(Screenshot from “Karnal” )

The passing of director Marilou Diaz-Abaya at the young age of 57 is a loss for Philippine cinema. Just as she was evolving a more complex visualization of the Filipino/a character in her later movies in their struggle for dignity amidst suffering and violence, and the eternal hope for peace, she herself had to face the inevitability of death from cancer.  “Marilou Diaz-Abaya: Filmmaker on a Voyage”  a documentary of her life as a director/artist, mother and wife was filmed, directed and produced by Lisa Yuchengco. Previous attempts have been made to do her biography, but she relented for lack of guarantee that the material will not be commercially exploited. Ms. Yuchengco was not only sister-in-law and a close friend, but also had the resources to produce the film on her own. The result is a product of great integrity and deep insight into the mind and soul of one of the few women directors in Filipino cinema. Abaya’s filmography is extensive and impressive, most of which explores the pychological depths of despair and hope, where violence is not gratuitous and hope is eternal, enacted by “small” and “grand” characters from everyday life and history.

Ms. Yuchengco’s documentary bares the challenge and pain of being a film maker as a woman, wife and mother, in an industry notorious for nepotism, where DNA and gender (frequently male) is sometimes primary over skills and the support (and rejection) wielded by the powerful traditional movie industry dynasties. She had to balance her work between the requirements of box-office and artistry, between political censorship and religious approval, between the ideologies of love and hate (Pusod ng Dagat, 1997), good and evil (Muro Ami, 1999), between the demands of  historicity and imagination (Rizal, 1998; Bagong Buwan, 2001), the psychology of colonialism’s carceral effect on the ownership of land and the female body as property in Karnal (1983), to name a few from her 21 films ,  are among her best. In these titles, however sensational they may sound, Diaz-Abaya’s style and skills at storytelling remains foremost.

Philippine movie making once as prolific as that of India, is now at the verge of becoming cinema’s “ingenue” in the indie film market. Filipino indie filmmakers have been making inroads in international film festivals from Tokyo, USA, France, to Berlin winning prizes in various categories. Digital filmmaking technology has allowed the entry of “new blood” directors into the filial-heavy Filipino film industry and are able to offer and hold on their own films of quality that match if not are better, than “movie studio” products.  As a result, more experimentation, more exploration of genre types and story lines, interest in historical and indigenous settings have energized Philippine filmmaking after a moribund and complicated dance between creativity, practice and dictatorial censorship of the Marcos years. Moreover, WWW and the global proliferation of YouTube videos from every corner of the world constantly inspire, provoke and challenge aspiring filmmakers to reach for the next “masterpiece”.  Just as there has been a resurgence of literary writing in all languages and genres in the Philippines, both creative enterprises will need to face the ultimate challenge that has always confronted human imagination throughout time – is it a good story ?