Profiles: Diana Pérez | Proimágenes Colombia

Diana Pérez Mejía is from Bogota, with roots in the province of Santander. At the age of 12, she began to study acting and to participate in the plays put on at her church and at the Julio Cesar Luna Theater Foundation, where she studied for more than five years. She continued acting until graduating from college, when she traded in her role as an actress for that of producer.
 
She graduated with honors with a Film and Television degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, which earned her a spot on the production team of Ciro Guerra's The Wind Journeys.

While in college, she met director Iván D. Gaona and began to work with him to make independent film with his company La Banda del Carro Rojo. This short film production house and distributor has made films that have had a major presence at international festivals, such as Los Retratos, which has already screened at around 90 festivals, and El Tiple, Completo, and Outsider, each of which have screened at more than 30 festivals. Following the release of their feature film debut Guilty Men (2016), they are now preparing for the 2017 release of their short film Volver and their second feature Güepside Stories, a saga bringing together their earlier shorts.
 
“Santander province was what brought us together and led us to think about founding a company together,” said Pérez. “I come from a family of tough Santander matriarchs, and that undoubtedly marked my childhood and my experiences growing up. Then I met Iván, who also had strong feelings about Santander. Our roots and our hearts were calling both of us to that land. That’s what has kept us going, in spite of any disagreements or difficulties. All our sacrifices are for our shared goals, and for what at some point this will become.”  

She´s Specialist in Arts Education and Honory Degree of the Film and TV School from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Selected for Berlinale Talents 2014, Rotterdam Lab 2015 and Cannes Producers Workshop 2014.

Producer and Actors Coach of the feature film Pariente preselected for Colombia for the Oscars 2018, Winner of 9 Colombian Academy Awards, amongst them Best Film in 2017, selected in Venice Days, Toronto and other 15 festivals. 
 
Their experience in producing the shorts and touring the international festival circuit made it possible for them to complete their first feature film, Guilty Men. “With these shorts, we were able to show the quality of our productions, each one of us with our own role. This same production quality was what had earned us a place at the most important festivals in the world.” It also won them the FDC First Film Production award for Director and Producer, handed out for the first time in 2014. “What the jury saw as the most positive aspect was the experience that Iván and I had had as a Director-Producer team over the years.”

Pérez’s acting training also helped her work with the director in preparing the non-professional actors who starred in their first feature film. These included peasants, drivers, cashiers, and even elderly people who have been “expelled from the labor market,” but who are endless sources of stories.

Finally, asked about the decision to make Guilty Men as a Western, Diana responded that it is part of an effort to fill a gap they have perceived in Colombian film. “There’s a kind of division between festival films and movies for the public. It may have been risky, but we did an experiment that allowed us to reach a middle ground: a movie that was screened at some festivals, but that could easily be enjoyed by the public.”

Last updated: October 2021.