
Directing
Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Born — Died
1955-03-30 — 2012-10-08
Place of birth
Quezon City, Philippines
Known for
Directing
Credits
29 titles
Marilou Díaz-Abaya (30 March 1955 – 8 October 2012) was a Filipina multi-award winning film director. She was the founder and president of the Marilou Díaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, a film school based in Antipolo, 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.
Known for
8.8Accused of treason, Dr. Jose P. Rizal awaits trial and meets with his colonial government-appointed counsel, Luis Taviel de Andrade. The two build the case and arguments for the defense as significant events in the central figure's life prior to his incarceration unfold. Upon hearing Rizal's life story, Taviel begins to realize that the accused not just is innocent but exhibits in fact all the qualities of an extraordinary man. When the mock trial unreels, Taviel is all set to act as the prime advocate for his client as Rizal himself is about to give an earth-moving speech to defend his honor and address his countrymen. Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have worked out the vast political machinery to ensure a guilty verdict. A revolution waits in the wings.
José Rizal
1998
10.0After losing his family at sea, Fredo, a fisherman, seeks revenge by plundering the depths of the ocean. He commands a brutal muro-ami divers, pushing them to the brink as survival demands the sacrifice of innocence.
Reef Hunters
1999
6.9When Narcing brings home his wife Puring to their hometown Mulawin in the 1930s, it sets off a series of events that include parricide, infidelity, betrayal, guilt and redemption.
Of the Flesh
1983
6.5Women cope with various problems while earning a living in the city.
Working Girls
1984
7.4The episodically connected lives of four college friends unfold throughout the incipient martial law years, as they struggle to define their sexual and professional desires and how best to attain them.
Moral
1982
10.0A woman develops feelings for a gang leader and is subsequently jailed for murder. While in prison, she undergoes a transformation, eventually leading her fellow inmates in a movement for penal system reform. Seven years later, she is declared innocent. Based on the true story of Evelyn Duave Ortega, also known as Baby Tsina.
Baby Tsina
1984
Film credits
1990s · 2 titles
Behind the camera
8.8Accused of treason, Dr. Jose P. Rizal awaits trial and meets with his colonial government-appointed counsel, Luis Taviel de Andrade. The two build the case and arguments for the defense as significant events in the central figure's life prior to his incarceration unfold. Upon hearing Rizal's life story, Taviel begins to realize that the accused not just is innocent but exhibits in fact all the qualities of an extraordinary man. When the mock trial unreels, Taviel is all set to act as the prime advocate for his client as Rizal himself is about to give an earth-moving speech to defend his honor and address his countrymen. Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have worked out the vast political machinery to ensure a guilty verdict. A revolution waits in the wings.
José Rizal
1998
10.0After losing his family at sea, Fredo, a fisherman, seeks revenge by plundering the depths of the ocean. He commands a brutal muro-ami divers, pushing them to the brink as survival demands the sacrifice of innocence.
Reef Hunters
1999
10.0After losing his family at sea, Fredo, a fisherman, seeks revenge by plundering the depths of the ocean. He commands a brutal muro-ami divers, pushing them to the brink as survival demands the sacrifice of innocence.
Reef Hunters
1999
6.9When Narcing brings home his wife Puring to their hometown Mulawin in the 1930s, it sets off a series of events that include parricide, infidelity, betrayal, guilt and redemption.
Of the Flesh
1983
7.4The episodically connected lives of four college friends unfold throughout the incipient martial law years, as they struggle to define their sexual and professional desires and how best to attain them.
Moral
1982
10.0A woman develops feelings for a gang leader and is subsequently jailed for murder. While in prison, she undergoes a transformation, eventually leading her fellow inmates in a movement for penal system reform. Seven years later, she is declared innocent. Based on the true story of Evelyn Duave Ortega, also known as Baby Tsina.
Baby Tsina
1984
8.0When Louella came back from Hong Kong as a domestic helper, she began to search for her son Leonard, whom she had put up for adoption seven years earlier.
Madonna and Child
1996
7.7The melding together of two separate stories that share a similar premise - each detail the account of a young Filipino woman who becomes a victim of sexual violence and takes her attacker to court.
Redeem Her Honor
1995
8.0Ahmad belongs to the Bangsamoro people. While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life. He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima, and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida. Ahmad is shocked and devastated when Fatima breaks the confounding news. Ibrahim was killed by a stray bullet when vigilantes indiscriminately fire at their village. Ahmad goes back to where he came from Mindanao. Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa. His brother takes an exactly opposite stand. Musa believes in waging a war against all the Kaafir (unbelievers) who may impede the Moro’s goal of independence. He even trains his young son, Rashid to a Muslim warrior’s life.
New Moon
2001
8.0Ahmad belongs to the Bangsamoro people. While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life. He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima, and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida. Ahmad is shocked and devastated when Fatima breaks the confounding news. Ibrahim was killed by a stray bullet when vigilantes indiscriminately fire at their village. Ahmad goes back to where he came from Mindanao. Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa. His brother takes an exactly opposite stand. Musa believes in waging a war against all the Kaafir (unbelievers) who may impede the Moro’s goal of independence. He even trains his young son, Rashid to a Muslim warrior’s life.
New Moon
2001
8.0Ahmad belongs to the Bangsamoro people. While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life. He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima, and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida. Ahmad is shocked and devastated when Fatima breaks the confounding news. Ibrahim was killed by a stray bullet when vigilantes indiscriminately fire at their village. Ahmad goes back to where he came from Mindanao. Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa. His brother takes an exactly opposite stand. Musa believes in waging a war against all the Kaafir (unbelievers) who may impede the Moro’s goal of independence. He even trains his young son, Rashid to a Muslim warrior’s life.
New Moon
2001
5.5The film explores the sexual awakening and coming-of-age journey of a young woman named Niña. Growing up in a small town with her repressed mother, Turing, and her permissive, aging grandmother, Senyang, Niña begins to explore her sexuality. This includes both a lesbian relationship with her classmate Elsa and a subsequent charged, romantic tension with a newly arrived man named Ariel.
Sensual
1986
4.5Rod leaves Helen for his career and she falls in love with another. Rod becomes successful and goes back to Helen who obviously still feels strongly for him. An illicit affair ensues.
Minsan pa Nating Hagkan ang Nakaraan
1983
6.2A woman after killing her husband and his friends goes into post-traumatic shock and withdraws from any form of communication. A feminist journalist becomes interested in the case and resolves to unravel the truth behind the murders.
Brutal
1980
7.7A newlywed Sol learns that her husband Roy is a psychotic who alternated between treating her tenderly and beating her up when she disobeys his orders.
The 11th Commandment: Love Thy Spouse
1994
NRNewly trusted to take over the management of a rich family's business, a poet rekindles his love for the matriarch's only daughter, a spinster who is harboring a horrific secret.
Chain
1980
NREvangeline spends most of her time working late, editing TV commercials. Her work doesn’t leave her much time to spend with her boyfriend Joey or their son. In spite of having a family, she mostly keeps to herself, enjoying her independence. But when her priest brother Johnny is diagnosed with cancer, she’s suddenly called on to be a possible bone marrow donor. As her dysfunctional family starts to gather around the ailing Johnny, Evangeline is forced to come face to face with her failings.
Ikaw ang Pag-ibig
2011
NREvangeline spends most of her time working late, editing TV commercials. Her work doesn’t leave her much time to spend with her boyfriend Joey or their son. In spite of having a family, she mostly keeps to herself, enjoying her independence. But when her priest brother Johnny is diagnosed with cancer, she’s suddenly called on to be a possible bone marrow donor. As her dysfunctional family starts to gather around the ailing Johnny, Evangeline is forced to come face to face with her failings.
Ikaw ang Pag-ibig
2011
9.0The film explores the tension between human freedom, what people decide to do with their lives, and divine wisdom, what God asks for each person. Also starring Noel Trinidad and Sandy Andolong.
Maging Akin Muli
2005
9.0The film explores the tension between human freedom, what people decide to do with their lives, and divine wisdom, what God asks for each person. Also starring Noel Trinidad and Sandy Andolong.
Maging Akin Muli
2005
4.0Joey comes home after nearly a decade of living in the States. With Joey back, the four friends find themselves complete again they reminisce on the good old times, marvel at the changes in each other’s lives. Indeed, a lot of things may have changed through the years, but some things remain constant.
Then and Now
2003
4.9In a remote fishing island in the '50s, Pepito grows up learning the trade of his mother, Rosa, the only midwife capable of delivering the newborn babies of their community. At first, the young son doesn't mind the unusual arrangement, but as he grows older, he begins to resist the role traditionally meant only for women. In time, Pepito's coming of age intersects with the lives of the other islanders, whose beliefs and struggles become critical impetus to his maturity.
In the Navel of the Sea
1998
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Macho Gigolo
1981
3.0Milagros is a prostitute who becomes the maid of a family of four men. With them, she finds the family she never had. With her, each man finds the salvation he needs. Together, they begin to tear each other apart.
Milagros
1997
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Boystown
1982

