Long immersed in the world of fashion, Italian director Lisa Immordino Vreeland adapted her book “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel” into her first documentary. It won the Silver Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival. (Tribeca Film Festival)

“Peggy Guggenheim — Art Addict” will premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival on April 20.

W&H: Please give us your description of the film playing.

LIV: “Peggy Guggenheim — Art Addict” is a portrait of a patron of the arts extraordinaire who transformed a modest fortune into one of the premiere collections of twentieth-century modern art. The film offers a rare look into Guggenheim’s world: blending the abstract, the colorful, the surreal and the salacious, to portray a life that was as complex and unpredictable as the artwork Peggy revered and the artists she pushed forward.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

LIV: I am drawn to characters who choose to redefine their lives. Peggy Guggenheim was not a conventional beauty: She rebelled against her society upbringing and decided to surround herself with the most revolutionary artists of the twentieth century.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

LIV: The most challenging thing about this film was the vast amount of material we had at our disposal. I was spoiled by the access we had to incredible archives and footage. There was so much that happened in Peggy’s life before we even got to what she actually accomplished. We had to tell a very dense story about her childhood, her father dying on the Titanic, her beloved sister dying — the tragic events that fundamentally shaped her. The amount of material to distill was a tremendous challenge, and I hope we made the right choices.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theatre?

LIV: Her courage, her strength and her ability to believe in underdogs. These artists were not mainstream, yet she had the vision to believe in them and create a new place in history for them and for herself.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

LIV: To stick to your vision and tell the story that you want to tell.

W&H: What’s the biggest misconception about you and your work?

W&H: That I only like to make films about women! I am more intrigued about characters who really want to reshape themselves.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

LIV: Privately funded and presales.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

LIV: Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.” She takes on subjects matters that women typically do not take on.