‘And So It Begins’ is PH entry at Oscars for best international feature film

‘And So It Begins’ is Philippines official entry to Oscars 2025 best international feature film. Image: Facebook/Fap Orig

Ramona S. Diaz’s documentary film “And So It Begins” has been selected as the Philippines’ official entry to the 97th Academy Awards Best International Foreign Film Category, also known as the Oscars.

The news was announced on the Facebook page of the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) on Wednesday, Sept. 25, with pictures of Diaz receiving the plaque.

“And So It Begins” tells the journey of former Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential run during the 2022 election and provides an in-depth look at the complexity of Philippine politics.

It is a companion film to “A Thousand Cuts” that tackles Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s fight against disinformation and press freedom.

“And So It Begins” first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2024, while “A Thousand Cuts” also premiered in the same festival in 2020.

In August, “And So It Begins” debuted at the 2024 Cinemalaya and got limited screenings at selected local cinemas.

Film reviewer Nicole Andrew Latayan, who is one of the 337 voting members for the upcoming 83rd Golden Globe awards, said on his X account that “And So It Begins” is the “first-ever documentary submission from the Philippines.” Last year, the Philippines submitted its first animated film submission, Iti Mapukpukaw.

Ramona Diaz joins a small list of female directors whose works have been submitted as Philippine entries for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars joining Marilou Diaz-Abaya (Karnal, 1984; Milagros, 1997; Sa Pusod ng Dagat, 1998), Rory Quintos (Anak, 2000) and Hannah…

— Nicol (@nikowl) September 25, 2024

During its local premiere, Robredo shared the lessons that she wants the young voters to get from the documentary film, saying that it’s not about “changing the world,” but focusing on fixing the “small spaces that are available.” 

Robredo also shared that “And So It Begins” was supposed to be titled “This is How It Ends” given the saddening outcome of the 2022 national elections, but they settled with the former as they believe that it’s not the end to fight the injustice.

“Should we treat it as the end? How can we practice radical love? Let’s keep going. We are aware of what went wrong and we must correct these when we enter the fight. Even if we did the campaign in a short time, let us keep going because we’ll get better,” she stated.

Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Diaz encouraged the public to spread the word about the film, as they were supposed to have a national release.

“We were supposed to be a national release. We have a PG-rating and we have demand—two things that would otherwise not make them hesitate to show the film. It would be great to get an answer from them. Call the theaters that you want to show this film. Tell everyone about this film,” she said.