Director Marilou Diaz-Abaya succumbs to cancer
(UPDATE) Award-winning director Marilou Diaz-Abaya passed away on Monday, October 8, 6:45 pm at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig, after years of battling with breast cancer. She was 57.
In her early years as a director, Diaz-Abaya made some of the Philippines’ most important films like “Brutal,” “Moral,” “Karnal” and “Alyas Baby China.” These films stood as metaphors of oppression during Martial Law, alongside works of Lino Brocka, Mike De Leon and Ishmael Bernal.
She made over 20 films from 1980 to 2011, including internationally-acclaimed “Muro Ami” and what is considered her masterpiece, “José Rizal.” This film was screened at New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 1999.
Many of her works were exhibited in prestigious film festivals and cultural venues all over the world. She also received the Arts and Culture Prize from the renowned Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2001, where she was cited as the “vanguard of contemporary Philippine filmmakers.”
She was a veteran of all of the country’s major award-giving bodies, and was also a recipient of awards from the British Film Institute, the Network of Pan Asian Cinema (NETPAC), and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
She founded the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center in 2007.
Diaz-Abaya is survived by her family of filmmakers: cinematographer husband Manolo Abaya, cinematographer son David, and actor-singer Marc. With reports from Maridol Ranoa-Bismark.
