Commemoration: Film Director Marilou Diaz-Abaya

As part of its 30th annual Filipino film festival, FACINE presents a tribute to the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya, the most awarded female director in Filipino cinema. Often called a feminist filmmaker, her outstanding body of work not only entertains but compels the audience to re-examine their own beliefs and value systems as they grapple with the truths magnified on the screen.

Two films will be screened:

“Marilou Diaz-Abaya: Filmmaker on a Voyage”, 87 mins., 2012. English, Tagalog with Closed Captions (CC), in English - An endearing documentary produced and directed by Mona Lisa Yuchengco, it explores Ms. Abaya’s films that brought Philippine cinema to the world’s attention. Ms. Yuchengco is the Publisher of the online magazine, Positively Filipino. 

“Moral", 138 mins., 1982. Tagalog with Closed captions (CC) in English) - Considered one of Ms. Abaya’s best films, it is a loosely structured observational drama film that follows the lives of four women after they graduate from college. The film discusses women's issues considered taboo at the time in the context of the changing morals of that era.

Diaz-Abaya was a Filipina multi-award-winning film director. She was conferred the Order of National Artists of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts in 2022, she was the founder and president of the Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center, a film school based in Antipolo, Philippines.

Sponsored by FACINE, ABS-CBN Sagip Pelikula and the Filipino American Center at the San Francisco Public Library.

Filipino Arts & Cinema, International (FACINE) is a nonprofit media arts organization committed to developing and promoting Filipino American media arts, and advancing the interests of films from the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora.

Website: FACINE