''A Thousand Cuts'' is a 2020 Philippine-American documentary film about

Maria Ressa Maria Angelita Ressa (, born Maria Angelita Delfin Aycardo on October 2, 1963) is a Filipino and American journalist. She is the co-founder and CEO of Rappler. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in S ...

, the founder of the online news site

Rappler Rappler (portmanteau of the words "rap" and "ripple") is a Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists ...

. Directed by

Ramona Diaz Ramona S. Diaz is a Filipino-American documentary filmmaker best known for creating "character-driven documentaries". Her notable works include the 2012 film '' Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey'', featuring the band Journey and its new l ...

, it explores the conflicts between the press and the Filipino government under President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 25, 2020. It was released in the United States in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and virtual cinemas on August 7, 2020, by

PBS Distribution PBS Distribution (PBSd), formerly known as PBS Ventures, PBS Home Video, and Public Media Distribution, is the home video distribution unit of American television network PBS. The company releases and sells home videos of PBS series and movies and ...

, and was followed by a broadcast on the program ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'' on January 8, 2021.

Synopsis

It follows the conflicts between the press and the Philippine government under president

. It primarily follows

, the founder of the online news site

, which has been subject to scrutiny by Duterte and his supporters, and writers for the website including Pia Rañada, Patricia Evangelista and Rambo Talabong. It also follows

Mocha Uson Esther Margaux Justiniano Uson (born May 17), better known as Mocha Uson, is a controversial Filipino singer, actress, dancer, model, political blogger, and public official widely known for spreading fake news and disinformation. She is also a ...

Samira Gutoc Samira Ali Gutoc (born 19 December 1974) is a Filipina civic leader, journalist, environmentalist, women's rights advocate and politician. She served as a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao a ...

, and

Bato dela Rosa Ronald Marapon dela Rosa (born January 21, 1962), also known as Bato, is a Filipino politician and retired police officer who is currently serving as a senator of the Philippines since 2019. He served under the Duterte administration as the c ...

as they campaign for seats in the Philippine senate.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 25, 2020. It was also set to screen at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in March 2020, however, the festival was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and ''

'' acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and briefly made the film available without charge for a limited time on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

for Philippine users on June 12 (

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

). It also screened at

AFI Docs The AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) documentary film festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Started ...

on June 19, 2020. The film was released in the United States through

virtual cinema Virtual cinema is a video-on-demand streaming service facilitated by independent film distributors and art-house theaters to release new films and share profits. Under the service, part of the admission price supports a physically located theater. ...

on August 7, 2020, followed by its ''Frontline'' broadcast on January 8, 2021.

Reception

''A Thousand Cuts'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "A sobering documentary and a stark warning, A Thousand Cuts underscores the importance of the press at a pivotal moment in world history." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds a rating of 81 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

References

External links

*
Official trailerOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thousand Cuts, A 2020 films 2020 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about journalists Films directed by Ramona S. Diaz Philippine documentary films Topic Studios films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films

Accolades