struggle for artists' rights and welfare, Ishmael Bernal was a board member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines and the Directors Guild of the Philippines, Inc Until his demise, he remained part of DGPI.

Ishmael Bernal directed and wrote his first film, Pagdating sa Dulo, in 1971.

From that time on, Ishmael Bernal was established as an innovative and intelligent filmmaker who would not be content with conventional formulas of local film making.

Ishmael Bernal considered himself a feminist director and admitted that it was part of his interest to tackle issues affecting women.

Ishmael Bernal had been an activist since university, when he was a member of the Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines.

Ishmael Bernal protested film censorship and was part of the Free the Artist movement and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines.

Ishmael Bernal's films, including those he directed during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, were known for bearing feminist and social realist themes.

Ishmael Bernal won the Urian for best director four times for Dalawang Pugad, Isang Ibon, 1977; Broken Marriage, 1983; Hinugot sa Langit, 1985; and Pahiram ng Isang Umaga, 1989; and the best screenplay for City After Dark, 1980.

Ishmael Bernal's film Pagdating sa Dulo, won for him the FAMAS for best screenplay award while Himala, 1982, garnered nine major awards in the Metro Manila Film Festival.

Ishmael Bernal was hailed as Director of the Decade by the Catholic Mass Media Awards.

Ishmael Bernal won the CMMA Best Director Award, the Bronze Hugo Award in the Chicago International Film Festival for the movie Himala.

Ishmael Bernal died on June 2,1996, in Quezon City, Philippines of a heart attack.

Ishmael Bernal was buried at Himlayang Pilipino in Quezon City but was reinterred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on September 14,2024, after a state funeral.