He wrote about the triumphs of Lav Diaz, recognized young talents like John Torres and Khavn Dela Cruz. Years before Brillante Mendoza’s win as best Director at Cannes, Alexis Tioseco believed so much in Philippine independent films that he decided to carve out a career writing about the industry.

That was until two robbers gunned him down and his girlfriend Nika Bohinc in his home last Tuesday night. Alexis was 29 years old while Nika was 30.

Arleen Cuevas, producer of “Independencia,” was one of the last friends to see the couple alive. “I was in their house that day to pick up Raya’s first film ‘Indio Nacional.’ The film print was with him when we asked him to bring it from the Singapore filmfest. It had been with him a year. I had to pick it up that day for a local screening. Later that night, I got a text and a call from Raya that Alex and Nika had been killed. So we went to their place to find out for ourselves what really happened,” Cuevas said.

Director Raya Martin was a graduating film student when he met Tioseco.

The two met as contributors in “2BU” a youth section in another English newspaper. Together with Khavn Dela Cruz and Arleen Cuevas, they were the Philippine delegates to the Berlin Talent campus. The event coincided with the Berlin film festival of 2005. “Alex was passionate about film. At that time there wasn’t anyone writing about the indie scene on an international level. He wanted the critics abroad to take notice of Philippine cinema. For him it was alive and worthy of their attention,” she said.

Martin held Tioseco’s opinion in such high regard that the first cut of “Independecia” was shown to the couple. “Independencia” was in the Un Certain Regard Category of this year’s Cannes film fest where it made its world debut. “It was fitting for us to dedicate the screening in Toronto to Alex and Nika. He was the one who introduced us to Raymond Phathanavirangoon, the Toronto International Film Festival's Southeast Asia programmer.”

Most of Tioseco’s family had immigrated to Canada. He stayed here with his father who didn’t approve of his chosen profession as writer and teacher in the University of Asia and Pacific (UAP). His father was involved with the liquefied petroleum gas business and wanted him to take over someday. He kept on writing and promoting Philippine independent cinema even when it was a sacrifice for him to do it.

A year later, he met Bohinc at the Rotterdam filmfest. “Whatever Alex was in the Philippine Indie film scene, that was what Nika was to Slovenia. She was a film critic and a programmer of film fests,” said Cuevas.

Their meeting was the beginning of a long-distance love affair. They fell in love and eventually met each other’s parents in Canada and Slovenia. Then his father suffered a heart attack and passed away. He was forced to take over their family business. It was at this time when he decided to put up the Criticine website to be able to combine his work with promoting indie films.

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See also:

• Quark Henares mourns film critic Alexis Tioseco
• UAP teacher, partner killed during robbery