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And So It Begins

Director

Ramona S. Diaz

Executive Producers

David J. Cornfield, Linda A. Cornfield, Carrie Lozano, Lois Vossen, Stephen Gong, Donald Young

Producer

Ramona S. Diaz

Editor

Aaron Soffin

Cinematographer

Bruce Sakaki

In a decades-long nonfiction saga about the Philippines, director Ramona Diaz presents the latest chapter on her homeland as President Rodrigo Duterte’s despotic reign is coming to an end. And So It Begins proffers unbridled access to all the key players in the months leading up to the country’s 2022 presidential election.

In the thick of the Covid pandemic, And So It Begins is a shape-shifting story of the raucous collective act of joy expressed in a quirky resistance movement that pits itself against the haunting specter of increasing autocracy. Weaving together multiple narratives against the backdrop of a gloves-off campaign for the most powerful office in the land, what emerges is a dazzling cinematic portrait of a beleaguered nation fighting for its very soul.

Post-screening discussion with director Ramona Diaz, moderated by Christopher Llewellyn Reed, film critic, filmmaker, educator, and lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the editor of Film Festival Today.

RamonaDiaz_2020-10-14_TSUCALAS_6037

Ramona S. Diaz

Director, And So It Begins

A Peabody, Gotham, IDA, Emmy award-winning, PGA, and Independent Spirit award-nominated Asian American filmmaker. Ramona’s films have been screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Busan, Tribeca, SXSW, IDFA, HotDocs, and other top-tier film festivals. Her independently-produced films — Imelda (Independent Lens, 2004), The Learning (POV, 2011), Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (Independent Lens, 2012), Motherland (POV, 2017), A Thousand Cuts (Frontline, 2020)—have been nationally broadcast on PBS, Arte, and the BBC amongst others. Ramona is both a Guggenheim Fellow and a USA Fellow and was recently named the inaugural McGurn Family Trust Resident in Film by the American Academy in Rome. In 2017, she received a Women at Sundance Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, and a Chicken & Egg Pictures Filmmaker Award. Ramona is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Producers and Writers Guilds of America. Her latest film, And So It Begins, premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.