Lisa Cole Profile
Interview by Marian D. Cook
Lisa Cole's latest short film, Bienvenidos a Los Angeles, stands as a prime example of Lisa’s commitment to narratives of empowerment and the resilience inherent in the female experience. Shortlisted for the 2024 Academy Awards in the Live Action Short Film category, it’s based on a true story that follows the actions and unlikely friendship of a Nigerian woman and Latina woman who team up to save the latter’s son from deportation at LAX.
To understand Lisa’s approach to filmmaking, you’ll find her journey starts with an incredible three-year odyssey of 201 host families across 12 countries, an experience that ignited her passion for celebrating cultural diversity and sharing untold stories. Recalling her travels, Lisa said, “As a young person, traveling really opens your eyes to the world and taught me how we should celebrate our differences while recognizing our shared basic needs and wants. It instilled in me a sense of lifelong learning and curiosity about cultures in the world. And since then, I've been drawn to diverse stories and cultures in my writing, long before diversity became a buzzword. But those stories are still sometimes hard to put forward, as much as companies and people say they're looking for it now.”
Lisa Cole (r) talking with actress Destiny Faith Nelson (l)
In reflecting on her own work and interests, Lisa recognizes that there’s a central theme of neglect, with a particular focus on women and children, but it’s not to fuel a consumerism of trauma media, rather an exploration of how individuals navigate relationships and complexities, but always ending with a note of hope and redemption.
Lisa explained, “How do I find stories? Well it goes back to the responsibility part. Sometimes people ask me if I'm a journalist because my approach to storytelling is very journalistic and I view my responsibility as a writer like a cultural anthropologist would, but I didn't study that, it’s just ingrained in me because of my travels. And so I really have no problem going in and embedding myself in a different world—it's not always easy, but I love it—and learning about it.”
Discussing the success of Bienvenidos a Los Angeles—which now includes Lisa being signed by Ouat Media, the renowned Toronto-based short film sales company acclaimed for representing three Oscar winners and 12 nominees—Lisa highlighted the challenges and rewards of production. Made during the COVID-19 pandemic and the first film to shoot at LAX since lockdown, it was a tough journey, but nevertheless rewarding as its reaped significant recognition, traveling to over 60 film festivals worldwide and garnering over 20 awards.
Lisa Cole at the 2019 Stowe Narrative Lab as the Final Draft Fellow
“It took me five months to finesse those relationships to be able to film at LAX, just constant meetings, phone calls, emails, visiting. And then when we wrapped, three days later, two of my key producers came down with COVID…But everyone had such heart in the film, and I think it’s because it's a subject matter of immigration, and so many have immigration narratives in their own families. I've even had Academy members reach out and say how much they enjoyed the film. So, it's been really satisfying to know that and gives me hope for the future,” Lisa said.
She’s grateful for the feedback, but above all, she’s grateful to her former babysitter, Elizabeth, for allowing her to tell their story—that’s right, the character of Imani is fictional, but her actions were those of Lisa.
Still from Bienvenidos a Los Angeles
Lisa recounted, “My former babysitter was going to reunite with her young son, Chris, who was an American citizen, after they'd been separated for almost five years. So she arranged for him to come from Mexico, but she was concerned about going to the airport herself to pick him up since she didn’t have papers. So I went to LAX to pick him up. But he got detained by immigration, and Bienvenidos a Los Angeles is the story of what happened that night.” Lisa continued, “I didn't want this to be my story or tell it through my POV, that felt wrong, so I worked with a South Asian immigration attorney for about a year who shared stories of former clients and things that they've gone through. And the thing that struck me the most is how you can do everything right, but one simple little mistake will jeopardize your entire path to citizenship.”
Reflecting on the role of festivals and filmmaker programs—which have been instrumental in getting the word out about Bienvenidos a Los Angeles—Lisa stresses the value of fostering community, which is why she’s a board member of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and an active Stowe Story Labs alum. But she also wants to see more innovative approaches to the unique and ever-evolving challenges of the film industry, like exclusivity, oversaturation, and the rise of AI; and more direct connections between filmmakers, audiences, and financiers.
But for Lisa, it boils down to motivation and passion if you want to be heard: “In a larger sense, I feel like it's still all about your individual hustle. And that will never not be the case.”
Interview by Marian D. Cook
Marian D. Cook is a former journalist, a 2023 graduate of USC's MFA program in film and TV production, and a former Stowe Story Labs Academic Intern and then Marketing and Operations team member. She graduated from Spring Hill College in 2019, Summa Cum Laude and with honors, with a BA in Journalism.
She's currently focused her talents on producing and editing strong, female-led stories and those that uplift her Latinx community. Her latest projects include Bad Hombrewood, a short documentary she produced and was directed by Guillermo Casarin, about Latinx representation in Hollywood, starring Phil Lord, Guillermo Del Toro, Lee Unkrich, Melissa Fumero, and a range of Latinx talent that demonstrate the beauty and diversity of the Latinx community, that won Best Student Documentary at the American Pavilion at the 2022 Cannes International Film Festival, was nominated for the 42nd College Television Awards, and has been selected for over 40 official film festivals across the globe including Santa Barbara and the Cleveland International Film Festival. She also produced Backlog, directed by Jacqueline E. Rosenthal and based on a true story, about one woman's story to end the national rape kit backlog, which was a Best Student Short Audience Award Winner at the Cleveland International Film Festival and was also an official selection of the American Pavilion's Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Marian also just finished editing Renacer, directed by Jenniffer Gonzalez, about a Latina's journey post-abortion, which was a recipient of the The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's AI2 Reproductive Rights Accelerator Award. Currently, she is editing Ximena Davis' Eclipse Chasers. You can learn more here.