Documentary on journalist Maria Ressa to air on top US program ‘Frontline’

A Thousand Cuts, Ramona Diaz’s documentary on Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, will air on American television on Friday, January 8, 9pm Eastern or 8 pm Central (Saturday, January 9, 10am Manila time).

The documentary will air as an episode of Frontline, the long-running investigative documentary program on PBS.  It can be seen in the Philippines online via the PBS website January 9, 10am but will no longer be available after. It will also stream on the PBS Video App and PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

This 98-minute feature film examines President Rodrigo Duterte’s escalating attacks on the media through the story of his prime target, Ressa, one of TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2018 and CEO and co-founder of this news site.

“What we’re seeing is a death by a thousand cuts of our democracy, little cuts to the body of Philippine democracy.” That was how Ressa described the effect of unrelenting state attacks on the free press, human rights defenders and the weaponization of the law. She added, “When you have enough of these cuts, you are so weakened, that you will die.” 

“At its core, A Thousand Cuts is about the epic battle for facts. ‘What do you do when the president lies?’ Maria asks in the film,” said Diaz, an award-winning Fil-Am filmmaker. She added she “couldn’t have hoped for a better partner than Frontline” to bring this story to an American audience. 

This special Friday night edition will be followed by a roundtable conversation moderated by Christiane Amanpour with Ressa and Diaz talking about the implications for democracy when press freedom is threatened and disinformation is allowed to flourish on social media. 

“We are so pleased to be able to share Maria’s story and Ramona’s incredible filmmaking with our PBS audiences this month,” said Frontline Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath.

Frontline’s broadcast comes on the heels of the documentary’s robust festival run – including Sundance Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival 2020, HotDocs 2020, Full Frame 2020, IDFA 2020, DOC NYC Shortlist, SXSW Film Festival, and AFI DOCS – plus a nationwide virtual theatrical release last summer.

It won Best Documentary at DocEdge 2020, the David Carr Award at the Montclair Film Festival 2020, and the Global Impact Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2020.

The film was free to stream online for a limited time in the Philippines on June 12, 2020, Independence Day. It’s currently available via virtual cinemas in North America. – Rappler.com