Coming from south of France, Lisa Diaz has been working in cinema after Literature and History studies at the Sorbonne, Paris. She has written and directed six short fiction films and three documentaries, selected and awarded at French and international festivals.
iFilmFestival: Tell us a bit about your most important film so far.
Diaz: "'Eva Wishes' is my first medium length fiction. It's important because it's the first time I was able to experience a longer story, a longer shooting, a longer editing process."
iFilmFestival: What were the key challenges making it?
Diaz: "We had to make the film with very little money. But it's challenging. The team was very light, and it was a choice to be closer to the actors and more reactive, like it is when I shot documentaries. I also wanted to mix professional and non-professional actors. There is also a place for improvisation."
iFilmFestival: What’s one aspect that you’re particularly proud of?
Diaz: "I'm particularly enthusiastic about my leading actor, Caroline Ferrus. I think she passes though a very wide range of emotions. She could sometimes be very melancholic but also very funny, very tired or very beautiful. I like where she pushes the character of Eva."
Trailer: Eva Wishes (2020)
iFilmFestival: What new projects are you working on or are you hoping to work on in the future?
Diaz: "I'm preparing my first feature. The shooting will take place this summer. The title in french will be 'Zone Libre'. I'm going to have a great cast and a great team!"
iFilmFestival: What role do film festivals play?
Diaz: "I need my films to be seen, as widely as possible. That's the main role they could play. They can also be a way to meet either the public or other filmmakers, but these days this aspect is a bit complicated."
iFilmFestival: What is your advice to filmmakers tackling the festival circuit?
Diaz: "I don't know, I think the festival circuit is a cost, so this depends how you've made your film... if you have a producer or not. I know that often the filmmaker has to deal with the festival circuit him or herself to be sure that his/her film is seen."
iFilmFestival: How do you see the future of film?
Diaz: "We need to be very careful with the platforms. These platforms could erase the originality of the proposals. We have to fight for our films to continue to have their specificity, their own writing... We are not making manufactured objects. I want dark, crazy, bizarre, strange films... Original worlds that are offered to me on a screen. A screen in a cinema!!!"
iFilmFestival: Which filmmaker do you admire and why?
Diaz: "I admire so many different filmmakers I couldn't put just one name. David Lynch, Maurice Pialat, Jean Eustache, Jim Jarmush, Claire Denis, Jane Campion, Kelly Reichardt and many others."
iFilmFestival: What film have you recently seen that you have admired in one way or another?
Diaz: "'L'angle mort' by Pierre Trividic and Patrick Mario-Bernard."
Thank you Lisa for answering our questions!
Interview by iFilmFestival on 18 February 2021
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