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Production
2023

And So It Begins

IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Grantee

  • headshot of Ramona Diaz wearing a red plaid scarf and black jacket
    Ramona Diaz, Director
  • Raney Aronson Rath, Director
A woman wearing a pink top with black hair shot from the back. She is front-lit.

About the Project

Can kindness, truth and hope for democracy emerge victorious in an epic battle with fear, lies and surrender to autocracy? Can light conquer darkness? However it ends, the story serves as a testimony to the power of volunteerism and a cautionary tale about the consequences — for better or worse — of choices made.

Project Team

    headshot of Ramona Diaz wearing a red plaid scarf and black jacket

    Ramona Diaz

    Ramona S. Diaz is a Peabody, Gotham, IDA, Emmy award-winning, PGA, and Independent Spirit award-nominated Asian American filmmaker best known for her compelling character-driven documentaries that combine a profound appreciation for cinematic aesthetics and potent storytelling. Ramona’s films have demonstrated her ability to gain intimate access to the people she films – be they rock stars, first ladies, dissidents, mothers, teachers, or journalists – resulting in keenly observed moments and unforgettable nuanced narratives. Her films have been screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Busan, Tribeca, SXSW, IDFA, HotDocs, and many other top-tier film festivals. Ramona’s feature-length independently-produced films— Imelda (IL, 2004), The Learning (POV,2011), Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (IL, 2012), Motherland (POV, 2017), A Thousand Cuts (Frontline, 2020)—have been nationally broadcast on PBS, Arte, and the BBC amongst others. Ramona is both a Guggenheim Fellow and a USA Fellow – prestigious awards given to artists with singular visions who have significantly contributed to the arts in the United States. She was recently named the inaugural McGurn Family Trust Resident in Film by the American Academy in Rome. Ramona is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Producers and Writers Guilds of America. In 2017, she received a Women at Sundance Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, and a Chicken & Egg Pictures Filmmaker Award. For the past ten years, Ramona has served as a film envoy for the U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase in partnership with USC and, more recently, for Film Independent’s Global Media Makers program. Ramona is a graduate of Emerson College and holds an M.A. from Stanford University.

    Raney Aronson Rath

    Director/Producer of This is How It Ends.