Born in the Philippines in 1958, Lav Diaz made his directorial debut in the late 1990s, quickly establishing himself as one of the most radical and innovative filmmakers of today. Among the numerous international recognitions he received throughout the years are Locarno Film Festival’s Golden Leopard (2014), Berlinale’s Alfred Bauer Prize (2016) and Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion (2016). He was also a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship (2010), of the Prince Claus Award (2014) and of the Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University (2016-2017). Famous for his black-and-white, long-take aesthetics, over the past three decades Diaz has been using the cinema medium to relentlessly investigate the impact of the 1521-1898 Spanish colonization, of the 1898-1946 American rule, of the 1942-1945 Japanese occupation, of Ferdinand Marcos’s 1972-1986 dictatorship and of Rodrigo Duterte’s ongoing War on Drugs on the Filipino body politic and psyche.
 
" An entertaining, informative précis of what Lav is all about."
 - CINEASTE MAGAZINE, New York
 
"The indispensable resource here is the Italian film critic Michael Guarneri’s recently published Conversations with Lav Diaz, a dialogue between two friends sustained over the past decade."
- NEW LEFT REVIEW, London
 
 
"If there is anything that Michael Guarneri proves in his Conversations with Lav Diaz, it's this: that the creation is inseparable from the auteur. In the book, [Diaz] is present to offer his vision of the state of society for which every film is created. Each interview contributes enormously to generating meaning and contextualizing and fleshing out subtexts."
- PELIKULA, Manila
 
 
"The interviews collected in Conversations with Lav Diaz provide an in-depth, comprehensive overview of the Filipino filmmaker's oeuvre. The portrait of Diaz that emerges from the book is enriched by a great number of details that contribute to a more profound understanding of his poetics."
- LO SPECCHIO SCURO, Florence