At 57, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, one of the top film directors of the Philippines, died of breast cancer on October 8, 2012.
Born on March 7, 1955, Marilou Diaz-Abaya is the female director who has received the most recognition from the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) with 4 awards for Best Director.
In 1976, Diaz-Abaya graduated from Assumption College, which is located in Makati City, with a degree in Bachelor of Arts with Communication Arts as her major. In 1979, she finished her degree in her Master of Arts in Film and Television Loyola Marymount University, which is located in
Los Angeles.In 1988, her film "Jose Rizal", which is considered as her masterpiece, received numerous awards from FAMAS, Star Awards, Gawad Urian, and Metro Manila Film Festival. In 1999, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City exhibited the film as its closing film.
Diaz-Abaya is also one of the few internationally recognized Filipino film directors. In 2001, the award-giving body called Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes that recognizes distinguished Asians who have significantly contributed
to the enrichment of culture awarded the highly respected recognition, Arts and Culture Prize, to Diaz-Abaya. She was applauded for the amalgamation of ethnic awareness, social realization, and entertainment integrated into her film.In 2005, Diaz-Abaya as a co-nominee as Women for Peace for the Nobel Peace Prize. Other international award-giving bodies that recognized the knack of Diaz-Abaya as a director are the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, the International Federation of Film Critics, and British Film Institute Awards.
Aside from working as a director, Diaz-Abaya is also teaching filmmaking in Ateneo de Manila University. She has also founded the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, of which she is the President. From 1980 to 2012, Diaz-Abaya has directed over 20 films. Her latest major work was "Ikaw Ang Pag-ibig", a movie released in 2011, starring Jomari Yllana, Ina Feleo, and Marvin Agustin.
Married to Manolo Abaya, also a filmmaker, Marilou Diaz-Abaya left two sons named Marco and David.