Diana Ward is an emerging producer originally from Australia and now based in Los Angeles. Her work draws on her Chinese Malaysian heritage, exploring the immigrant experience, belonging, and diaspora in the stories she chooses to tell.
In this interview, Diana speaks about how she went from a kid who was not allowed to watch film or television to becoming a producer with two short films on the festival circuit this year; LIBERTY, which won Best Narrative Short at SXSW 2019, and also the Special Prize of the Generation 14plus International Jury at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival, as well as the THE COIN, an animated short film which premiered at SXSW 2019.
Diana is a Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow and recipient of the 2018 Film Independent Project Involve Amazon Studios Visionary Filmmaker Fellowship.
Since moving to America, DIANA WARD has produced the feature documentary ROLLER DREAMS, which won the Foxtel Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival and the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2018 Calgary Underground Film Festival.
Diana has also produced numerous award-winning and festival favorite short films; including LIBERTY for writer/director Faren Humes (2019 winner, Special Prize of the International Jury for Best Short Film, Berlinale Generation 14-plus, Best Narrative Short SXSW), stop-motion animation THE COIN for Siqi Song (SXSW 2019), FULL BEAT for writer/director Kase Pena (Outfest 2019), sci-fi ANAMNESIS (Amazon Prime), the part-animated JAILBIRDS, and dramas OLD WAR and SHELLING PEAS.