Kidlat Tahimik is a filmmaker, installation/performance artist, and culture observer. His debut film, "Perfume Nightmare” or in Filipino “Mababangong Bangungot” was released in 1977. The said film received the FIPRESCI Award (International Critics Award) at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was also released and shown in the USA in 1981. In reference to the debut film, What makes it so remarkable is that it is a high-caliber model of “Third Cinema” – a critical cinema of neocolonial exploitation and state of oppression. Additionally, his films are also referred to as “imperfect films” because it strays away from digital apparatuses and tools in their creation.

Nevertheless, his most notable works are the following: (1) Balikbayan #1: Memories of Overdevelopment Redux which just finished in 2023 – 45 years in the making; (2) Japanese Summers of a Filipino Fundoshi; (3) Why is Yellow the Middle of the Rainbow?; (4) Orbit 50: Letters to My 3 Sons; (5) Turumba; (6) Who Invented the Yoyo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy?; and (7) Mababangong Bangungot/Perfumed Nightmare.

Furthermore, his explanation of why he is called Kidlat Tahimik is best expressed in his upcoming statement: “It's like a contradiction, an oxymoron. Parang sa unang isip ko, ‘Uy, meron bang kidlat na tahimik?’ Well, actually humina yung kulog. So, the flash is kidlat. Siguro it's a spiritual goal for me to become pure energy with the sound and fury, signifying nothing.”