BIOGRAPHY
Photo by Katerina Stratos
DIANA WARD
Diana Ward is a producer from Australia, who draws on her Chinese Malaysian heritage, immigrant experience and themes of diaspora and belonging in the subjects of the stories she chooses to tell. Since moving to America, she produced fan favorite feature documentary Roller Dreams, which currently streams on Hulu and Kanopy.
Diana has produced numerous award-winning short films; including Liberty for writer/director Faren Humes (2019 SXSW Best Narrative Short); stop-motion animation The Coin for Oscar nominee Siqi Song (Best Animation New Hampshire Film Festival); Were You Gay In High School? for director Niki Ang (Outfest); Latinx coming-of-age story Full Beat for writer/director Kase Pena (HBO); sci-fi Anamnesis (Amazon Prime); the part-animated Jailbirds (Shorts TV) and dramas Old War (SBS) and Shelling Peas.
Diana has been featured on the Dear Producer's Producers in Front of the Camera series and is a Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow and recipient of the 2018 Project Involve Amazon Studios Visionary Filmmaker Fellowship.
FILMOGRAPHY
THE GOLDFISH
2021
Directed by Ashley Brim
Starring Diarra Kilpatrick, Murisa Harba, Cedric Sanders, Dhruv Singh
An adopted woman is forced to confront her darkest fear about motherhood at her sister’s baby shower..
FAMILY TIME
2021
Directed by Zoe Stewart
Starring Bonnie Mbuli, Sobantu Nquayi, Shadha Kae-Kazim
A mother must decide what to let go in order to ‘have it all’.
STRAY
2020
Directed by Wanjiru Njendu
Starring Peres Owino and Trinity Jones
A mother prepares her daughter for the scariest night of the year.
REBORN
2020
Directed by Alexandria Collins
Starring Taliyah Simone and
K.J. Rasheed
Kaya, a mischievous girl, is set to be baptized in a small rural church, but when she's dipped under the water, she's overcome by far more than the ‘Holy Spirit’.
WERE YOU GAY IN HIGH SCHOOL?
2020
Directed by Niki Ang
Starring Alex Song-Xia and Sierra Puett
Two queer women recall their awkward, closeted high school days of kissing boys and straight-girl crushes.
THE CORNER STORE
2020
Directed by Winter Coleman
Starring Olivia Washington, Shaun Heard and Richard Lawson
Tired of the unsolved sexual assaults in her neighborhood, Olivia decides to get rid of the problem herself, one kill at a time.
THE CLAW
2020
Directed by Philip Harder
Featuring Baron von Raschke and Maddog Vachon
THE CLAW is a documentary about legendary wrestler and all around supervillain Baron von Raschke.
THE COIN
2019
Directed by Siqi Song
Starring Anna Pan
THE COIN is a stop motion animation that follows a Chinese girl who searches for the lucky coin in the food she eats.
LIBERTY
2019
Directed by Faren Humes
Starring Milagros Gilbert and Alexandra Jackson
Alex and Milagros deal with great life upheaval as they prepare to dance at their community’s redevelopment groundbreaking ceremony.
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
2018
Directed by Nawaf Al Janahi
A short experimental documentary portrait of the Barclay Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
FULL BEAT
2018
Directed by Kase Pena
Starring Juliana Joel, Francisco Soto Jr. and Luciana Faulharber
A transgender youth, resentful of having to spend court-ordered time
with her father, finds an unlikely ally
in his fiancé.
ROLLER DREAMS
2017
Directed by Kate Hickey
Featuring Mad, Terrell Ferguson, Sara Messenger, Larry Pitts, Jimmy Rich and Duval Stowers
It's 1984 and Venice Beach, CA, is at the epicenter of a pop culture explosion – roller dancing!
ANAMNESIS
2016
Directed by Sebastien Tobler
Starring Fernanda Romero, Rane Jameson and Illeana Douglas
Celine gives life to her lost love and attempts to resurrect the past using her memories. ANAMNESIS is a futuristic treatise on love and consciousness in seeing how far true love will take you.
SHELLING PEAS
2011
Directed by Cath Moore
Starring Brenna Harding and
Charlie Garber
Amy and Dean deal with the death of their mother differently, but before they get on with their lives, they first have to get on with each other.
JAILBIRDS
2011
Directed by Rachael Turk
Starring Yael Stone and Eamon Farren
All is not what it seems when Lucy and Dane conspire a breakout from their mythical island cells. A mix of 16mm film, digital and 2D animation, JAILBIRDS is a figurative tale about hope, imagination and togetherness.
OLD WAR
2009
Directed by Danielle McCarthy
Starring Teresa Jakovich and
Costa Ronin
What do you do when you begin to fall for someone you're meant to hate?
NEW HAMPSHIRE FILM FESTIVAL 2019
JURY AWARD
BEST SHORT ANIMATION
"THE COIN"
SXSW
FILM FESTIVAL 2019
JURY AWARD
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
"LIBERTY"
CHAMPS ELYSEES FILM FESTIVAL 2019
BEST AMERICAN
SHORT FILM
"LIBERTY"
INDIE ANIFEST
FILM FESTIVAL 2020
PRIZE FOR ASIA ROAD
BEST ANIMATION
"THE COIN"
BERLINALE 2019
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
GENERATION 14 PLUS
"LIBERTY"
CHICAGO INTL FILM FESTIVAL 2019
GOLD HUGO
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"LIBERTY"
XINING FIRST
FILM FESTIVAL 2020
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
"THE COIN"
MIAMI
FILM FESTIVAL 2019
KNIGHT MADE IN MIAMI AWARD
BEST SHORT FILM
"LIBERTY"
AFI
FILM FESTIVAL
2019
SPECIAL JURY AWARD
"LIBERTY"
WINTERTHUR
KURZFILMTAGE
2019
SPECIAL MENTION
"LIBERTY"
INDIE STREETS FILM FESTIVAL 2019
JURY AWARD
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FILM
"LIBERTY"
NEW HAMPSHIRE FILM FESTIVAL 2019
JURY AWARD
BEST SHORT ANIMATION
"THE COIN"
INT'L INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS 2016
CALGARY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 2018
JURY AWARD
BEST DOCUMENTARY
"ROLLER DREAMS"
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2017
FOXTEL AUDIENCE AWARD
BEST DOCUMENTARY
"ROLLER DREAMS"
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
"ANAMNESIS"
DOWNUNDER BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL 2011
BEST SHORT FILM
"OLD WAR"
INSIDE FILM AWARDS
2009
BEST MUSIC VIDEO NOMINEE
JOHN STEEL SINGERS "OVERPASS"
WAMi AWARDS
2008