INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS CHANTAL THUY

Up and coming actress Chantal Thuy has been the talk of her hometown for sometime now; but after some stellar performances, in recent short films and on stage, New York, and the rest of the world, are starting to take notice. We recently met over tea to talk about her flourishing career.




Tamy: Hi Chantal, how does it feel to be back in Montreal this weekend?

Chantal Thuy: It feels great. I think Montreal will always be my home. You know I grew up here. This is where I got the acting bug and began training with some really great teachers at ASM (Actor’s Studio of Montreal). I will always be grateful to the theatre community here for giving me my break.

T: I remember watching you in Lysistrata. Even then I knew you were going far!

CT: (Laughs) I remember. That was such a long time ago! Was it in 2003 or 2004? And we did our first interview afterwards, didn’t we?

T: Yes. Even back then I knew your career would be worth following. So what's changed in the last 5 years?

CT: Well, nearly everything but some things stay the same. Back then, I was still struggling to figure out what I wanted from my life, I was an actress with lots of ambition and drive. Now, the hard work is paying off and I'm getting to work everyday
in my dream job. I feel very blessed. But some things haven't changed as well - I still love coming home to Montreal and being with my friends and family, going to the Tamtams on Mount Royal and Jazz fest every summer.

T: Well things have certainly changed! Your film was off to London in March and now you're doing a play that is going to Germany in December!

CT: I know, it’s all very exciting. Having work shown in Europe and America is wonderful, especially as London is such a global artistic center. It was a real honor to be accepted there. And I can't wait to got to Germany with the Galli Theatre.

T: In London you had the premier 'Of Anna and Dreams' of course, where you played legendary Asian American film star Anna May Wong. Tell us a little about the project.

CT: It was a film piece commissioned for the Chinatown Art Space in London, and has been shown all over the world. I got to work with O (Zhang - multi award winning artist), and she's amazing. I just found out it is going to the Hong Kong Art festival
in the spring of 2011. The project was a real labour of love. It's great to work with someone with such passion.

T: Apparently she delayed shooting till she found the correct Anna. It's like she was waiting for you. What a compliment.

CT: Yes, I actually auditioned for the part very late in the process, a few weeks before she began shooting because she had not found the right actress. I felt like I had a very good audition, but you never know with these things sometimes, so I was thrilled to get her phone call! I felt very lucky to have been chosen to portray Anna May Wong, it was a real privilege. She was an exceptional woman. So full of grace and generosity, but such a fighter. I love her spirit.

T: How do you prepare to play a character like that, especially one from a different era?

CT: I watched all her films and read all her letters. To begin with, I did a lot of research and then made it my job to be a keen observer of her speech patterns, mannerisms and persona. To really let her being sink into me. Once I felt I had enough information, I let all the homework go and I found her essence in my own heart. Then I could just let it all flow in the moment as we filmed. O (Zhang) asked me to reinterpret her, not just copy her; this allowed me to channel her soul whilst creating something fresh.

And it’s funny, because in the end, the era doesn't really make a difference. She faced the same struggle that is going on snow, though in a higher degree, but in different costumes. She was struggling to give the Asian American women a presence on the big screen, and we're still struggling right now. There's not many of us who are working regularly. I'm very lucky. Anna's story is still hugely relevant.

T: What do you think of people who say you're the new Anna May Wong?

CT: Haha, that’s flattering, but I couldn’t believe it--Anna is my idol! I would love to carve my path as she has, working in the United States, Canada and Europe. Being an international actress is the way of the future, especially as we are becoming more
and more in tune with other cultures and countries through the internet, as we know from your blog. But it's an honor to follow in her footsteps. And I'm having fun just finding my way in this new landscape of entertainment!

You can see Chantal as part of the Interpretations film competition giving another wonderful performance, in the piece “Penny Royal”. You can also catch her Off Broadway in New York City, playing the a female lead for the Galli Theatre in New York City before they leave for Germany in December. I hear she has many other exciting (undisclosed) film projects in the pipeline; and I know I'm not alone when I say that I can't wait to see a lot more of her.

How can you buy or sell the Earth?

In 1854, the United States Government offered to buy two million acres of Indian land in the Northwest. Below is a tranlation of Chief Sealth's (Seattle) reply to President Franklin Pierce in December of that year. It has been described as the most beautiful and prophetic statement on the environment ever made.

The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer.

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us... This we know: All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my people. We will live apart, and in peace. One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover - our God is the same God.

You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land: but you cannot. He is the God of man; and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator.

The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.

That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where in the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

So we will consider your offer to buy the land. If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from the earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as a newborne loves its mother's heartbeat.

So, if we sell our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And preserve it for your children, and love it...as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see.

Surf's up, New York

Extrait du Documentaire: Biosphere Demain c'est Maintenant

Wow. Je suis assise à mon bureau chez Sid Lee et je viens de visionner un extrait du documentaire Biosphère Demain C'est Maintenant, qui vient tout juste d'être publié sur Escapades.TV

Il y a quelque temps, j'étais partie en Afrique pour travailler comme reporter sur ce documentaire et je suis vraiment émue de voir les images qui ont été tournées.

C'est la première fois que je vois les images des entrevues que nous avons tournées et je suis vraiment fière du résultat.

La sortie officielle du documentaire aura lieu en Novembre 2010, mais d'ici là, voici de quoi vous mettre sous la dent!

Daniela Edburg

This makes me really happy

Found on the newly discovered and totally amazing Dujour Magazine website.

6 Milliards d'autres: à voir absolument

Cette semaine dans l'avion j'ai découvert le projet documentaire 6 Milliards d'Autres.

Réalisé par GoodPlanet.org, 6 Milliards d'Autres, ce sont des entrevues réalisées sur cinq ans dans plus d'une soixantaine de pays.

5000 hommes et femmes du monde entier répondent donc tous aux mêmes questions sur l'amour, sur leurs plus grandes épreuves, leurs rires, Dieu, la guerre, la vie, la mort...

Le résultat est un touchant montage d'images, simple, et chargé d'émotions, qui nous fait comprendre que nous sommes tous semblables dans nos différences.

Bref un merveilleux portrait de l'humanité du XXIe siècle.

J'ai particulièrement accroché sur cette vidéo, où tous ces inconnus, depuis leurs coins de pays, nous parlent de leurs peurs...



Et celui-ci, qui m'a fait pleurer...la question demandée: quelle a été l'épreuve la plus difficile de votre vie?



Le film Témoins du Climat est aussi à regarder. Il fut diffusé lors du Sommet de Copenhague en décembre 2009.



Tous les films et les différents thèmes abordées sont tous sur le Youtube de GoodPlanet.org et je vous promet, ça vaut vraiment le détour.

Why you should keep a journal

"If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up some place else" - Yogi Berra



This was written almost exactly 3 years ago. I remember the day and the place very clearly. It was at the house of my friend Chantal in Brossard.

In early 2007, I had just returned from Honduras where I was living for almost a year working as a reporter for the newspaper Honduras This Week. If I remember correctly, Chantal had just returned from a 6 month internship at a film festival in Hawaii.

It was a surprinsingly beautiful spring day and we sat together with our journals on the warm ciment of the backyard patio.

We both wrote down our dreams and goals, answering the same questions... What is your ultimate dream, what impact to you want to have on the world, what is your definition of success, where do you want to live. The list went on and on.

We talked, and we wrote, letting go of all fear, refusing to think that a dream can be too big.

And so I wrote..

"I want to produce and host my own documentary series around the world to bring different cultures and beliefs to the forefront and encourage greater acceptance of what is different".

Today is March 30, 2010.

I write this post as I wait for my girlfriend to come pick me up. I'm going to Africa.




Better, I am going to Africa to work as a reporter on the documentary film "Biosphere, Tomorrow is now", produced by Biosphere TV in partnership with UNESCO.

Tomorrow, I should be landing in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, then heading to Benin, where my two partners and I will meet the men and women who live in the National Park of Pendjari, which is part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

As you can imagine, I feel extremely blessed and grateful.

I will probably not have internet access during the next week, but I promise to keep you posted on my experience and on what I've learned. I will even film little "making-of" videos, which I will be posting sooner than later.


For now, the moral of the story, is:

1) write down your goals

2) work hard

3) work harder

4) enjoy every second


And keep your old journals....being able to go back and witness your own evolution is a precious little thing.

Love,

Tamy xox

Mucho logo

Logorama is the 2010 Academy Award Winner of the Short Film category.

It's 14 minutes of brilliant.

Take the time to watch, you will not regret it.

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

Congratulations to H5, the French animation collective who made this film.

I am surprised it was even possible, legally. Pretty sure McDonald wasn't too happy.

Then again.

I'm pretty sure the cows being fed corn and chicken manure aren't happy either.


♥

Paris, Je t'aime

Paris je t'aime - La Bastille
envoyé par Servietsky. - Les dernières bandes annonces en ligne.

Anonymous

Everywhere I go, there's people.
If I look at them, they look at my shoes.
I don't know what's going on.
I keep asking myself, do I have on really weird shoes?
are they abnormally beautiful? ugly?somehow alien?
It's not just one person who's interested in them.
it's almost everyone who sees me.
I go on the subway and look around.
I want to see someone like me. I want to see someone different than me.
i want to see someone and say something,
or just look or smile, or laugh.
I want to touch someone's hair.
I want to kiss their cheek and say hello.
maybe they would take my elbow and squeeze it lightly.
they might say they are happy to see me. just because: why not?
I am happy to see them but they want to look at my shoes.
I want to take off my shoes.
I do and then they don't look at me at all.

...

Graphic Poetry

Click on picture to make bigger









For more of this awesome stuff

http://www.graphicpoetry.net


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I've got life

Elevate Yourself

A book recommendation. One of my favorite pieces of literature. Had the chance to re-read it on vacation. It never gets old.

"Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it".

"All the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life...then the great song of a thousand voices consisted of one word: Om - perfection."

The author: Hermann Hesse, Nobel Prize winning novelist, poet and critic.

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Sorry as a National Sport

"We are a nation that loves to say sorry. Scratch that: We are a nation that loves to get off watching other people say they are sorry. From Tiger Woods to David Letterman to lusty politicians like Eliot Spitzer, 'apology voyeuring' has become our creepy national pastime" - GQ, Feb 2010



Articles like these is why I prefer GQ over most women's magazines. It really entertains me.

On the issue of apologizing, I can't help but notice how saying sorry has become men's morning pill. You get caught up in emotions and you fuck up...but hey! Those three words (and I don't mean I love you) will always be there to get ya out of trouble.

Now, there's nothing wrong with saying "I'm sorry", but as GQ points out, there's a right and a wrong way to fess up.

In the wrong category? Akon. This, is what I would consider a "lame" apology. Tip: When saying sorry, never let pride get in the way.



So dudes, hit the news stand and flip to page 40 for your very own modern man's guide to apologizing.

And girls, we're also quite good at screwing up...so get your read on. Plus, the mighty hot Johnny Depp, aka. my favorite man in the world, is bracing the cover....

Dear Life

The Healer

Many of you (mostly women) might have read the best selling book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

I've seen the book on the shelves for a few years now, knowing all my girlfriends were telling me to read it, but prefering to indulge in other readings...This month, knowing I was travelling to Morocco and Indonesia, I decided it was time for me to head to the bookstore and see what all the fuss was about. For those of you who havent heard about it, it's the story of a woman (Elizabeth, the author) who heads to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of who knows....a bit of happiness and mostly balance after a shitty divorce. The last chapter is dedicated to Bali, more specifically the town of Ubud, from where I am currently typing these words.

Only difference is I don't have a book deal, and I'm slightly tipsy at 9:15pm, live from one of the many cafes that are niched on the now famous Monkey Road.


Other detail of importance. I've been coughing like a bitch for two months. Before leaving to Morocco, my mom forced me to go to the hospital because my cough was seriously not normal. Every 30 seconds, I'm coughing. And so I headed to the only doctor opened on the South Shore of Montreal on Christmas Day. She concluded I had a bacterial infection and prescribed me some serious syrup, antibiotics and nose spray....which I took for 10 days during my travels in North Africa.

Nothing has changed. Still coughing and out of breath. (Meanwhile I quit smoking, it's been something like 15 days). Now I'm in Bali, with my bestfriend Caroline, and my dry ass cough.

Excuse my language, I'm at my second bottle of wine, and although I might re-read this post tomorrow when I'm fully there, in order to correct the many mistakes and cut out all the innapropriate parts that might make my future clients cringe...for now...this is what it is.

SOOOO....this is what I want to get to... In the book, Elizabeth (Liz), magically becomes best friends with two traditional healers, Ketut and Wayan....



And today, I dragged myself, and my cough, to see Wayan, a traditional healer, in the hopes that she may cure whatever is afflicting me. In the pictures you will see below, is my experience with Wayan, as she felt my energy field to measure my rates of vitamins, calcium, my digestive system, and yes, my general health. Lets not forget the palm reading, that was I must say, very accurate, apart from the part where she said:

"You, not smart, but you not stupid"

Oh, thanks Wayan, that makes sense. Not. Then there were parts such as the fact that I was really fragile after my birth (I did have meningitis, and almost died as a baby), and the weird revelation that I had been in two serious relationships in my life (one lasting a year and a half, and the other, two years). To this day, I've had two boyfriends, one of a year and a half, one of two years. She also said I was in my 7th reincarnation, that I would be married twice, and that 8 men would be madly in love with me, six of which I won't give a damn about....

My conclusion is that you have to take some and leave some, but overall it's been a very interesting encounter. Cutlurally speaking, it was an amazing experience....

And so I drank...all the magic potions, and the countless infusions of plants.













(yes...those are leaves in my va-g-g :|)









Yet, I'm still coughing.

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