And So It Begins

The cost of speaking truth to power. In a decades-long nation saga of the Philippines, director Diaz presents the latest chapter on her homeland as the despotic reign of President Rodrigo Duterte is coming to an end. The film proffers unbridled access to all the key players in the months leading up to the country’s 2022 presidential election. With all her keen observational eye and deep knowledge of the 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, it is a shape-shifting story of the raucous collective act of joy expressed in a quirky resistance movement that pits itself against the haunting spectre 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.