Diane Lisa Johnson
Diane Lisa Johnson
Writer-Director-Producer Diane Lisa Johnson is pleased to present SWIMMING, her award-winning Masters Thesis film from the University of Southern California . SWIMMING has screened at more than 25 festivals around the world and has won 15 Awards and Honors including: The Ida Lupino Honorable Mention for Directing from the Directors Guild of America’s Student Film Awards, the Audience Award from USC’s “First Look” Industry Showcase, and the top award from the San Francisco Frozen Film Festival where SWIMMING was in competition for “Best Short Film” but took home the grand prize for “Best Film” — beating out all of the feature films entered in the festival. SWIMMING is the recipient of generous grants from the Irving Lerner Endowment fund and the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors Foundation.
Prior to receiving her M.F.A from USC, the multi-talented Ms. Johnson enjoyed a successful career in Silicon Valley as a Senior Financial Analyst where she held back-to-back overseas assignments in Japan and The Netherlands installing finance systems for Applied Materials, the leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer. Ms Johnson has also worked as a finance consultant in Los Angeles to many top tier entertainment companies including : Fox, ABC, and Disney
Ms. Johnson is a graduate of The Loomis Chaffee School, holds a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University’s top ranked Tepper School of Business, and went on to study filmmaking at New York University and screenwriting at Stanford University’s Continuing Studies program before receiving her M.F.A in Cinema-Television production from the University of Southern California’s renowned School of Cinematic Arts. Ms. Johnson lives in Los Angeles where she is currently in development on the feature length version of SWIMMING
Official GIFF Selection: SWIMMING
