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Gani then asked the question that had been at the festival's heart: who gets to tell these stories? The question was complicated. Mariz had tried to make space for insiders and outsiders alike, but with a curatorial ethic that prioritized consent and authenticity. She commissioned workshops teaching young filmmakers how to work safely with actors when scenes demanded vulnerability. She set up stipends for locals whose neighborhoods were used as locations. And she practiced reciprocity—retrospectives that returned film prints and screenings to the communities that inspired the films. It is easy to dismiss these films as
One evening, as the sun hit the theater's stained glass and turned the lobby into a kaleidoscope, Mariz received a letter. It was from an old director, Ramon Dela Cruz, whose films had influenced a generation of bold filmmakers. He wrote simply: "Thank you for remembering us." The letter was small but carried the weight of an old river. Mariz read it twice and felt both fragile and fierce. It was validation in a letterhead font. : Launched in 2021, it reached millions of