2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa accompanied award-winning filmmaker Ramona Diaz at the PACCAR IMAX Theater at Pacific Science Center on Friday, October 10, 2025, for the Seattle film premiere of Diaz’ latest documentary film, And So It Begins. The film
screening was hosted by Northwest Film Forum (NWFF).
Diaz is most known for her 2020 documentary A Thousand Cuts, which profiles Maria Ressa, who founded the Philippine online news site, Rappler, and her struggles defending truth and press freedom during the autocratic regime of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
And So It Begins is perhaps its companion piece, this time covering the grassroots campaign for presidency in the 2022 elections by former vice president of the Philippines, progressive Leonor “Leni” Robredo, who fought against–and lost to–the now incumbent Philippine President, Ferdinand “BongBong” Marcos, Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
While the documentary was ostensibly about Robredo’s campaign, its true heroes were the thousands of on-the-ground volunteers across all regions of the Philippines who organized, helped, and supported her campaign. Behind the political rallies and the rise of fake news and online trolls, these volunteers worked quietly for what they had hoped to be a better Philippines under the would-be president who ran under the belief that “to be kind is to
be radical.” While the film ends with Marcos winning, an unfazed and determined Robredo declares: “It’s up to us whether the fight is over, or if it’s only just begun.”
At the end of the screening, former NWFF Executive Director Derek Edamura moderated a discussion with Diaz and Ressa. Diaz talked about the role of the filmmaker to inspire and incite: “We bear witness to history. But the tools of the filmmaker are, by design, not objective. We sculpt time and space. We tell stories to remind you, in these times that you may be giving up to fight, there are still people on your side.”
Ressa, who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression,” offered sobering remarks about the continuing fight for misinformation, the trend towards propaganda over journalism, social media and the rising threat of AI, and America’s turn towards authoritarianism.
“By design, social media spreads lies six times faster [than traditional media],” she said. “If nothing changes within six months to a year, journalism will die.”
At the same time, she remains hopeful: “Right now, community—that person-toperson
interaction—is very important. You build communities of action. Don’t voluntarily give up your rights. Reclaim your agency. Reclaim your rights. Everything depends on what you do
now.”
Ressa’s latest book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, was recently reviewed in the International Examiner by writer Juanita Tamayo Lott.
Adrian Alarilla, PhD, is a program evaluator, writer, researcher, and filmmaker. Born and raised in the Philippines, he is currently based south of in Seattle, and has a PhD in History from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Besides contributing to the International Examiner, he is an associate with Alaska-based consulting firm Stellar Group, and has worked with Tribal, governmental, and nongovernmental agencies in Alaska, Hawaiʻi, and the Pacific Islands.
