Nick Deocampo’s continuing film saga investigates on its third volume how World War II affected the growth of cinema in the Philippines (1942-1945). Revealed in the book is a vast wealth of information about Japanese wartime manipulation of motion pictures that would only lead to the inglorious end of the colonial film cycle at war’s conclusion. This valuable construction of the country’s wartime film history uncovers significant intellectual efforts made by Japanese film critics and film artists who formed the Propaganda Corps assigned to the country. They conceived for Filipinos a “national” identity for their cinema, even while this was wrapped in a fascist, colonial, and militaristic context. Seventy years after the end of World War II, Deocampo triumphs over trauma and forgetfulness as he revisits the wartime period and its cinema. He provides a landmark contribution to historical memory as he uncovers one of the bleakest moments in Philippine film history.
Nick Deocampo stands out as a multifaceted personality in Philippine cinema. He is a prizewinning filmmaker, author, film teacher, scholar, film festival organizer, film historian, and now the director of the newly established Center for New Cinema.
Deocampo’s academic credentials include a Master of Arts degree in Cinema Studies at the New York University under a Fulbright Scholarship Grant (1988 – 1989). He received another Fulbright Grant in 2001 – 2002 as an International Senior Research Fellow at the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He received his Certificate in Film as a French Government scholar at the Atelier du formacion au cinema direct in Paris, France (1981 – 1989). He graduated Cum Laude with a degree in A.B. Theater Arts at the University of the Philippines (1977 – 1981).