Marilou Diaz-Abaya

Marilou Diaz-Abaya was the treasurer of the directors’ union under Lino Brocka for several years. In 1983, Diaz-Abaya joined the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, organized by Lino Brocka, and was an active member that opposed film censorship by the Marcos regime and joined in anti-government rallies.

Díaz-Abaya was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused her death on October 8, 2012.

Díaz is the 2001 Laureate of the Fukuoka Prize for Culture and the Arts in Japan. She has won numerous directing awards from award-giving bodies such as the Metro Manila Film Festival, the Urian Awards, the Film Academy of the Philippines, the Famas Awards, the Star Awards, the Catholic Mass Media Awards the British Film Institute Award, the International Federation of Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI), and the Network of Pan Asian Cinema Award (NETPAC).

In 1995, she again directed films, beginning with the release of Ipaglaban Mo (Redeem Her Honor). She continued directing such films as May Nagmamahal sa Iyo (Madonna and Child), Sa Pusod ng Dagat (In the Navel of the Sea), José Rizal, and Muro-Ami (Reef Hunters). Her body of work is a continuous examination of difficult social problems in the country. Her works often deal with the lives of the Filipino poor, women, and children who struggle to survive under harsh conditions.

Her early films Brutal, Karnal (Of the Flesh), and Alyas Baby Tsina, sharply condemn the oppressive social system during the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. When the Marcos was deposed in 1986, Diaz left filmmaking.

She entered the Philippine cinema industry in 1980 as a feminist director, yet she recalled growing up in a gender-free atmosphere. Diaz-Abaya's films are known for the struggles of the marginalized, and yet she never thought of a career in filmmaking while growing up in private Catholic schools for the elite.

Díaz directed and released her first feature film, Tanikala (Chains) in 1980. Since then, she has been one of the most active and visible directors in Philippine cinema.

Jesse Ejercito gave Diaz-Abaya the opportunity to make a film and Diaz-Abaya proposed to have Ricky Lee, whom she has only heard of and not met, as a writer for her film. Ricky Lee would then be known as one of Diaz-Abaya's collaborators in film and credited as the screenplay writer for several of Diaz-Abaya's films. Lee and Diaz-Abaya's first collaboration was making Brutal, which premiered at the Metro Manila Film Festival in 1980. Brutal was a success and Ishmael Bernal, a highly regarded Filipino filmmaker, saw the film and wanted to meet Diaz-Abaya. Bernal became Diaz-Abaya's mentor. After her success with Brutal, she then directed Macho Gigolo.

In the early 1980s, Lily Monteverde, a prominent Filipino film producer for Regal productions, asked Diaz-Abaya to make Sensual (Of the Senses), a coming of age film that covered sexual topics. It premiered one day before the 1986 EDSA Revolution.

An event that lead Diaz-Abaya to film was her applying for Communication Arts in the Assumption Convent. She intended to enroll for Asian Civilizations studies, but was not able to because the History Department was closed. Because of this she enrolled for Communication Arts and intended to stay for only one semester, but her love for theater acting free. During her time in college, she produced plays at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Also in college, she was able to direct her first film. She studied in several private schools (at St. Theresa's College from Kindergarten to High School), eventually graduating from Assumption College with a degree in Bachelor of Arts, major in Communication Arts in 1976. She went to Los Angeles for further studies and graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Master of Arts in Film and Television in 1978. She then went to London and completed the Film Course at London International Film School also in 1978.

Marilou Díaz-Abaya (March 30, 1955 – October 8, 2012) was a multi-awarded film director from the Philippines. She was the founder and president of the Marilou Díaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, a film school based in Antipolo City, Philippines. She was the director of the 1998 film José Rizal, a biographical film on the Philippines' national hero. She was part of the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema.

Díaz was born in Quezon City in 1955. She was one of seven children of lawyers Conrado Diaz and Felicitas Correa Diaz. She grew up quite privileged. Her father is from Paoay, Ilocos Norte, and is related to Valentin Diaz, who was one of the founding signatories in 1892 of the nationalist association La Liga Filipina with Jose Rizal, whom her famous film was about.