Ramona S. Diaz is a Filipino-American documentary filmmaker[1] best known for creating "character-driven documentaries".[2][3][4][5] Her notable works include the 2012 film Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey, featuring the band Journey and its new lead vocalist Arnel Pineda, which won the Audience Award for the 2013–2014 season of PBS's Independent Lens;[6] and the 2003 film Imelda, about the life of Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines.[7][8][9]
Ramona S. Diaz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | Filipino-American |
| Education | Emerson College (B.A.) |
| Alma mater | Stanford University (M.A.) |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Notable work | Imelda |
| Style | Documentary |
Three of Diaz's films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival: Imelda, a biographical documentary about Imelda's beginnings as a beauty contest winner to the wife of rising politician and eventual President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos. Motherland, a documentary set at an overcrowded and under-resourced maternity hospital in Manila;[10] and most recently A Thousand Cuts a profile of Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, a journalist working in the Philippines, released in 2020.[11] Motherland received a Special Jury Award at Sundance in 2017 and premiered the same year at the Berlin International Film Festival.[12] Diaz served as a Documentary Competition Juror at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
Diaz's most recent feature documentary, And So It Begins, was selected to premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was chosen by the Film Academy of the Philippines as the Philippines' entry to the 97th Academy Awards.[13]
In 2019 Diaz received a United States Artists (USA) Fellowship.[14]
Filmography
edit- 1997 Spirits Rising
- 2003 Imelda
- 2011 Give Up Tomorrow (as Executive Producer)
- 2011 The Learning (episode in P.O.V.)
- 2013 Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey (episode in Independent Lens)
- 2017 Motherland
- 2020 A Thousand Cuts
- 2024 And So It Begins
Awards
edit| Year | Award | Festival | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Audience Award | Palm Springs International Film Festival | Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey |
| 2017 | Viktor Award | Munich International Documentary Festival (DOK.fest) | Motherland |
| 2017 | Editing Award | Sundance Film Festival | Motherland |
| 2020 | DocEdge Award | Documentary Edge Festival | A Thousand Cuts |
References
edit- ^ "Susan Kouguell Talks with Motherland Documentary Filmmaker Ramona Diaz". Script Magazine. September 19, 2017.
- ^ "'Motherland': Ramona Diaz on the Many 'Leaps of Faith' That Got Her Film Into Sundance and Theaters". No Film School. September 9, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
- ^ "Ramona S. Diaz". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
- ^ "A Conversation with Ramona Diaz (MOTHERLAND)". Hammer to Nail. May 24, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
- ^ "Ramona S. Diaz". americanfilmshowcase.com. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
- ^ Phillips, Craig (June 30, 2014). "The Winner of 2013-2014 Independent Lens Audience Award Is..." Independent Lens. PBS.
- ^ 'Imelda': Don't Cry for Her. The Washington Post. Published on July 16, 2004. Retrieved on January 8, 2014.
- ^ For a Regal Pariah, Despite It All, the Shoe Is Never on the Other Foot. The New York Times. Published on June 9, 2004. Retrieved on January 8, 2014.
- ^ Keen, Adam (October 1, 2004). Film Review 2004–2005: The Definitive Film Yearbook. Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 9781903111871.
- ^ "Motherland". www.sundance.org. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ^ "A Thousand Cuts". www.sundance.org. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ^ "Motherland | ITVS". itvs.org. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ^ Evangelista, Jessica Ann (September 25, 2024). "'And So It Begins' is PH entry at Oscars for best international feature film". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ "United States Artists » Ramona S. Diaz". Retrieved March 2, 2023.
- ^ "Ramona S. Diaz". IMDb. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
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