Ishmael Bernal; Filipino Movie Director

Ishmael Bernal, 58, leading Filipino movie director who made about 60 films on social injustice. He studied diplomacy at the University of the Philippines and was in the diplomatic service until he switched to filmmaking in the early 1970s. Over the last quarter-century, he used satire to describe social and political problems, often angering the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda. The couple often had large portions of Bernal’s films cut by censors, including 1982’s “Manila by Night,” a film illustrating the poverty that drives people to act irresponsibly. Bernal overcame the censorship by having his films shown in their entirety at film festivals around the world. On Sunday in Manila of a heart attack.