Dianne Griffin is an award-winning international filmmaker for over thirty years based in San Francisco, California. Dianne’s documentary work is a doorway into how she looks at the world which has been deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism and a recovery practice. Her films have screened at film festivals worldwide, broadcast on PBS and stream through the educational service Kanopy. Her current documentary, The Creative High (2021), features nine artists in recovery from addiction has screened at films festivals internationally. The documentary has received numerous awards including the Jury Prize for Excellence in American Profiles from San Francisco Indie Fest and Best Documentary for Women in Film at the Austin Indie Fest. Dianne’s documentary Painted Nails (2016), follows a Vietnamese salon owner’s life-changing journey, premiering to standing ovations and sold-out screenings. Traveling the world, she has created documentaries for organizations such as the United Nations, including the documentary White Hotel (2001), shot in Eritrea, East Africa which premiered at MOMA New York and the Lincoln Center. Actively involved in the documentary community, Dianne teaches filmmaking including crowd-funding and social media marketing. She has juried the United Nations Association Film Festival at Stanford University for over 25 years having watched thousands of films in the process. Dianne draws inspiration from the people around her, creating intimate connections and telling stories of dignity, suffering and compassion, which move us to act. www.diannegriffin.com

 But I accept that the camera transforms things. It transforms the filmmaker and transforms the person that is in front of the camera. For me, it is always to try to find the language of cinema with the authority of documentary — to find the splendor of reality that is in front of you. says director Gianfranco Rosi