An Intimate Conversation with Ramona Diaz, Maria Ressa and Leni (Leonor) Robredo [In-Person]
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About
An Intimate Conversation with Ramona Diaz, Maria Ressa, Lenora Marie Rebredo
Date: Friday, October 10th, 2025
Location: PACCAR IMAX Theater at Pacific Science Center
Time: Doors open at 6:30pm PST and screening begins at 7:00pm PST
And So It Begins
In a decades-long nonfiction saga of the Philippines, director Ramona Diaz presents the latest chapter on her homeland as the despotic reign of President Rodrigo Duterte 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. With her keen observational eye and deep knowledge of socio-political history and landscape, Diaz continues to find her own forms of storytelling as political disruption.
Taking place 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.

Ramona Diaz
Filmmaker

Maria Ressa
Journalist

Leni (Leonor) Robredo
Former Vice-President, Phillippines