The interview is hosted by Angelica Lorenzon and Mariangela Martelli

- How did the idea for the film "The Woman Who Left" come about?

Love Diaz. The source of inspiration was Tolstoy's story "God sees the truth, but he will not tell it soon".

- Your films usually start with clearly defined storylines, for example, "Norte, the end of history "- with a" quote "from" Crime and Punishment"," Batang Westside " - with a detective story. How do you approach storytelling in your feeds?

Love Diaz. The process of creating a script is completely organic: I come up with an idea, I light it up, I work on it, and only later do I start preparing for casting. But I am always ready to expand the scope of the original idea - I never follow a rigid scheme, it restricts creativity - and this is death for cinema.

- You are constantly "digging" into the history of the Philippines, always referring to the social and political conflicts on your land. This trend is also evident in other contemporary Filipino films. Do you think this is a necessity for today's Filipino cinema?

Love Diaz. Yes, of course. It is very easy to forget, so it is extremely important to return the memory to the history of our country. Many Filipinos "erase" the past and continue to move forward outside of cultural traditions. But for me, as a Filipino filmmaker, it is important to come face to face with the history of my homeland: I want to explore my people, my past, my culture - these are fundamental things for determining my own identity. If you forget about your nature, your roots, you are lost.

- You used to say: "None of us really understand life. This is one of the basic truths of being." What truths are hidden in your latest work?

Love Diaz. We accept what happens to us in life and basically repeat the same actions all the time, do the same things - it's a continuous cycle. But you need to be able to capture and evaluate those very small "important moments", for example, how it is for you to be here now, because this is something that you did not foresee. Imagine that a bomb is about to go off, right here in front of you. Some will survive, some will die. This is life - the randomness of events. It is not necessary to plan everything, you just need to be attentive to what is happening during your existence.

- I find that there are similarities between your film and that of the Russian director Andrey Tarkovsky, especially in terms of the time factor. What value do you attach to time?

Love Diaz. The most important thing in life is to enjoy your time. Death is the end of time, but it is also a new birth, time is a mystery. I do not even know if we really exist at this moment. When you make movies, you put the time in a certain period, for example, in" The Woman who Left " this is 1997. This moment in time forces you to put the characters in a certain context, and from here I deduce their stories. In ' 97, Lady Diana, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, died, Gianni Versace was gunned down at his Miami villa, and an unprecedented number of people were abducted in the Philippines. This is the concentration of time in the film, but at the same time that period also becomes the present of the film, because the film forces us to live the past through our present day.

- In your last work, you shot a lot of night scenes. I appreciated the expressiveness of the image, the contrasts of light and shadow. It reminded me of the German Expressionist cinema.

Love Diaz. I adore this period, it became a very important source of inspiration for me.

- Why are you so attracted to him?

Love Diaz. You know, German expressionism was born immediately after the end of the First World War, at the time of the greatest creative freedom, which means that directors began to experiment. As absurd as it sounds, this period is somewhat reminiscent of the time when book illustrators in the Philippines began to create the first comics.

- So your film has become something of an offering to the old cinema?

Love Diaz. Yes, I love black and white and wanted to pay homage to the cinema of a different era, because I grew up on black and white films. This is an alternate world for me. My head is also black and white (with a laugh, he points to his hair).

- Did any photographers inspire you? I thought about Salgado's photos as I looked at the screen.

Love Diaz. Yes, Salgado. I love his work, but I was much more influenced by the German Expressionist cinema.

and Filipino comics. I worked as a photojournalist when I was young, so I know Salgado well. Photographers capture something authentic, somehow tell the truth, and I want to do the same in my film, I don't want to manipulate anything or anyone. For example, if I wanted to use you as my actress, I would just put you in the frame and give you complete freedom of gesture, movement, and expression. I might have kept the shot on your face, then on your feet, or on the movement of your arms. If you were made for television, you'd have a lot of glues to highlight the best in you, but in my movie, the main thing is momentary: one-shot. An actress should feel that she has freedom of expression, I don't want to manipulate her in any way, my motto is to be honest and not play the role.

- I don't want to talk about the length of your films, everyone is already talking about it. I would like to focus on the essence of your films. Every time I look at your picture, I feel empathy, I turn on. I immediately felt empathy for both of the characters in "The Woman who Left" - two women in search of freedom. Horatia was deprived of it for thirty years, Olanda is a victim of homophobic persecution. In your opinion, does freedom really exist or is it a utopia?

Love Diaz. Both yes and no. It can be a utopia, an academic concept, but it can also be something real, it all depends on you, on what you expect from life. Freedom can only remain an ideal, but it can become a reality. As for me... I continue to push forward aggressively, regardless of the public's reaction - this is my freedom.

- Can you single out another year in history that is as significant as 1997?

Love Diaz. It depends on individual experience. I realized that 1997 was a difficult year only when I began to study this time. I put the struggle of my heroes in that year and in that historical context. So

In the same way, I could use the year 2084 to imagine some other science-fiction story, such as one with aliens taking over Earth. The era in which you decide to place your characters, the story you have invented , is a matter of personal choice.

- The duration of your pictures is non-standard. Do you think that a very long film gives you freedom of expression in cinema?

Love Diaz. I am a free author who rejects everything that is imposed. The first decision I made as a director was to release my film. I want to use my own way of making a movie. It's very simple: if I want freedom, I must be both a free person and a free artist. At the same time, we should try to understand the requirements of the mass media with their conventions, although I reject them.

- You call yourself a freelance director. And in general, cinema is free at the international level?

Love Diaz. I think so. If it weren't for the festivals, my films wouldn't have been able to be seen. Festivals are the space that I have at my disposal: free venues where directors like me can show their work without particularly strict regulations and without the participation of large corporations, such as the giant monsters from Hollywood. But I must say that even at festivals there is a double reality, because large producers are pushing to conquer the territory. And I need to relate to this dual reality.

- How much can cinema be useful in understanding the life of a modern person, especially in the search for continuity of epochs, past and present, because these problems are almost the main ones in your work?

Love Diaz. My paintings are a journey for me, and I use them to understand not only life, but also cinema itself. I'm making a movie, and I'm trying to understand why I use the movie as a way of expressing myself. Movies are a powerful tool that can help you change your culture, mentality, and way of thinking

people. We, as directors, try to participate in festivals because they are a great dialectical space that helps us understand other cultures. We can still do a lot with the help of cinema, which - so far-has weight in society.

- Do you agree with the statement that the less money you have for a film, the more opportunities you have?

Love Diaz. I agree. I have my little camera, my two or three lenses, and that's enough for me. I don't want the power of money to limit me. While you're struggling to find the money to make a movie, the time to make it is already lost, because sometimes you have to wait years for the producers to respond. There are people who set a goal to get five million dollars for filming. I don't understand them. When I'm inspired, I pick up my camera and go for it. In this way, the film becomes more organic, more truthful and honest. For example, I spent seventy-five thousand dollars filming The Woman Who Left.

- This year you presented two of your films at two festivals: here in Venice, "The Woman who Left" and at the Berlinale "Lullaby to a sorrowful Mystery". How do you manage to be so prolific?

Love Diaz. In the Philippines, making movies is easy. I don't have much equipment, and the film crew consists of several people. I really work on my stories in very simple ways.

- How much time do you need to create a movie?

Love Diaz. The most difficult part is the preparation, that is, casting, choosing a character and creating a script that I always write myself. It is important for me not to work on a large project, but to have a film crew with whom I can freely cooperate. I usually get the actors together before we start shooting to discuss all the nuances of the upcoming film and decide together how we will develop what is laid out in the plan. When this stage ends, consider that the movie is already there.

- "The Woman who Left" and your other films can awaken your conscience. Do you think that other Filipino artists are trying to achieve this effect?

Love Diaz. Yes. In the Philippines, efforts are being made to create films that can educate people. This happens not only through movies, but also through radio and newspapers, but it is a long process. It's an uphill battle.

Based on site materials verocinema.com, www.linkinmovies.it

Translated from Italian by Tatiana Riccio

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