Nothing compares to being acknowledged for your craft, and Filipino independent filmmaker Lavrente “Lav” Indico Diaz knows this better than anyone else.

An advocate of the slow cinema movement, he is known for his features such as Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution and Batang West Side, which evoke an overall feeling of languidness with their slow cutting rates, still camera movements and longer-than-the-ordinary shots.

In 2014, the filmmaker’s five-and-a-half-hour epic From What Is Before bagged the Golden Leopard (Best Picture) award at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. Nine years later, he dabbled in the scene again with Essential Truths of the Lake, starring John Lloyd Cruz. Its story revolves around the idea of justice, particularly of an investigator haunted by an unsolved case of a woman who disappeared years ago. Diaz’s When the Waves Are Gone also won the Special Jury Prize at the 53rd International Film Festival (IFF) of India in 2022.

Apart from movies, he is also into music. Diaz and colleagues Khavn de la Cruz and Roxlee formed the Brockas band. In 2022, their live scoring of de la Cruz’s silent film Pink Bomba Manifesto welcomed a large crowd at the Burning Tent in Jihlava, Czech Republic.