Kristen Gerweck Diaz

Most people choose (relatively) comfortable and safe topics for their first films. A bank robbery over here, a meet cute over there. My guest, Kristen Gerweck Diaz has chosen Ramadi, Iraq, a phone booth on an ocean cliffside, and her newest, MILK BABY (2025), about a woman’s entry into a maternity home and the sheer enormity of breastfeeding. These are not what you’d call easy topics. But for this lawyer turned filmmaker, she’d never sign up for the easy path, anyway.

In this episode, Kristen and I discuss:

• How people encounter the film based on their familial status and whether their reaction surprises her; 
• The best way to expand stories that are specific to a certain audience and making them universally appealing;
• What her legal degree from UCLA brings to her filmmaking;
• How she sets herself apart with challenging short filmmaking and running a set while keeping everyone involved and valued;
• AI in short filmmaking;
• How she’s not on social media and what that means for her films and the people she casts — can actors afford to be off social media, too?;
• What’s next for her.

Kristen’s Indie Film Highlight: OPEN YOUR EYES (1997) dir. by Alejandro Amenabar

Memorable Quotes:

“ I could always get a B on an exam even if I didn't go to class and didn't memorize all the law. Because 80% of the analysis is your storytelling and your creative thinking.”

“ Do what people are telling you is not possible because it always is.” 

“ [AI] is like the internet, it's not going away, right? It's here to stay and it's gonna advance. And so how can I use it? But in the way that I wanna tell stories that do not compromise.”

“True wealth is the amount of time I can spend offline.”

Links:

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