OBITUARY
Prominent Filipino critic dead
- Writer: KONG RITHDEE
- Published: 4/09/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Realtime
Alexis Tioseco, well-known Filipino film critic, university lecturer, and good friend to a number of people in the film scene in Southeast Asia, was killed in a robbery at his Quezon City home on Tuesday night. His partner, Slovenian journalist Nika Bohinc, was also killed.
Tioseco helped spur the rise of independent Filipino cinema.
It was tragic news that shocked the film communities in the Philippines, where Tioseco was an instrumental figure, as well as in Bangkok, where he and Bohinc came to visit last month to give a talk about the films of Filipino director Lav Diaz.
News reports from Manila said one of the couple's maids answered the door to three robbers, who shot Tioseco and Bohinc before cleaning out their valuables. They escaped in the couple's car, which the police later retrieved.
Tioseco, 29, was a leading film critic who helped spur the rise of independent Filipino cinema to the world. He came to Bangkok several times since 2005, as guest to the Bangkok International Film Festival and Thai Short Film and Video Festival. He had many friends here, and the mourning speaks of the loss, the sadness and the memories of this smart, gentle and generous man.
Nika Bohinc was also a respected cinema journalist and festival programmer.
It is a heartbreaking loss with a lasting benumbing effect. Tioseco's love for cinema was unmatched, and his passion was something all film critics envied. May he and Bohinc rest in peace.


