Congratulations to National Artist for Film and Broadcast Art Marilou Diaz-Abaya!
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 notable works are Brutal (1980), which marked Diaz-Abaya’s clear directorial style and unique feminist voice, as 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), which offered a nuanced commentary on the expectations and burdens placed onwomen’s shoulders against which they explore their desires and navigate their shifting place in society; Karnal (1983), where the perverse entanglement of paternalism, desire, and drive for control results in a violent tragedy; Milagros (1997), where she moved away from pointed advocacies and delved instead on an enigmatic exploration of feminine desire and innocence; Sa Pusod ng Dagat (1998), which further explored the complex meaning of womanhood; Jose Rizal (1998), the biopic of the national hero; Muro-Ami (1999), portrayed the lives of exploited children in the illegal practice of reef hunting; Bagong Buwan (2001), endeavored to tell a fair and informed story about war-torn Muslim Mindanao; and Noon at Ngayon: Pagsasamang Kay Ganda (2003), which tells the story of four middle-aged women who have weathered life’s storms and reconciled with their pasts.
The conferment ceremony for the eight new National Artists will be on June 16, 2022, at 4:00 PM, at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang Palace.
You may want to read: