Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: If you don't know Maria Ressa, you should and you
Speaker 1: will once you watch A Thousand Cuts, a film that
Speaker 1: will open in theaters and virtual theaters early next month.
Speaker 1: Maria Ressa is a journalist based in the Philippines. In
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, she was an honoree when Time Magazines
Speaker 1: Person of the Year issue focused on quote, the Guardians
Speaker 1: and the War on truth unquote. A Thousand Cuts follows
Speaker 1: Ressa and tells a shocking story about the struggle for
Speaker 1: a free press and the crackdown on news media in
Speaker 1: the Philippines under President du Terte. It's a chilling movie
Speaker 1: and a cautionary tale. A Thousand Cuts comes from My
Speaker 1: Guest Today director Ramona Diaz. Born in the Philippines, Diaz
Speaker 1: lives in the United States now. She came to the
Speaker 1: US for film school at Emerson and Austin. Through her documentaries,
Speaker 1: Diaz draws deep portraits, and her subjects vary from well
Speaker 1: known figures like Amelda Marcos to women who have just
Speaker 1: given birth at Fabella Hospital in Manila, the busiest maternity
Speaker 1: ward in the world. I first encountered Diaz's work through
Speaker 1: one of her earlier films, Don't Stop Believing every Man's Journey.
Speaker 1: Don't Stop Believing every Man's Journey tells the story of
Speaker 1: how Journey, Yes, Journey, the band that's created some of
Speaker 1: the most beloved songs and rock music, needed a new
Speaker 1: lead singer and ended up finding their singer, Arnell Pinta
Speaker 1: in the Philippines over YouTube. And this was long before
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Here's director Ramona Diaz. I got this email,
Speaker 1: this crazy email from actually the console who was working
Speaker 1: at the American Embassy in the Philippines, and it was
Speaker 1: this crazy email about how are Nell had to sing
Speaker 1: for his visa. It's a funny an email and I
Speaker 1: never read these emails, but for some reason, I clicked
Speaker 1: on that email. I found myself. You know, I'm like,
Speaker 1: someone has to make this film. So I called my
Speaker 1: manager in Los Angeles. I said, Peter, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you have to read this email. Someone has to make
Speaker 1: this film. And he gets back to he goes, you
Speaker 1: gotta do it. I said, no, no, I'm finishing this
Speaker 1: other film. I don't want to do it, and I
Speaker 1: don't want to deal with favs speaking fall because I
Speaker 1: just dealt with Emailda Marcos, who sued me. Actually that's
Speaker 1: another story. I said, I I don't have the stomach
Speaker 1: for it. Um and the music rides and stuff. Well,
Speaker 1: one thing led to the other, and then pretty soon
Speaker 1: they I was talking to their manager, John Barrett, and
Speaker 1: he goes, see, I'll take it to the guys. I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have a great story, but you know, we have
Speaker 1: to follow him this year. And then maybe, like twenty
Speaker 1: four hours later, John Barrett calls back and said, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't think they have a story. Maybe next year.
Speaker 1: I said, you don't have a story next year, you
Speaker 1: have a story. This year. I'll make a deal with you.
Speaker 1: I said, give me forty eight hours with the band
Speaker 1: wherever they are, will come fly in, will for forty
Speaker 1: eight hours, will cut a like s yeah, and proved
Speaker 1: to them they have a story. So that's what we did.
Speaker 1: We filmed them, I did an interview with our now
Speaker 1: and the band together, um and some of that ends
Speaker 1: up in the film submitted and then Irving as Off
Speaker 1: saw it, the big manager and his wife, and the
Speaker 1: wife cried and the wife said, you gotta do this.
Speaker 1: So that's how it was done. And of course you know,
Speaker 1: access is a um, it's a process. And they weren't
Speaker 1: used to us being backstage or in their private spaces. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it was explained to me that they came of
Speaker 1: age pre MTV when those spaces were very sacred, and
Speaker 1: then MTV sort of broke that open wide open. So
Speaker 1: now like, of course all the newer bands were so
Speaker 1: used to people being around and filming, but they weren't,
Speaker 1: so they were very private. So it took a while.
Speaker 1: Don't stop believing. Is of course much of it is
Speaker 1: said in the Philippines and that you're from the Philippines
Speaker 1: and you grow up there your entire life. I was
Speaker 1: one and raised there and came here for college. Now
Speaker 1: is it fair to say for people who don't know
Speaker 1: the Philippines, which I don't, that is the Philippines like Canada.
Speaker 1: And when I say that, I mean the whole country
Speaker 1: lives in Toronto. The only place with is Manila. Does
Speaker 1: everybody live in Manila? Is the only place with the
Speaker 1: economy never in the rest of the country's terms. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's another main city down south, simple, but Vanilla eclipses everything. Yes,
Speaker 1: Like it's like I guess New York, right, or I
Speaker 1: said Toronto, because every everybody that wants a career and
Speaker 1: something important, they all go to that's business. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you leave there. How did you explain to your parents
Speaker 1: that you were going to Boston to go to Emerson
Speaker 1: to learn to make movies? What? What was the goal
Speaker 1: back then? Meaning? Were you burning to make films where
Speaker 1: you just wanted to put your toe in there and
Speaker 1: take a look and see what that world was long.
Speaker 1: I wanted to make films, yeah, because I grew up
Speaker 1: on a diet of local films, local movies, you know,
Speaker 1: the tours of the eighties and the Philippines Lena Broca
Speaker 1: and we now Yeah. And also there was an Alliance
Speaker 1: Frances and a Goody Institute that had German films and
Speaker 1: French films. So I saw a lot of traffax and
Speaker 1: I remember watching Um Day for Night. I was talked like,
Speaker 1: I want to do that, and then I saw Worth
Speaker 1: Mueller and um yes all that. It just I wanted
Speaker 1: to make films. I wanted to make fiction films, and
Speaker 1: so I left her Emerson. Had you lived in the
Speaker 1: US before I had visited, you know, the West coast
Speaker 1: San Francisco, that's where all the Filipinos visit, right, because
Speaker 1: it's close community, big Filippino community, also Hawaii, but never
Speaker 1: really the East Coast and never lived in winter, you know.
Speaker 1: But that is of course very romantic again for me,
Speaker 1: because it's something so exotic. My first time, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I don't know what I was thinking
Speaker 1: from the Philippines. I couldn't get up. I couldn't, you know.
Speaker 1: So I scheduled all my classes after lunch because for
Speaker 1: the life of me, I couldn't get up. To get
Speaker 1: your blood flowing. Yeah, it was crazy, but I still
Speaker 1: loved it, you know. I mean it's different, and Boston
Speaker 1: was really I think good for me. Then. It's a
Speaker 1: small enough but also close to New York and had
Speaker 1: a lot of friends friends in New York, so I would,
Speaker 1: you know, drive to New York or takes a train. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and um, and I was exposed to a lot of
Speaker 1: theater and films and so it was. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: You started making films there when you were at Emerson. Yes,
Speaker 1: so we started making small like, you know, three minute
Speaker 1: films on sixteen so on film, real real film, yeah,
Speaker 1: pre digital. I'm agent, you know, I'm myself yeah, pre digital,
Speaker 1: it was all like hands on on the steam back,
Speaker 1: cutting film by hand. You think different, right, you really
Speaker 1: it's very intentional because when I think you're using video,
Speaker 1: it's more this water holes approach. You know, you film everything,
Speaker 1: but with film because it's expensive. You really are like
Speaker 1: with cameras exactly, it's a different discipline. Now when you're there,
Speaker 1: what was your thinking or feelings about making films when
Speaker 1: you entered the program and how did it change by
Speaker 1: the time you left. When you leave Emerson, what becomes
Speaker 1: the plan. The plan was to go to l A.
Speaker 1: I actually got an internship with MPTM Productions, Mary Tyler
Speaker 1: More Productions. So it was saying elsewhere Hill Street Blues,
Speaker 1: Remington's Steel. Now I was gonna ask you you and
Speaker 1: what says here? You did Remington Steel for five years?
Speaker 1: What did you do on Remington's Steels? The writer's assistant?
Speaker 1: So you were the writer's room of the show. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh my god. It was like the best job after college.
Speaker 1: I thought all jobs were like that. Like you went
Speaker 1: in you could go to the trailers still for breakfast,
Speaker 1: they serve you lunch, and if you stay after six,
Speaker 1: they serve your dinner. Right, my mother visited me in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and she opened my refrigerator and all there
Speaker 1: was was water, bottled water and cigarettes because I used
Speaker 1: to smoke. Then I don't want anymore. But that is
Speaker 1: all because I didn't have to buy any groceries. I'm empty.
Speaker 1: M fed me, and I thought, I love working. This
Speaker 1: is the best job. For five years. You did the
Speaker 1: one show, Yes, And then this is what's interesting to
Speaker 1: me about your timeline. You go back to the Philippines. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was. I think, um, you know, because the revolution happened.
Speaker 1: Um not, they're gone. They're gone. The dictator was gone.
Speaker 1: The dictator was all I knew right growing up in
Speaker 1: the Philippines. And I actually found out more about what
Speaker 1: they did when I left the Philippines because there was
Speaker 1: no freedom of the press, and I felt like, wow,
Speaker 1: things are opening up, their building institutions out there. I
Speaker 1: want to be part of that. So I did rather
Speaker 1: be a filmmaker there. Yes, I thought I did, And
Speaker 1: I got there and realize that infrastructure wasn't there. I
Speaker 1: mean the dreams were there, but there was no intentions
Speaker 1: were there. Yes, But then that's also when I got
Speaker 1: interested in documentaries because all the stories were happening on
Speaker 1: the streets, but there was no I didn't have the
Speaker 1: wearithal I. I don't know how to do it, you know.
Speaker 1: That's why I left to go back to grad school.
Speaker 1: I went back to Stanford just to find out. You know, hey,
Speaker 1: can I do this now? The first film you make
Speaker 1: feature length doc is yes? No? No. When you decide
Speaker 1: to make a film about you know, this legendary figure,
Speaker 1: do you sit down? Is your process one that involves
Speaker 1: some writing and some you putting down on paper your
Speaker 1: thoughts about how am I going to portray email DeMarcus
Speaker 1: in a way that she hasn't already been portrayed five
Speaker 1: times before. Yes, she's a very famous figure. It's reading
Speaker 1: everything everything about her, about what she's written about herself,
Speaker 1: writing my own thoughts, because I think my films are
Speaker 1: always to me, their explorations, and I want people to
Speaker 1: change my mind, like I wanted her to change my
Speaker 1: mind about her, right, That's why not so much? Well,
Speaker 1: in a way that I didn't think she was silly.
Speaker 1: I think she's very smart. So people dismissed her as
Speaker 1: being still in naive. Yah, yeah, but she's not. She's
Speaker 1: smart with a lot of money and shopping. She's very strategic,
Speaker 1: she's she's got a good political mind. So I went
Speaker 1: back and forth for two years. I also had to
Speaker 1: raise the money. It was my first film. How do
Speaker 1: you how do you uh, you know, just walk up
Speaker 1: to the royal palace or her private home and ring
Speaker 1: the doorbell. How does that connection? My thesis film was
Speaker 1: about the revolution. It was called Spirits Rising. And I
Speaker 1: have this crazy notion of also interviewing Mrs Marcus for
Speaker 1: that film. And I was there with a student crew
Speaker 1: and someone suggested, you know, if you want Mrs Marcus,
Speaker 1: you have to figure out where one of her son
Speaker 1: is and then corner him and ask him to ask her.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, I can do that. So I
Speaker 1: crashed a cocktail party actually, and I asked him. I said, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm a Stanford student. I'm here for like two weeks.
Speaker 1: We're filming this thing about the revolution. I really want
Speaker 1: your mother's voice in it. And I handed him the
Speaker 1: letter and he was he a fan of documentary film.
Speaker 1: Why do you think he did it? I have no
Speaker 1: idea why he did it. I have no and I
Speaker 1: lost hope. I'm like, okay, he's never going to get
Speaker 1: back to me, because he said, oh, that's interesting. Do
Speaker 1: you think even he had his doubts about his parents legacy? Maybe,
Speaker 1: but they are there there. They are Marcus children. You know,
Speaker 1: they're loyal, very loyal. But at the same time, they
Speaker 1: wouldn't mind having, you know, another generation. They want more truth. Yes,
Speaker 1: especially I said, I wanted to hear from her because
Speaker 1: I had all these other women in the film who
Speaker 1: were talking from the opposition, and I wanted to hear
Speaker 1: from inside the palace what was happening. They were about
Speaker 1: to leave, and the first time you meet her described
Speaker 1: that where are you? We were invited. So this was
Speaker 1: a very very last day ever shoot. I had given up,
Speaker 1: and then her assistant calls me and says, well, Mrs
Speaker 1: Marcus can see you for fifteen minutes, but you're not
Speaker 1: allowed to talk about the revolution. I'm like, that's okay.
Speaker 1: My films about the revolution, but that's okay fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: with I'll take it. So she invitses us to her
Speaker 1: condo in Makati, which is a business capital in the Philippines,
Speaker 1: very luxurious, you know, penthouse condo. Um. She invites us in,
Speaker 1: surrounded by help, yes, her security guards were there, um
Speaker 1: and I expected to spend fifteen minutes with her, and
Speaker 1: we spent five hours with her. She was ready to talk,
Speaker 1: could not stop talking, and then she brought up the revolution,
Speaker 1: so I felt like, okay, then it's fair game, right,
Speaker 1: I didn't bring it up. She did five hours, five hours,
Speaker 1: and at the end of the five hours, you know,
Speaker 1: we were filming a movie. Yeah, And I asked, I said,
Speaker 1: Mrs Marcus, I want to make a film just about
Speaker 1: you through your point of view. So it was very
Speaker 1: clear to me that I wanted it from her point
Speaker 1: of view, her telling her story before you know, whatever
Speaker 1: she goes. That's a great idea me, you want to
Speaker 1: and she you know. Then my my idea of her
Speaker 1: was very much Sunset Boulevard, you know, Norma Desmond and
Speaker 1: her really wonderful you know, condor in the sky, but
Speaker 1: really lonely and wanted to tell her story. And that's
Speaker 1: why I think she said, yes. She winds up spending
Speaker 1: a lot of time with her, Yes, a lot, and
Speaker 1: she was so she had more energy than we did,
Speaker 1: and we were, of course much younger than her passing
Speaker 1: out and she's mid story. She would not sleep, I mean,
Speaker 1: and every morning, bright and early. She was still she
Speaker 1: was like quafft and put together, Well, we're like that, yes,
Speaker 1: and she ever were there any moments where that cracked
Speaker 1: some moments she was very very controlled, very controlled. She
Speaker 1: was very aware. She was very good at being a
Speaker 1: mal DeMarco. Yes, because for twenty years of their life,
Speaker 1: you know, there when they were in power, camera crew
Speaker 1: followed her, so she was very used to that. There
Speaker 1: was one time we were entering a restaurant. She and
Speaker 1: that she was entering with her, and she pulled me back.
Speaker 1: She goes, you watch when I enter. There's going to
Speaker 1: be a lull in the conversation, just a lull, and
Speaker 1: then it will go because I entered. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: miss Marcus, let's observe that. And we entered, and there
Speaker 1: is there was a law. People sort of acknowledged her
Speaker 1: and then went on with the life. She goes, it's
Speaker 1: always been that way. So you, I mean, obviously she
Speaker 1: doesn't have any rights or approvals or authorities over the film.
Speaker 1: She relinquished all of that to you. She did. Um
Speaker 1: and so uh we premiere at Sundance as well in
Speaker 1: A four and you have a Filipino premiere yes, we
Speaker 1: Actually it was a very email. There was the very
Speaker 1: first documentary that was really theatrically in the Philippines. But um,
Speaker 1: right before I release in the Philippines, she sued us.
Speaker 1: She sued my distributors. There was a temporary restraining order
Speaker 1: and why because she felt like I sullied her good name,
Speaker 1: an invasion of privacy. But she's a public figure, so
Speaker 1: the invasion of privacy was thrown out. And selling her
Speaker 1: good name, well, she said, meld Marca. So that was
Speaker 1: really tough. So the movie, I mean, I'm being glid here,
Speaker 1: but so the movie didn't kiss her ass enough as
Speaker 1: far as she was concerned. As far as no see,
Speaker 1: when she first saw it, she was okay with it.
Speaker 1: She was like, she had some problems. The harshest thing
Speaker 1: that you say in the film, well she talks. It's
Speaker 1: all her words. So she talks about the assassination of
Speaker 1: Theia Kuino and that they had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: it because if they would have done it, they would
Speaker 1: have done it in the dark of night, not in
Speaker 1: broad daylight. It's like, who does that? So she does?
Speaker 1: I mean she really she hangs herself basically because she
Speaker 1: that's Mrs Marcos. So when she first saw the film
Speaker 1: right before the premier at Sundance, UM had a courtesy
Speaker 1: screening for her. She had a few problems with it,
Speaker 1: but she knew she didn't have final cut. Fast forward
Speaker 1: six months later, we had a theatrical release here in
Speaker 1: in the US. So she all the reviewers, of course,
Speaker 1: you know Times, La Times, Washington Post reviewed the film,
Speaker 1: and they all called it like a pariah, delusional all that.
Speaker 1: Suddenly she saw herself through the eyes of the reviewers
Speaker 1: and did not like it, so she sued us. In
Speaker 1: the Philippines, that was the only time where it was
Speaker 1: thrown out, and we opened so big in the Philippiness
Speaker 1: half that because what she did was she had like
Speaker 1: a news conference every day of the trial, and so
Speaker 1: we so much so that people were saying that we
Speaker 1: colluded with her to make this like a big, big hit,
Speaker 1: but we did not. But no, it was thrown out.
Speaker 1: So when you you get sued, the case is dismissed
Speaker 1: and when you what's your next film? My next film
Speaker 1: is about teachers being recruited in the Philippines to teach
Speaker 1: an inner city Baltimore. Because I traveled so much with
Speaker 1: the Maldown, my daughter was growing up. I wanted to
Speaker 1: stay home, so I really literally a film in my backyard.
Speaker 1: And Um, I read the story in the Baltimore Sun
Speaker 1: that they were recruiting teachers from the Philippines, which was
Speaker 1: so odd to me. There was a shortage of science
Speaker 1: teachers because of course all the science teachers were going
Speaker 1: to the suburbs, you know, where they're more well resource schools.
Speaker 1: So they were recruiting from overseas, and the Philippines was
Speaker 1: a hub because we speak English right, and our educational
Speaker 1: system is set up like the American educational system because
Speaker 1: of the forty years of um Commonwealth room and and
Speaker 1: so I said, wow, and inner city in Baltimore, something
Speaker 1: will happen in that classroom. And one thing that to another. Again,
Speaker 1: I was given access. I asked the public school officials
Speaker 1: and they said sure. And I was given like carte
Speaker 1: blanche access to the schools. I'm not sure they do
Speaker 1: that now, but that was my No one's giving carte
Speaker 1: blanche to access to journalists and cameras to anybody anymore,
Speaker 1: no more terrified. Um. Yes, So I followed like four
Speaker 1: teachers during the freshman year teaching in Baltimore City. It
Speaker 1: turned out to be a very hopeful film because it's
Speaker 1: two marginalized groups of people found community in the classroom.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was quite something. Where's the
Speaker 1: money coming from to make both the Marcos film in
Speaker 1: this film public television? Is it you tax dollars? As
Speaker 1: well as with with Emelda Yes. So after the school
Speaker 1: a story and you're in Baltimore, what comes next? Journey?
Speaker 1: I was finishing the learning and so Journey Um Journey.
Speaker 1: In oh seven, they were looking for a new lead
Speaker 1: singer because so Jerry got cancer. Yeah, uh, he could
Speaker 1: no longer do it. And Neil Sean, who is one
Speaker 1: of the co founders of the band, wanted you know,
Speaker 1: had heard all the cover bands in the US, but
Speaker 1: wanted something different. So he trolled YouTube, right, he went,
Speaker 1: of course, where do you go? YouTube? And he just
Speaker 1: kept looking and looking looking YouTube, and then he found
Speaker 1: this guy Arnel Pinetta who was in the Philippines singing
Speaker 1: in some at the hard Rock Cafe in Manila, and
Speaker 1: he was like just enamored of him and called all
Speaker 1: his band members. The next day, called Jonathan Kane and
Speaker 1: said I found the guy. And Jonathan was like he's
Speaker 1: in Manila. I don't think so. I mean, how can
Speaker 1: we even bring him exactly? And he was not known.
Speaker 1: Arnell was not unknown singer. He was not famous at all.
Speaker 1: But one thing that to another. They got his visa,
Speaker 1: he flew out to San Francisco, he auditioned, and he
Speaker 1: got the gig, and um so the lead singer for
Speaker 1: the biggest crowd he had ever performed for pre was
Speaker 1: the journey was like two people. Suddenly was in Vina
Speaker 1: del Mar singing to like millions of people. And so
Speaker 1: that part, that part is in the film, the first
Speaker 1: time he sings to like a really large journey crowd.
Speaker 1: More from director Ramona Diaz coming up. If you like
Speaker 1: documentary films as much as I do, I hope you
Speaker 1: will listen to my conversation with filmmaker Joe Burlinger. I
Speaker 1: believe the audience should be treated like a jury. You
Speaker 1: give them the information and your way both sides, and
Speaker 1: you let them come to their own conclusion. You can
Speaker 1: hear more from Burlinger in our archives. And here's the thing,
Speaker 1: Dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to
Speaker 1: Here's the Thing. Ramona diaz is most recent film a
Speaker 1: Thousand cuts tells the story of Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa.
Speaker 1: It's really a window into the country and the government
Speaker 1: led by President du Terte. Ramona Diaz has lived in
Speaker 1: the United States for most of her adult life, but
Speaker 1: the Philippines remains a central to her work. I think
Speaker 1: I make films because it's a yearning for the motherland.
Speaker 1: Every film is a yearning. What do you love about
Speaker 1: the Philippines. I go back there because I find it
Speaker 1: somehow hopeful that something will change, and then it gets
Speaker 1: very frustrating. So it's both a love hate relationship and
Speaker 1: it's everything I know, right, it's everything deeply I know.
Speaker 1: I know that country deeply, um, and I was still
Speaker 1: a lot of friends and I always have hope for it.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think I keep going back, and
Speaker 1: that's why I keep making those stories. And it's also
Speaker 1: to decode I think what's happening in the Philippines to
Speaker 1: the Western world. I think I'm in a space where
Speaker 1: I can do that. I've lived enough in this country
Speaker 1: to be able to do that, so I'm both inside outside.
Speaker 1: That's why I love going back. Um Trump is someone
Speaker 1: who you know both Snaro is someone who he considers
Speaker 1: himself like minded with Terte, he considered himself is a
Speaker 1: hero to him. Do you realize now, in the time
Speaker 1: of Trump, what's happened in your country can happen here
Speaker 1: as well. Yes, so quickly too, because if you're not vigilant,
Speaker 1: you know, if you don't get fraid of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it goes away so quickly. It's so amazing how fragile
Speaker 1: it is. But the thing about the US is your
Speaker 1: institutions are much stronger. The reason in the Philippines thinks
Speaker 1: changed so quickly in six months because the institutions are
Speaker 1: not that strong. Well the interview, You're very right. The
Speaker 1: institutions are stronger in spite of Trump, but they're significantly
Speaker 1: weaker than since he took over. He tried to destroy
Speaker 1: those institutions. Yes, But but for people who don't understand,
Speaker 1: I want them to see the movie. The movie is
Speaker 1: called A Thousand Cuts, and it's just depressing as hell.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really depressing. You don't find a hopeful um,
Speaker 1: I mean I I find it a little bit hopeful.
Speaker 1: I find Duterte I find art because he's unbridled by
Speaker 1: many of the stop gaps we have in this country.
Speaker 1: When Trump says I could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue
Speaker 1: and and I could get away with it, Tete is
Speaker 1: literally shooting people on Fifth Avenue and getting away. He's
Speaker 1: literally doing that, bragging about it, and then very I mean,
Speaker 1: he is a monster. He's a very, very very unique
Speaker 1: individual in terms of his uh, in terms of the
Speaker 1: depths of his hatred. He seems to be soaked and
Speaker 1: he really traffics and fear. He really thinks fear. What
Speaker 1: do you think he became that way? Did you talk
Speaker 1: to anybody who had insights to him earlier in his career?
Speaker 1: Has he always been this way? I think it's always,
Speaker 1: you know, he used to He's the son of a governor,
Speaker 1: so although he's an outsider politician, he still comes from
Speaker 1: a very political family. So he was surrounded always by
Speaker 1: cops and security guards, and he's I think that's what
Speaker 1: he grew up with, you know, just a culture of
Speaker 1: killing or people killing or stories of killing. So to him,
Speaker 1: I think it just comes naturally to talk about killing.
Speaker 1: Everything is killing. It's really quite incredible, But no one
Speaker 1: has ever outraged. I think that's my That's what I'm
Speaker 1: surprised at because people just laugh and they're not outraged.
Speaker 1: I mean, as he saw in the film, he talks
Speaker 1: about like female parts in this really crude way, and
Speaker 1: people are laughing. The outrage isn't there? Do people mark
Speaker 1: in his career? Do you see in a timeline of
Speaker 1: his career, uh, when he turned became more plane speaking
Speaker 1: in terms of violence and killing people. What was before
Speaker 1: he was president? What was he? He was the mayor
Speaker 1: of dobo Uh town in the south and crime ridden
Speaker 1: that he cleaned up. And that's why he won because
Speaker 1: you know, there was a myth that he cleaned up
Speaker 1: he delivered and cleaned up Da Vow. How did he
Speaker 1: clean up Da Vow? Well, the same way he's cleaning
Speaker 1: up Manila basically death spots. Yeah, the same thing. He did,
Speaker 1: the same thing. And and because of that, he was
Speaker 1: mythical when he said when he when he ran um,
Speaker 1: he was mythic and and everyone thought, okay, he can
Speaker 1: do that here Manilla to clean up Manila. But the
Speaker 1: thing is, Manilla's not Da Vow. And he's still I
Speaker 1: think he's still in his mindset is still a mayor,
Speaker 1: small town mayor. But now he's president, right, and so
Speaker 1: he hasn't made that shift. Even after three years. He's
Speaker 1: still micromanaging everything. And the most powerful courts, uh that
Speaker 1: could stop him. The most powerful courts in your country
Speaker 1: that could have some influence over him, are they elective
Speaker 1: or they appointed? We have an appointed Supreme Court, but
Speaker 1: they are all disappointed. His appointees. Now, the one was
Speaker 1: the loudest voice against him, he he got rid of.
Speaker 1: I mean you know, he fired, right, and then the
Speaker 1: loudest voice in the Senate, Senator Delima, he imprisoned. Right,
Speaker 1: So all branches of government still in prison after three
Speaker 1: years now, So all branches of government are really under
Speaker 1: his control. And that's why they say he no longer.
Speaker 1: He doesn't even have to proclaim martial law, right, there's
Speaker 1: no need because they're all under his control. They've given
Speaker 1: him all the the tools of martial law without asking
Speaker 1: for exactly. You went back there to shoot the film
Speaker 1: and you interviewed him. No, but we were given access
Speaker 1: to be so we were like closest to him, like
Speaker 1: in the pit, which was very rare because he doesn't
Speaker 1: like anyone the press near him. But for some reason
Speaker 1: he allowed us in the pit, and so we were
Speaker 1: really close to when he gave all those speeches you
Speaker 1: were afraid about what would happen to you from the
Speaker 1: outcome of this film. Marcos gave you all that access
Speaker 1: and you made this film, and she was disappointed. I
Speaker 1: can't imagine what the possibilities are disappointed. You know what,
Speaker 1: Maria was not afraid. Maria Russell was a protagonist. So
Speaker 1: I felt like, Wow, then I can't be afraid, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course fear was there, right, But I'm
Speaker 1: a documentary filmmaker. I think I'll regret it forever if
Speaker 1: I didn't do it, So sort of the fear outweighed
Speaker 1: and kind of you don't imagine um regret. But is
Speaker 1: there a resistance there that has expressed any hope of
Speaker 1: killing him? Oh, that's a whole other conversation. Assuming political
Speaker 1: assassination has happened in this country. I mean, we've had
Speaker 1: a political I'm assuming. I wonder if people who really
Speaker 1: want to save the Philippines. But they say, he's always
Speaker 1: imagining coups and and you know, cop attempts and cool theories. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's always poised for a curl always. That's right. Um,
Speaker 1: let's talk about Maria Arressa in the film one thousand cuts.
Speaker 1: Who is Maria Arressa. Maria Arressa in the film is
Speaker 1: the loudest voice, I guess speaking up against She is
Speaker 1: a woman who is fighting for press freedom in the country.
Speaker 1: She's been a journalist for thirty years. She was a
Speaker 1: face of CNN Asia for a long time. She was
Speaker 1: the head of Beurey, chief of CNN Indonesia and then
Speaker 1: CNN Philippines, and then went on her own and founded Rappler,
Speaker 1: which is a completely like digital news site in the Philippines.
Speaker 1: And when Arta became president, they were the first ones
Speaker 1: to really question the drug war and the numbers and
Speaker 1: they're like the intercept yeah, exactly, very very muscular truth seekers. Yes,
Speaker 1: and the data was not happy. And in turn Is
Speaker 1: threatens her with eleven cases just to shut her up,
Speaker 1: and yet she does not stop. She just speaks up.
Speaker 1: So they he went after them and started tried to
Speaker 1: shut them down and has filed eleven cases against Maria,
Speaker 1: all stemming from tax evasion and anti dummy messing with her. Yes. Basically,
Speaker 1: so because they questioned, I mean, they're the loudest voice
Speaker 1: against the terriative, because the opposition is really fragmented and
Speaker 1: not not very you know, not very effective these days.
Speaker 1: And did you get an impression. I'm sure you did,
Speaker 1: but I want to ask, did you get an impression
Speaker 1: when you were interviewing Maria? Why does she do what
Speaker 1: she does? What's her? She always says, She always says
Speaker 1: that she has no choice, like the baton was passed
Speaker 1: to her and she has to do a chess to
Speaker 1: stand up to duty. Yes, right, she can't not do it,
Speaker 1: just like I can't not make the film right because
Speaker 1: I think the regret. You have to do it. You
Speaker 1: have to speak up because as a journalist, then what
Speaker 1: do you stand for if you don't speak up during
Speaker 1: these times right when you really have to fight. So
Speaker 1: she feels like she has no choice, but we all
Speaker 1: know we all have choices. We just make the choice
Speaker 1: that we feel we can um uh not regrets. What's
Speaker 1: interesting to me? What's unusual about Maria Ressa? I never
Speaker 1: met Gandhi. I don't think I've ever actually watched actual
Speaker 1: footage of the real Gandhi. I might have. I only
Speaker 1: know Gandhi as he was portrayed in films and stuff
Speaker 1: with Ben Kingsley. Maria Ressa has what I imagine is
Speaker 1: a Gandhi esque level of patience and tolerance. You never
Speaker 1: see them get to her. She never lets it get
Speaker 1: to her. She has the most unimaginable level of self
Speaker 1: control I've seen in a human being in my lifetime.
Speaker 1: And it's genuine, right because we spent so many hours
Speaker 1: where there we saw that you're not some it's genuine
Speaker 1: because she feels like it's counterproductive to go down that road.
Speaker 1: She has a job to do. She's going to do it.
Speaker 1: She's so self actualized in that way. It's it's mesmerizing,
Speaker 1: it is. And yeah, they messed with her so much,
Speaker 1: and she's like, hey, what do you want me to do?
Speaker 1: You want to see these papers? Sure, okay, you could
Speaker 1: arrest me. Okay. You never see her act out or
Speaker 1: or or, which is a problem sometimes because she I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, people, will people really get that she's
Speaker 1: in trouble because she's smiling too much? But then I
Speaker 1: guess people do. That's her, that's what she is, And
Speaker 1: I think that's part of the charm and part of
Speaker 1: sort of this irony and the tension between what she
Speaker 1: is and what's happening to her. Really works. When you
Speaker 1: showed Maria the film. What did she think? She's been
Speaker 1: on camera a lot of her life, so wasn't overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: She you know, people are I think are always surprised
Speaker 1: when they when they see themselves in that situation because
Speaker 1: they never they always forget what you capture, right, Because
Speaker 1: we were her for months and months and months, she
Speaker 1: had no idea how we were going to put it together,
Speaker 1: and as a journalist, she tried helping us. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like do you want to do this? Do you want?
Speaker 1: And we're like no, no, no, no, you do what
Speaker 1: you want and then we'll just follow you. This is
Speaker 1: what we do. We're not journalists. You do something different,
Speaker 1: We do something different. So when she saw it as
Speaker 1: a whole, she was like, oh my god, you captured everything.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, because we were with you, And I
Speaker 1: think seeing it as a whole just brought her back
Speaker 1: to those moments that she hasn't really had time to
Speaker 1: reflect on, and so I think it was really powerful,
Speaker 1: especially when she saw the Sundance with like the whole
Speaker 1: round No no for you describe if you will, what's
Speaker 1: it been like for you as a woman making films.
Speaker 1: What's been the unique challenge for about that um, people
Speaker 1: trusting that I can do it, you know, but the
Speaker 1: convincing them, right, I mean that's changed in your lifetime. Atana, Yes, well,
Speaker 1: especially with a thousand cuts I got. I raised that
Speaker 1: my very quickly because it was imperative that I'd be
Speaker 1: shooting quickly, and they just said sure here, well no,
Speaker 1: I make it. Sounds so easy. But it was like
Speaker 1: a whole here, just go and do it, and here's
Speaker 1: the whole entire budget whatever we asked for. Which is
Speaker 1: the first for me? Yes, it was the first. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, I want to make movies with you. I
Speaker 1: want to work for you. I'm not sure if that's
Speaker 1: going to ever happen again, but I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: maybe not because it's just content. Right. People were looking
Speaker 1: for a film about tear. They couldn't quite figure out what.
Speaker 1: I couldn't quite figure out what I thought. I wanted
Speaker 1: to do it on the drug war exclusively until I
Speaker 1: met Maria. Then I thought, oh my god, she is
Speaker 1: a protagonist. And yeah, I mean sometimes they just fall
Speaker 1: on you that, sometimes they enter the room. So as
Speaker 1: a woman filmmaker, things have gotten a bit easier if
Speaker 1: you're over these just a little bit easier because I
Speaker 1: think I've also like staked my claim. There's I haven't
Speaker 1: niche right and I'm good films under your belt? What
Speaker 1: are you working on now? Can you say? Uh say,
Speaker 1: I can't say. It's like a docuseries. But I also
Speaker 1: want to do fiction, so I've been trying to make
Speaker 1: a fiction. I just have to stop doing documentaries. In
Speaker 1: order to write, as you know, you need space and
Speaker 1: time and quiet and stillness. So I'm actually trying to
Speaker 1: make a feature of Imaalda. I'm making it into liked piece.
Speaker 1: There's a lot there, Yeah, and I would be able
Speaker 1: to get that job done in two hours. Seriously, I
Speaker 1: mean that could be maybe a right, a streaming series,
Speaker 1: but don't stop. Is being um made into a fiction narrative? Yeah,
Speaker 1: at Universal somewhere. Now we're going to have to have
Speaker 1: I should say now, they're going to have to have
Speaker 1: a talent search to find exactly the kid that was
Speaker 1: the subject of the talent search. Meta casting is ongoing,
Speaker 1: I'm told, in case anyone out there thinks this might
Speaker 1: be their calling. Ramona Diaz's latest film, A Thousand Cuts,
Speaker 1: will be out in theaters and virtual theaters on August seven.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll make a point to see it. This
Speaker 1: is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing