Born in Quezon City, Marilou Diaz-Abaya continued her education at the London　International　Film　School after obtaining a Master of Art’s Degree in Film and Television from Loyola　Marymount　University in Los Angeles. She made her feature film directional debut in 1980 with “Chains”. Ever since, she drew attention through such films as “Of the Flesh” (1984) and “Baby Tsina” (1984) in making motion pictures critical of the Marcos regime. After the fall of the Marcos regime in 1986, Marilou Diaz-Abaya started making television programs. Yet her works had a consistency of presenting social reform and democracy in the Philippines.　
　From 1993, Marilou Diaz-Abaya would resume her activities in the area of motion picture direction. Always taking a hard look at Filipino society, her films such as “Madonna and Child”, “Milagros” and “In the Navel of the Sea” which addressed “women” as their theme and which drew a clear distinction from entertainment films, continued to attract international attention. Having achieved success in making artistic films in the Philippines, a country where entertainment films flourish, Marilou Diaz-Abaya drew attention as someone who would take after Lino Brocka, the country’s great film master. Marilou Diaz-Abaya then completed “Jose Rizal”, her most successful film at the box office, which also demonstrated that Filipino art films were up to international standards.
　With such films as “Reef Hunters” and “New Moon” being invited to film festivals across the world, Marilou Diaz-Abaya is not only recognized as a leading film director of the Philippines, but also of Asia. As the recipient of the12th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, Marilou Diaz-Abaya is one of film directors the Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival introduced to the world.