WEBVTT - Ramona Diaz Decodes the Motherland 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:06.280 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:10.600 If you don't know Maria Ressa, you should and you 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:14.120 will once you watch A Thousand Cuts, a film that 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.360 will open in theaters and virtual theaters early next month. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.439 Maria Ressa is a journalist based in the Philippines. In 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:26.160 two thousand eighteen, she was an honoree when Time Magazines 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.800 Person of the Year issue focused on quote, the Guardians 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:34.760 and the War on truth unquote. A Thousand Cuts follows 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.159 Ressa and tells a shocking story about the struggle for 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.360 a free press and the crackdown on news media in 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:45.360 the Philippines under President du Terte. It's a chilling movie 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.839 and a cautionary tale. A Thousand Cuts comes from My 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:54.880 Guest Today director Ramona Diaz. Born in the Philippines, Diaz 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.560 lives in the United States now. She came to the 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:02.520 US for film school at Emerson and Austin. Through her documentaries, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:07.560 Diaz draws deep portraits, and her subjects vary from well 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.319 known figures like Amelda Marcos to women who have just 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.720 given birth at Fabella Hospital in Manila, the busiest maternity 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:19.080 ward in the world. I first encountered Diaz's work through 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.919 one of her earlier films, Don't Stop Believing every Man's Journey. 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:28.040 Don't Stop Believing every Man's Journey tells the story of 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.800 how Journey, Yes, Journey, the band that's created some of 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.960 the most beloved songs and rock music, needed a new 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.399 lead singer and ended up finding their singer, Arnell Pinta 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.839 in the Philippines over YouTube. And this was long before 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:47.560 the pandemic. Here's director Ramona Diaz. I got this email, 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:51.760 this crazy email from actually the console who was working 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.400 at the American Embassy in the Philippines, and it was 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.440 this crazy email about how are Nell had to sing 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.800 for his visa. It's a funny an email and I 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.919 never read these emails, but for some reason, I clicked 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.360 on that email. I found myself. You know, I'm like, 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:08.960 someone has to make this film. So I called my 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.320 manager in Los Angeles. I said, Peter, oh my god, 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.400 you have to read this email. Someone has to make 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.200 this film. And he gets back to he goes, you 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.080 gotta do it. I said, no, no, I'm finishing this 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:19.760 other film. I don't want to do it, and I 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.080 don't want to deal with favs speaking fall because I 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.280 just dealt with Emailda Marcos, who sued me. Actually that's 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.080 another story. I said, I I don't have the stomach 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:31.520 for it. Um and the music rides and stuff. Well, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.240 one thing led to the other, and then pretty soon 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.280 they I was talking to their manager, John Barrett, and 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.240 he goes, see, I'll take it to the guys. I said, yeah, 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:41.120 you have a great story, but you know, we have 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.960 to follow him this year. And then maybe, like twenty 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.359 four hours later, John Barrett calls back and said, you know, 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.760 they don't think they have a story. Maybe next year. 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:50.639 I said, you don't have a story next year, you 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.320 have a story. This year. I'll make a deal with you. 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.359 I said, give me forty eight hours with the band 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.600 wherever they are, will come fly in, will for forty 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.960 eight hours, will cut a like s yeah, and proved 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:06.839 to them they have a story. So that's what we did. 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.919 We filmed them, I did an interview with our now 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.720 and the band together, um and some of that ends 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.160 up in the film submitted and then Irving as Off 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.320 saw it, the big manager and his wife, and the 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.240 wife cried and the wife said, you gotta do this. 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.640 So that's how it was done. And of course you know, 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:29.959 access is a um, it's a process. And they weren't 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:35.920 used to us being backstage or in their private spaces. Uh. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.320 And it was explained to me that they came of 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:43.840 age pre MTV when those spaces were very sacred, and 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.040 then MTV sort of broke that open wide open. So 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.040 now like, of course all the newer bands were so 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.640 used to people being around and filming, but they weren't, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.240 so they were very private. So it took a while. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.720 Don't stop believing. Is of course much of it is 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.360 said in the Philippines and that you're from the Philippines 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.560 and you grow up there your entire life. I was 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.760 one and raised there and came here for college. Now 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.280 is it fair to say for people who don't know 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:16.680 the Philippines, which I don't, that is the Philippines like Canada. 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:18.839 And when I say that, I mean the whole country 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.240 lives in Toronto. The only place with is Manila. Does 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.479 everybody live in Manila? Is the only place with the 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.760 economy never in the rest of the country's terms. Maybe 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:32.480 there's another main city down south, simple, but Vanilla eclipses everything. Yes, 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.520 Like it's like I guess New York, right, or I 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.800 said Toronto, because every everybody that wants a career and 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:44.680 something important, they all go to that's business. Yeah, so 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.520 you leave there. How did you explain to your parents 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.839 that you were going to Boston to go to Emerson 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.159 to learn to make movies? What? What was the goal 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.440 back then? Meaning? Were you burning to make films where 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:58.279 you just wanted to put your toe in there and 0:04:58.279 --> 0:04:59.880 take a look and see what that world was long. 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.800 I wanted to make films, yeah, because I grew up 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:07.480 on a diet of local films, local movies, you know, 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.760 the tours of the eighties and the Philippines Lena Broca 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:16.240 and we now Yeah. And also there was an Alliance 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.719 Frances and a Goody Institute that had German films and 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.560 French films. So I saw a lot of traffax and 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.640 I remember watching Um Day for Night. I was talked like, 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.000 I want to do that, and then I saw Worth 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:35.279 Mueller and um yes all that. It just I wanted 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.360 to make films. I wanted to make fiction films, and 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.200 so I left her Emerson. Had you lived in the 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.400 US before I had visited, you know, the West coast 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.880 San Francisco, that's where all the Filipinos visit, right, because 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:53.159 it's close community, big Filippino community, also Hawaii, but never 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:56.800 really the East Coast and never lived in winter, you know. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.920 But that is of course very romantic again for me, 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.000 because it's something so exotic. My first time, I was like, 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:05.920 oh my god, I don't know what I was thinking 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.800 from the Philippines. I couldn't get up. I couldn't, you know. 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.440 So I scheduled all my classes after lunch because for 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.760 the life of me, I couldn't get up. To get 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.680 your blood flowing. Yeah, it was crazy, but I still 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.560 loved it, you know. I mean it's different, and Boston 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.320 was really I think good for me. Then. It's a 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.920 small enough but also close to New York and had 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:26.880 a lot of friends friends in New York, so I would, 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.679 you know, drive to New York or takes a train. Yeah, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.479 and um, and I was exposed to a lot of 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.479 theater and films and so it was. It was amazing. 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.680 You started making films there when you were at Emerson. Yes, 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.119 so we started making small like, you know, three minute 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:48.520 films on sixteen so on film, real real film, yeah, 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.039 pre digital. I'm agent, you know, I'm myself yeah, pre digital, 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.240 it was all like hands on on the steam back, 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.880 cutting film by hand. You think different, right, you really 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.159 it's very intentional because when I think you're using video, 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.960 it's more this water holes approach. You know, you film everything, 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.000 but with film because it's expensive. You really are like 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:17.200 with cameras exactly, it's a different discipline. Now when you're there, 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:22.840 what was your thinking or feelings about making films when 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:24.840 you entered the program and how did it change by 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.880 the time you left. When you leave Emerson, what becomes 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.520 the plan. The plan was to go to l A. 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:36.400 I actually got an internship with MPTM Productions, Mary Tyler 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.000 More Productions. So it was saying elsewhere Hill Street Blues, 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.400 Remington's Steel. Now I was gonna ask you you and 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.160 what says here? You did Remington Steel for five years? 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:47.320 What did you do on Remington's Steels? The writer's assistant? 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.960 So you were the writer's room of the show. Yes, 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.840 oh my god. It was like the best job after college. 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.560 I thought all jobs were like that. Like you went 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.360 in you could go to the trailers still for breakfast, 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.720 they serve you lunch, and if you stay after six, 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.800 they serve your dinner. Right, my mother visited me in 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.360 Los Angeles and she opened my refrigerator and all there 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.000 was was water, bottled water and cigarettes because I used 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.120 to smoke. Then I don't want anymore. But that is 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.040 all because I didn't have to buy any groceries. I'm empty. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.560 M fed me, and I thought, I love working. This 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.960 is the best job. For five years. You did the 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.680 one show, Yes, And then this is what's interesting to 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.640 me about your timeline. You go back to the Philippines. Yeah, 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.600 I was. I think, um, you know, because the revolution happened. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:36.280 Um not, they're gone. They're gone. The dictator was gone. 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.760 The dictator was all I knew right growing up in 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.520 the Philippines. And I actually found out more about what 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.560 they did when I left the Philippines because there was 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.720 no freedom of the press, and I felt like, wow, 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.400 things are opening up, their building institutions out there. I 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.679 want to be part of that. So I did rather 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:58.960 be a filmmaker there. Yes, I thought I did, And 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.560 I got there and realize that infrastructure wasn't there. I 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.320 mean the dreams were there, but there was no intentions 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:07.800 were there. Yes, But then that's also when I got 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.079 interested in documentaries because all the stories were happening on 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.319 the streets, but there was no I didn't have the 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.160 wearithal I. I don't know how to do it, you know. 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.400 That's why I left to go back to grad school. 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.320 I went back to Stanford just to find out. You know, hey, 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.640 can I do this now? The first film you make 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:31.400 feature length doc is yes? No? No. When you decide 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.520 to make a film about you know, this legendary figure, 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.079 do you sit down? Is your process one that involves 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.560 some writing and some you putting down on paper your 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.480 thoughts about how am I going to portray email DeMarcus 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.560 in a way that she hasn't already been portrayed five 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.880 times before. Yes, she's a very famous figure. It's reading 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:56.560 everything everything about her, about what she's written about herself, 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.920 writing my own thoughts, because I think my films are 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.160 always to me, their explorations, and I want people to 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:05.640 change my mind, like I wanted her to change my 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:10.040 mind about her, right, That's why not so much? Well, 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:11.960 in a way that I didn't think she was silly. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.679 I think she's very smart. So people dismissed her as 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.160 being still in naive. Yah, yeah, but she's not. She's 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.720 smart with a lot of money and shopping. She's very strategic, 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.440 she's she's got a good political mind. So I went 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:27.920 back and forth for two years. I also had to 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:29.640 raise the money. It was my first film. How do 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.960 you how do you uh, you know, just walk up 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:36.120 to the royal palace or her private home and ring 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.319 the doorbell. How does that connection? My thesis film was 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.520 about the revolution. It was called Spirits Rising. And I 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.679 have this crazy notion of also interviewing Mrs Marcus for 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:50.040 that film. And I was there with a student crew 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.760 and someone suggested, you know, if you want Mrs Marcus, 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.360 you have to figure out where one of her son 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.160 is and then corner him and ask him to ask her. 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:02.719 And I'm like, okay, I can do that. So I 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:08.000 crashed a cocktail party actually, and I asked him. I said, listen, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.760 I'm a Stanford student. I'm here for like two weeks. 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.719 We're filming this thing about the revolution. I really want 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.599 your mother's voice in it. And I handed him the 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.640 letter and he was he a fan of documentary film. 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:23.240 Why do you think he did it? I have no 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:25.679 idea why he did it. I have no and I 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.760 lost hope. I'm like, okay, he's never going to get 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:29.960 back to me, because he said, oh, that's interesting. Do 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:34.160 you think even he had his doubts about his parents legacy? Maybe, 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.720 but they are there there. They are Marcus children. You know, 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:42.120 they're loyal, very loyal. But at the same time, they 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:48.160 wouldn't mind having, you know, another generation. They want more truth. Yes, 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.400 especially I said, I wanted to hear from her because 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.000 I had all these other women in the film who 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.880 were talking from the opposition, and I wanted to hear 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.560 from inside the palace what was happening. They were about 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.319 to leave, and the first time you meet her described 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:06.840 that where are you? We were invited. So this was 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.240 a very very last day ever shoot. I had given up, 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.679 and then her assistant calls me and says, well, Mrs 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:16.040 Marcus can see you for fifteen minutes, but you're not 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.600 allowed to talk about the revolution. I'm like, that's okay. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:21.840 My films about the revolution, but that's okay fifteen minutes 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.760 with I'll take it. So she invitses us to her 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.360 condo in Makati, which is a business capital in the Philippines, 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:36.160 very luxurious, you know, penthouse condo. Um. She invites us in, 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:42.880 surrounded by help, yes, her security guards were there, um 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.240 and I expected to spend fifteen minutes with her, and 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.800 we spent five hours with her. She was ready to talk, 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.720 could not stop talking, and then she brought up the revolution, 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.920 so I felt like, okay, then it's fair game, right, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.559 I didn't bring it up. She did five hours, five hours, 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.800 and at the end of the five hours, you know, 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.880 we were filming a movie. Yeah, And I asked, I said, 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:06.720 Mrs Marcus, I want to make a film just about 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:08.920 you through your point of view. So it was very 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.800 clear to me that I wanted it from her point 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.320 of view, her telling her story before you know, whatever 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:20.079 she goes. That's a great idea me, you want to 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.880 and she you know. Then my my idea of her 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.000 was very much Sunset Boulevard, you know, Norma Desmond and 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.720 her really wonderful you know, condor in the sky, but 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.920 really lonely and wanted to tell her story. And that's 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.079 why I think she said, yes. She winds up spending 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.920 a lot of time with her, Yes, a lot, and 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.760 she was so she had more energy than we did, 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.400 and we were, of course much younger than her passing 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:53.320 out and she's mid story. She would not sleep, I mean, 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.400 and every morning, bright and early. She was still she 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:01.240 was like quafft and put together, Well, we're like that, yes, 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.200 and she ever were there any moments where that cracked 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.360 some moments she was very very controlled, very controlled. She 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.319 was very aware. She was very good at being a 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.320 mal DeMarco. Yes, because for twenty years of their life, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.000 you know, there when they were in power, camera crew 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.720 followed her, so she was very used to that. There 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.320 was one time we were entering a restaurant. She and 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.600 that she was entering with her, and she pulled me back. 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.240 She goes, you watch when I enter. There's going to 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.640 be a lull in the conversation, just a lull, and 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.480 then it will go because I entered. I said, okay, 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.760 miss Marcus, let's observe that. And we entered, and there 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.000 is there was a law. People sort of acknowledged her 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.600 and then went on with the life. She goes, it's 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:51.840 always been that way. So you, I mean, obviously she 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.000 doesn't have any rights or approvals or authorities over the film. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.840 She relinquished all of that to you. She did. Um 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.280 and so uh we premiere at Sundance as well in 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:05.880 A four and you have a Filipino premiere yes, we 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.160 Actually it was a very email. There was the very 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:13.480 first documentary that was really theatrically in the Philippines. But um, 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.400 right before I release in the Philippines, she sued us. 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.560 She sued my distributors. There was a temporary restraining order 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.120 and why because she felt like I sullied her good name, 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.320 an invasion of privacy. But she's a public figure, so 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.880 the invasion of privacy was thrown out. And selling her 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.000 good name, well, she said, meld Marca. So that was 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.120 really tough. So the movie, I mean, I'm being glid here, 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.320 but so the movie didn't kiss her ass enough as 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.720 far as she was concerned. As far as no see, 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.640 when she first saw it, she was okay with it. 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.600 She was like, she had some problems. The harshest thing 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.080 that you say in the film, well she talks. It's 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.160 all her words. So she talks about the assassination of 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.600 Theia Kuino and that they had nothing to do with 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:53.400 it because if they would have done it, they would 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.120 have done it in the dark of night, not in 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.720 broad daylight. It's like, who does that? So she does? 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.880 I mean she really she hangs herself basically because she 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.080 that's Mrs Marcos. So when she first saw the film 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.000 right before the premier at Sundance, UM had a courtesy 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.600 screening for her. She had a few problems with it, 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.920 but she knew she didn't have final cut. Fast forward 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.520 six months later, we had a theatrical release here in 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.360 in the US. So she all the reviewers, of course, 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:27.360 you know Times, La Times, Washington Post reviewed the film, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.760 and they all called it like a pariah, delusional all that. 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:32.920 Suddenly she saw herself through the eyes of the reviewers 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.040 and did not like it, so she sued us. In 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.560 the Philippines, that was the only time where it was 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.360 thrown out, and we opened so big in the Philippiness 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.240 half that because what she did was she had like 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:48.040 a news conference every day of the trial, and so 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.320 we so much so that people were saying that we 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:53.880 colluded with her to make this like a big, big hit, 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.640 but we did not. But no, it was thrown out. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.000 So when you you get sued, the case is dismissed 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.120 and when you what's your next film? My next film 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.720 is about teachers being recruited in the Philippines to teach 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.840 an inner city Baltimore. Because I traveled so much with 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.040 the Maldown, my daughter was growing up. I wanted to 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:15.119 stay home, so I really literally a film in my backyard. 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.240 And Um, I read the story in the Baltimore Sun 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.840 that they were recruiting teachers from the Philippines, which was 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.000 so odd to me. There was a shortage of science 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.000 teachers because of course all the science teachers were going 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.400 to the suburbs, you know, where they're more well resource schools. 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.320 So they were recruiting from overseas, and the Philippines was 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.560 a hub because we speak English right, and our educational 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.520 system is set up like the American educational system because 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:45.440 of the forty years of um Commonwealth room and and 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:50.920 so I said, wow, and inner city in Baltimore, something 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.600 will happen in that classroom. And one thing that to another. Again, 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.520 I was given access. I asked the public school officials 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:59.560 and they said sure. And I was given like carte 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.320 blanche access to the schools. I'm not sure they do 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.480 that now, but that was my No one's giving carte 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.200 blanche to access to journalists and cameras to anybody anymore, 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.920 no more terrified. Um. Yes, So I followed like four 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.840 teachers during the freshman year teaching in Baltimore City. It 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:19.320 turned out to be a very hopeful film because it's 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:23.639 two marginalized groups of people found community in the classroom. 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.879 You know, it was it was quite something. Where's the 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.359 money coming from to make both the Marcos film in 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:37.560 this film public television? Is it you tax dollars? As 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.840 well as with with Emelda Yes. So after the school 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:46.240 a story and you're in Baltimore, what comes next? Journey? 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:54.399 I was finishing the learning and so Journey Um Journey. 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.600 In oh seven, they were looking for a new lead 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.280 singer because so Jerry got cancer. Yeah, uh, he could 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.320 no longer do it. And Neil Sean, who is one 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.280 of the co founders of the band, wanted you know, 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.320 had heard all the cover bands in the US, but 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:14.640 wanted something different. So he trolled YouTube, right, he went, 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:16.639 of course, where do you go? YouTube? And he just 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.240 kept looking and looking looking YouTube, and then he found 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.639 this guy Arnel Pinetta who was in the Philippines singing 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.560 in some at the hard Rock Cafe in Manila, and 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.000 he was like just enamored of him and called all 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.440 his band members. The next day, called Jonathan Kane and 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.160 said I found the guy. And Jonathan was like he's 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.520 in Manila. I don't think so. I mean, how can 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.400 we even bring him exactly? And he was not known. 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:45.560 Arnell was not unknown singer. He was not famous at all. 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:48.520 But one thing that to another. They got his visa, 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.240 he flew out to San Francisco, he auditioned, and he 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:56.760 got the gig, and um so the lead singer for 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.200 the biggest crowd he had ever performed for pre was 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.879 the journey was like two people. Suddenly was in Vina 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:07.560 del Mar singing to like millions of people. And so 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.280 that part, that part is in the film, the first 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:13.520 time he sings to like a really large journey crowd. 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:19.000 More from director Ramona Diaz coming up. If you like 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.920 documentary films as much as I do, I hope you 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.359 will listen to my conversation with filmmaker Joe Burlinger. I 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.760 believe the audience should be treated like a jury. You 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.679 give them the information and your way both sides, and 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.680 you let them come to their own conclusion. You can 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.640 hear more from Burlinger in our archives. And here's the thing, 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:49.840 Dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:54.399 Here's the Thing. Ramona diaz is most recent film a 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:59.760 Thousand cuts tells the story of Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa. 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.920 It's really a window into the country and the government 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.720 led by President du Terte. Ramona Diaz has lived in 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.240 the United States for most of her adult life, but 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.720 the Philippines remains a central to her work. I think 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.800 I make films because it's a yearning for the motherland. 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:18.480 Every film is a yearning. What do you love about 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.320 the Philippines. I go back there because I find it 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:26.600 somehow hopeful that something will change, and then it gets 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.800 very frustrating. So it's both a love hate relationship and 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:33.119 it's everything I know, right, it's everything deeply I know. 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:36.200 I know that country deeply, um, and I was still 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.879 a lot of friends and I always have hope for it. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:40.760 And that's why I think I keep going back, and 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.760 that's why I keep making those stories. And it's also 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.040 to decode I think what's happening in the Philippines to 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.880 the Western world. I think I'm in a space where 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.360 I can do that. I've lived enough in this country 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.200 to be able to do that, so I'm both inside outside. 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:01.560 That's why I love going back. Um Trump is someone 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.320 who you know both Snaro is someone who he considers 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.439 himself like minded with Terte, he considered himself is a 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.359 hero to him. Do you realize now, in the time 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.159 of Trump, what's happened in your country can happen here 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:20.520 as well. Yes, so quickly too, because if you're not vigilant, 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.760 you know, if you don't get fraid of it. Yeah, 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.280 it goes away so quickly. It's so amazing how fragile 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:31.080 it is. But the thing about the US is your 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:35.200 institutions are much stronger. The reason in the Philippines thinks 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:38.520 changed so quickly in six months because the institutions are 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:40.600