Cayle Chernin Blog March 13th 2007Cayle talks about Cinema The Lucky Laptop: Seek and ye shall find…manifest…what you think is what you are…shush: The Secret. So I put it out there, my laptop neediness, and got lots of lovely responses..website links to used LP’s, address’ of possible contacts for oldies but goodies, adverts for freebies and best of all, my old ( as of many years) friend Art Hindle, (we go back to Eli Rill’s Acting Studio above Le Strip on Yonge Street, where other class members included John Candy, Michael Hollingworth, Susan Petrie, Dereck and Doug McGrath, Jayne Eastwood, in fact the almost entire cast of Goin’ Down The Road, just about everybody went through those classes, as we sucked up the New York Method by osmosis and Eli’s long talks well into the night, improv following improv,) Art came through with an old Compaq Presario that he had used on location, and that was now retired from action, only to be resuscitated by Yours Truly with the expertise of best friend, Jason J Brown.. It lacks battery, needs to be plugged in, and even with the efforts of the brilliant Jason, it will probably remain plugged in in front of the fireplace, so that I can blog to heart’s content, disc and transfer to my Main Man, Desk Top, in order to go out to Matthew for my blog. So it works! That indeed is what we learned from Eli, “whatever works” - now some would say, why don’t you just make enough money to buy the real deal but for me this is a much more satisfying way. My old pal comes through for me, I learn a lot in two trips to Factory Indirect to finish an external mouse and router which will probably not get used until I replace ‘Lucky’…that’s her name. Art dubbed her: “Hopefully, it will be a great year for all of us and you will buy a new laptop and pass it on...it will become the Lucky laptop”. Lucky has come to live with me and since having Lucky, I have started a few blog entries, but I will consolidate. International Women’s Day took me on an internet search into the work of Montreal film maker Lea Pool, whose name I knew but not much else. On Playback Daily, Quebec female film makers/director say they are not getting their share of the investment monies to make their movies and quotes Lea Pool: "The female imagination is different. Perhaps the writing is different. And our ideas about what movies are supposed to be like have largely been developed by men," she says. "Broadcasters and distributors are concerned with how they can market the film, and if they don't like your idea and get onside, you can't get money." Playback continues: For the most part, cinema in Quebec during the 1980s was not created in reaction to the films of the previous generation; rather, it was defined by filmmakers' individual styles… involved in the various stages of the creation of their works; they served as screenwriters, directors, and even producers. Budgets were limited … a do-it-yourself approach. At the same time, an artistic and commercial infrastructure began to emerge. It was the rise of "institutional" filmmaking, one that was regulated and highly standardized. It was also the time of "cost-effective" filmmaking, with multiple levels of players, where personal documentaries became somewhat marginalized”. Hum, sounds familiar, maybe we really are finally following in the footsteps of our Quebequois Brother and Sister film makers, the successful paradigm, only to discover that we women folk are still ‘marginalized’ because of our interests or way of looking at life. This in spite of being the largest segment of the population. Somewhere else this week I heard the term: “learned helplessness” – it is what artists as well as women frequently suffer with. Playback: “Léa Pool does not make "popular" films; her work has often been labeled "women's cinema" or "feminist films." She rejects the "purist" feminist ideology of the 1970s, of the male-female relationship game, preferring a more intimate and non-traditional feminine approach. She sought equal rights in her creation. Standing against stereotypes and looking to individuality, a poetic daily cinema, Léa Pool brings a breath of fresh air to Quebec filmmaking. Her characters inhabit a sweeping, timeless universe; and her on-screen images reflecting the relevance of her vision”. The personal is the politic! The old chant of early feminism. I (also received the following from friend Susan Oppenheim to commemorate the day: Thank a Feminist - Author unknown If you're female and... • you can vote, thank a feminist. • you get paid as much as men doing the same job, thank a feminist. • you went to college instead of being expected to quit after high school so your brothers could go because "You'll just get married anyway", thank a feminist. • you can apply for any job, not just "women's work", thank a feminist. • you can get or give birth control information without going to jail, thank a feminist. • your doctor, lawyer, pastor judge or legislator is a woman, thank a feminist. • you play an organized sport, thank a feminist. • you can wear slacks without being excommunicated from your church or run out of town, thank a feminist. • your boss isn't allowed to pressure you to sleep with him, thank a feminist. • you get raped and the trial isn't about your hemline or your previous boyfriends, thank a feminist. • you start a small business and can get a loan using only your name and credit history, thank a feminist. • you are on trial and are allowed to testify in your own defense, thank a feminist. • you have the right to your own salary even if you are married or have a male relative, thank a feminist. • you get custody of your children following divorce or separation, thank a feminist. • you get a voice in the raising and care of your children instead of them being completely controlled by the husband/father, thank a feminist. • your husband beats you and it is illegal and the police stop him instead of lecturing you on better wifely behavior, thank a feminist. • you are granted a degree after attending college instead of a certificate of completion, thank a feminist. • you can breastfeed your baby discreetly in a public place and not be arrested, thank a feminist. • you marry and your civil human rights do not disappear into your husband's rights, thank a feminist. • you have the right to refuse sex with a diseased husband [or just "husband"], thank a feminist. • you have the right to keep your medical records confidential from the men in your family, thank a feminist. • you have the right to read the books you want, thank a feminist. • you can testify in court about crimes or wrongs your husband has committed, thank a feminist. • you can choose to be a mother or not a mother in your own time not at the dictates of a husband or rapist, thank a feminist. • you can look forward to a lifespan of 80 years instead of dying in your 20s from unlimited childbirth, thank a feminist. • you can see yourself as a full, adult human being instead of a minor who needs to be controlled by a man, thank a feminist. I think this creates an important perspective – lest we forget - and so I include it here and pass it on..my first experience with organized feminism was a consciousness raising group I organized at Eli’s Studio – yes above le Strip and we invited Margaret Atwood to speak to us..her advice: Economic independence is the ticket. Well okay. Good point. I guess it always does come back to earning your keep. Since I grew up within an enclave of immigrants in a small Maritime community, I always thought you got clothes from cousins especially those exciting packages of used clothing from cousin Joicey in New York, doctoring from the famous Gaums of Whitney Pier, or stayed by this Aunt or that, and the truth is, I thought toilet paper grew in the basement where Daddy stacked up the supplies.. this became an issue when I finally lived on my own for the first time at 19, in a room on Spadina Ave, where I had to jump over a puddle to get into my doorway, and that was inside the building, which no longer exists..replaced by a pub. Not unlike living the free-lance life, the actors’ life of being self-employed, a bit of an oxymoron, actor/selfemployed? but we Canadian actors are very entrepreneurial and manage to create our luck, right Lucky! Off to find some Lea Pool movies, hungry to see her latest: ‘The Blue Butterfly’. Playback: “With a film like The Blue Butterfly, the commercial risk is greater. Only the future will tell whether going this route will be economically viable” There it is again- economically viable. Out sourcing is economically viable – the position the World is in today with the King with no memory on the throne of Rome and the King with hidden agenda on the Northern throne..etc..as in the best and worst of times..we are indeed in the midst of a Dickensian reality show and actors are competing with ‘real people’ and their abuses of truth and over-ampted for the camera ‘expressions of seeming feelingness’. No wonder, they tell us: “don’t act” - be “real” – well Strasberg said acting is not about being natural, it is about “naturalism” – a heightened reality that explores and comments on the natural..takes it to another level. As actors we strive to find the way to that gesture, that action, that reading that illuminates the truth, that struggles to expose: yes, Brecht said “the art of the actor is to expose life”..just doing a what comes naturally doesn’t cut it…BOR..ing! And just to underline, saw Soheil Parsa’s brilliant and fascinating and inspiring, exciting, thrilling theatrical production of: The Sheep and The Whale – the desperation of refugees fleeing terror and suffering the lack of humanity encountered in this Strait of Gibraltar scenario which was for me another example of cinematic theatre, that reminds me of some of the early work of Hrant Aleinak when I was excited by seeing a movie unfold on stage.. Lucky, signing off for now.
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