Behn Cervantes

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.

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. Musical scorer Lutgardo Labad described the film as "a major cinematic coup that unearthed the inhuman conditions of our people then." In 1981, the film won a Dekada Award for Best Film of the Decade. in 1974 "to combat the censorship that was in place during martial law." 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.

Work on stage and in film

In theater Among Cervantes' work as stage director are Guys and Dolls, The Short, Short Life of Citizen Juan, and Iskolar ng Bayan.

Cervantes appeared in many stage productions as actor, including The Mikado, Waiting for Godot, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Cabaret, and M. Butterfly.

He also worked on activist plays, including Pagsambang Bayan and Estados Unidos versus Juan Matapang Cruz.

In film Cervantes directed Sakada in 1976 while the Philippines was under martial law. After the movie had spent three weeks in theaters, Marcos ordered the military to seize copies of the film.

He appeared in the films Bomba Star, Aguila, When I Fall In Love, Memories of Old Manila, Waiting in the Wings, Alas-Dose, Ang Anak ni Brocka, and Barako.

In 1985, Cervantes and Brocka attended a nationwide transport strike in sympathy with public transportation drivers who organized the strike against rising gas prices. Cervantes and Brocka were arrested and charged with illegal assembly, which carries a penalty of life imprisonment. They were released after 16 days.

He was a member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines.

He is believed to have coined the term edifice complex in the 1970s to describe Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos's practice of using publicly funded construction projects as political and election propaganda.

Awards Life Achievement Award from University of the Philippines Alumni Association Aliw award for Life Achievement in Theater Cultural Center of the Philippines' centennial award