Diane Bell

Diane Bell achieved a rare feat with her feature film debut by taking on the universal subject of human extinction and turning it into a beautiful and poignant work of art. The first-time writer and director impressed critics and the indie cinema community with "Obselidia" (2010), a sharp and warmhearted tale about three eccentric characters - a lethargic encyclopedia salesman, a manic cinema-projectionist, and a reclusive scientist - all faced with the question: What happens when we lose everything, even the ability to love? Using witty dialogue, stunning imagery, and her natural ability to draw out emotional performances from her cast, Bell delivered a soft-spoken and significant story, while simultaneously entrenching herself for a long and fruitful career in the filmmaking industry. Scotland-born Diane Bell lived in Japan, Australia and Germany prior to earning her masters degree in mental philosophy from Edinburgh University. It was while a student at Edinburgh that Bell discovered her love for film. She joined the university theater group and frequented Edinburgh's art-house cinemas, which introduced her to the classic works of Yasujiro Ozu and Andrey Tarkovskiy. Bell moved from Barcelona, Spain to Los Angeles soon after she sold her first screenplay in 2006. She worked with several filmmakers, including "Die Hard" (1988) director John McTiernan, before writing and directing her 2010 feature film debut, "Obselidia." The film followed the journey of a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman named George who writes a comprehensive list of obsolete things. His ever-growing compilation includes, amongst other things, the idea of love. To play the lead role, Bell cast her husband Michael Piccirilli, an actor whom she had met in Los Angeles. George befriends a silent film projectionist (Gaynor Howe) and the two travel to California's Death Valley region, where they meet Lewis (Frank Hoyt Taylor), a scientist who tells them the world will end in the year 2100 due to climate change. With "Obselidia," Bell tackled themes of love, destiny and nostalgia which several critics called charming and profound. It premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Excellence in Cinematography award and the Alfred P. Sloan prize. The film also earned Bell nominations for the John Cassavetes Award and Best First Screenplay at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards.