This National Women’s Month, we recognize and celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of our female national artists. These women have made significant strides in their respective fields, breaking barriers and paving the way for future generations of artists.

Today’s featured national artist is Marilou Diaz-Abaya, National Artist for Cinema.

MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA
National Artist for Cinema (2022)
March 30, 1955-October 8, 2012

Marilou Diaz-Abaya was a film and television director and screenwriter. She  began her career in the 1980s and was  part of the generation that defined what  is today remembered as the “Second  Golden Age of Philippine Cinema.” Her first collaboration with screenwriter Ricky Lee was Brutal (1980).  They would go on to collaborate on half of her filmography. Brutal was a box-office success and a  critically acclaimed work, for which she received her first Best Director award from the Metro Manila Film Festival  (MMFF).  She emerged as a bold experimenter of storytelling structure and a fierce creative protester of the harrowing plight of women in a male-dominated society. Moral (1982), was named  Outstanding Film of the Year by the British Film Institute.  Karnal (1983), received the Best Picture prizes at the MMFF and the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS). It was also named one of the Ten Best Films of the Decade by the  Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino. She directed television and gave the public a variety of shows. In 1997, she directed Rolando Tinio’s Milagros, which won ten awards at the  Gawad Urian, and the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino named it one of the best films of the decade. Sa Pusod ng Dagat (1998), received the International Federation of  Film Critics/Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema Award at Singapore International  Film Festival. Her Jose Rizal Best  Picture and Best Director, at the MMFF and FAMAS, and was named one of the best films of the decade by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino.  Muro-Ami (1999), also won Best Picture and Best Director at the MMFF and FAMAS. Bagong Buwan (2001) likewise won the Best Picture and Best Director prizes at FAMAS. She established the Asia Pacific Film Institute in 2005 and then the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center in 2007. 

For her directorial expertise and her contribution to cinema, she received the 2001 Laureate of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize; the 2006 Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Award; and the 2006 Tanglaw ng Lahi Award given by the Ateneo De Manila University. Posthumously, she received the  2012 Cinemanila International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2012 Catholic  Award for the Arts; the 2012 Ulirang Alagad ng Pelikula sa Likod ng Kamera given by the Philippine Movie Press Club at 28th Star Awards for Movies; the 2013 Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award given by the Film Academy of the Philippines; the 2019 FAMAS Lifetime  Achievement Award; and the 2019 Hall of Fame Award at the MMFF. (Source: https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-artists-of-the-philippines/marilou-diaz-abaya-2/)