Diana Di Battista

Bio

Diana strongly believes in connecting people across class, geography, and language differences in order to build movements and drive social change. She worked for seven years in the field of international grantmaking focusing on women's rights, getting money into the hands of women activists in 160 countries around the world. She has also worked on freelance media projects promoting social justice. Diana earned a B.A. in International Development at University of California at Berkeley, focusing on the intersection of human rights law and environmental policy, and is fluent in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and conversant in French. She lived for two years in Santiago, Chile, and has also traveled extensively throughout Brazil, learning and practicing various forms of folk music and dance.

Video Projects

Seacology Environmental Award Profile - Gina Lopez

Video produced by the organization Seacology, upon awarding Gina Lopez, environmental activist from the Philippines, their 2017 annual prize.
Watch on Facebook here.
Over 700,000 views

"As secretary of the Philippines Environment Department (DENR), Gina Lopez established the first-ever forums for consultations between the DENR and indigenous groups, and shut down illegal fish pens in the country’s largest lake. But her strongest actions were directed squarely at mining operations, especially heavily polluting nickel mines. In 2016, she banned open-pit mines and moved to shut down more than half of the operations of the country’s mining companies." She was met with fierce opposition from other government officials and private industry, and was removed from her post in the government, but continues to work tirelessly with grassroots groups to protect the environment.

Role: I did the voiceover for this video and contributed to the script, delivering the tone and expression required by the director to convey the message of the piece.

Nicaraguan short film - Juan Grillo

This film, originally produced in 1986 in Nicaragua, beautifully uses folkloric paintings, dance, and music to tell a mythical story of a young boy as a metaphor for the Nicaraguan revolution. Due to the armed conflict, the director moved to the U.S. soon after making the film and was not able to distribute it. In 2015, almost 30 years later, the film was finally digitized, remastered and brought back to Nicaragua by the filmmaker for a series of community screenings and educational distribution.

Trailer and Updates:
Juan Grillo Website
Juan Grillo Facebook page

Role: I worked with the director on marketing and outreach for the re-release: writing the synopsis for the DVD cover, the Director's Bio and Statement, translating from Spanish to English for subtitles, as well as creating an online presence for the film and managing its social media in preparation for its July-August 2015 community screenings in Nicaragua.

Immigrant mental health - Gladys

Produced in collaboration with the Instituto Familiar de la Raza in San Francisco, "Gladys" is a fictionalized narrative based on the true story of one of the clients in the Instituto's Latino mental health clinic.

This video was the winner of Art with Impact's video contest, and as a result, was regularly screened at that organization's mental health outreach events throughout California in 2014 and 2015 in order to promote discussion about mental health.

Role: I wrote, co-produced, and co-edited the film

Impact: Here is what students said they learned after watching this short film Gladys at mental health campus screenings in 2015:

"Reaching out can be scary, but worth it."
"That I'm not alone."
"A LOT of people don't understand mental conditions and the severity."
"That if I ask for help I'll get it."

Press about one of the screenings:
http://www.redding.com/news/education/mental-health-workshop-at-shasta-college-addresses-selfstigma_45579745

World March of Women

This video I produced in São Paulo, Brazil promotes the activities of the World March of Women, an international grassroots network of women that coordinates public demonstrations in over 50 countries. These women took to the streets to send a unified message denouncing the gender discrimination, violence against women, and militarization affecting their communities.

Role: I co-produced and edited source material that included over 3,000 photos, graphics, and videos captured by the local women who organized the public actions. I also edited the Spanish version and French version

Impact: It was screened at the Board Meeting of World March of Women in Indonesia and shared widely with global their network of members, promoting cohesion and pride in the movement's accomplishments.

Violeta

This is a powerful animated story of one woman's struggle to find justice for her disappeared daughters in the context of the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia.

The original was produced in Colombia by CEDHUL (Centro de Derechos Humanos y Litigio Internacional) [Center for Human Rights and International Litigation]. Original Spanish version here.

Role: I translated the script from Spanish to English, recorded the voiceover, created the English titles, and edited the final English version.

Impact: CEDHUL was finally able to screen the film to an English-speaking audience when it was invited to the United States to give a fundraising presentation, enabling it to raise funds and awareness.

Zapatista Women's Conference

A digital story on my trip to the Tzeltal jungle in Chiapas Mexico for the first Zapatista Women's conference, a rich cultural and political exchange.

While working at Global Fund for Women (GFW), I served as a translator for an amazing international delegation of women's leaders to Chiapas, organized by La Via Campesina, and this video offers a glimpse at my personal experience attending the event.

The project was the result of a collaboration with the Center for Digital Storytelling, which provided technical support. My objective was to tell a personal, accessible digital story in under 3 minutes.

Role: I wrote, narrated, and edited the video.

Impact: It was a rare opportunity for GFW to have a staff-produced video report showing the impact of a grant in its Latin American portfolio. La Via Campesina also benefitted from this video documention on the historic event attended by their delegation.