Marilou Diaz-Abaya dies at 57

Rappler.com

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The multi-awarded director succumbs to cardio-pulmonary arrest after a long battle with breast cancer

A TWITPIC POSTED BY Marc Abaya at 6:22 pm, October 8

MANILA, Philippines – Multi-awarded film and TV director Marilou Diaz-Abaya, 57, passed away Monday night, October 8, at 6:45 pm, after a long battle with breast cancer. She succumbed to cardio-pulmonary arrest at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig.

Sentiments immediately poured into the micro-blogging website, Twitter.

Abaya was born on March 30, 1955 in Quezon City. She studied Liberal Arts major in Communication Arts at the Assumption College (1976) before taking up filmmaking at the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (1979) and the London Film School.

Abaya’s first feature film is Tanikala (Chains) in 1980, followed by about 17 feature films. She has two unfinished films, Four Days in February (1986) about the 4-day People Power Revolution and Victory Boy (1990) about the presence of US Bases in the Philippines.

Other films Abaya is known for are Moral (1982), Baby Tsina (1984), Ipaglaban Mo, The Movie (1995), Sa Pusod ng Dagat (1997) and Bagong Buwan (2001), among many others.

Her last film is Ikaw ang Pag-Ibig (2011) that she also wrote, starring Ina Feleo, Jomari Yllana, Marvin Agustin, Nonie Buencamino, Eddie Garcia and Jaime Fabregas.

Among Abaya’s television directorial projects are Randy David’s talk show Public Forum (1986-1995) and the news satire Sic o’ Clock News (1987-1992).

Abaya is the only other female director who has received the FAMAS Award for Best Director (the other female director who has received the FAMAS is Fely Crisostomo.). 

She received 4 FAMAS awards in all, for the movies Brutal (1980), Karnal (1983), Jose Rizal (1998) and Muro Ami (1999), making her the “most awarded director in the history of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences.”

Her husband, Manolo Abaya, is a cinematographer and educator. They have two sons: Marc — frontman of rock band Kjwan and one of today’s most promising character actors — and David. 

Abaya was part of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Dive Solana Inc., Jesuit Communications Foundation and the AMANU Media Apostolate.

She was also an active member of the Silsilah Dialogue Movement for Peace, the Artists for Peace, the Mothers for Peace and the World Association of Psycho-Socio Rehabilitation.

In 2007, she established the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center. In her message in the mdafilm website, she said that the institute was established to “empower new filmmakers to meet the demands of new times.”

Abaya also taught film subjects at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Among the international organizations that recognized her work are:

  • The Laureate of the Fukuoka Prize for Culture and the Arts, Japan 
  • The British Film Institute
  • The International Federation of Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI)
  • The Network of Pan Asian Cinema Award (NETPAC)

Her contemporaries in the industry are other filmmaking greats Peque Gallaga, Laurice Guillen and Mel Chionglo. – Rappler.com

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