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| @eikomania.me x Anha S.L |
In the cinema industry, we can meet people who change our life and our vision of things. Even from a distance, we have heart ties due to the same passion and same values.
Emily Marie Palmer shares with us her dreams, her vision of women in film and her inspirations for the wonderful future.
(If you want to read this interview in French)
🌻
✨ Eikomania – Hello Emily ! We almost crossed at TIFF in Toronto in 2018. Can you introduce yourself for our readers ?
Hello Anha! Yes! My dear and very talented friend Sissi Kal connected us in 2018 when we were both headed to TIFF, and any friend of Sissi’s is a friend of mine! It’s unfortunate that the stars didn’t align for us to meet that year, but I hope that they will
someday soon.
Absolutely. I’m an actress, writer, songwriter, and human rights activist from the United States. I love history, mythology, religions, and folk stories and songs. I’m really deeply fascinated with life, and with people, and I think that played a significant role in drawing me to this art form. I also love nature, and all forms of movement… like hiking, dancing,and yoga.
On an ordinary day off, you’re most likely to find me outside in my garden, reading a book, or working on a creative (or human rights-related) project with a good podcast or audiobook playing in the background. :)
🎥 What is your favorite project that you realized as Filmmaker or Actress ?
In 2018, I wrote and starred in a WWII-era short film (Les Confinés). Despite the
constraints of an extremely small budget and our very limited resources, the process of
creating that film was so very positive and affirming.
I discovered through that endeavor that — although I am a perfectionist in some areas
of my life — I am not that way when it comes to filmmaking. It was such a wonderful
experience to bring my own vision to the table, and then to be able to step back and
watch the talented cast and crew fill in the gaps and bring it all to life more beautifully
than I could have forced, or willed, it to be. I felt so honored to be part of that act of
creation and collaboration.
I also made some beautiful lasting friendships on that little film, and the director —
Joey Ciccoline — is now my husband. All in all, it was a rather magical little experience
for me. :)
🌟 By the way, are you more Filmmaker or Actress ? What is your preference ?
I truly love both. At times, acting can be somewhat draining if I’m working on a project
that doesn’t have that spirit of collaboration and openness on set, or that doesn’t fully
align with my values.
In that respect, it is really empowering to write and produce my own work, and to be
able to really set the tone and influence the energy on set.
(Of course, I try to always
bring the most openness and the best energy I can to every project I take on —
regardless of whether I’m in front of, or behind, the camera.)
🌙 What is your favorite anecdote or best memories from a shoot ?
Ohh, that’s difficult. There are so many good memories!
I worked on an indie sci-fi feature a few years ago (Cryo). It was a small cast of only 5
actors, playing a team of people trapped in an underground bunker. I lived down there
underground throughout the few weeks of filming, and we all grew so close and had
such fun.
It felt almost like a strange and wonderful and chaotic sort of summer camp. The film was made on a shoe-string budget, and so the cast and crew were all there
because they had a passion for this work, and everyone brought so much creativity
and joy to the process. I had the best time on that project!
🍓 As a woman in the cinema industry, what do you think about the place of female artists ?
Throughout so much of human history, the voice and perspective of women has been
excluded, and in some cases, forcibly erased. And while, in my particular country and
culture, there has never been a better time to be a woman than today, I think we still
live with so many painful echoes and consequences of the violent patriarchal system
that has disadvantaged and devalued women for thousands of years.
I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to be “good enough”. I think I subconsciously
feel as if I need to prove myself, or to earn my right to be here, to create, to tell stories
that matter to me, to prove to the world — or perhaps just to myself — that I am worthy
of being heard. It’s a daily practice for me to remind myself that it is enough just to be
here. Just to create. Just to speak.
I think a lot about my immense privileges. I think of all of the brilliant and talented
women who have come before me, whose voices were silenced and whose stories we
will never be able to hear. I carry the thought of them with me and try to hold them in
my heart throughout every project I do.
That’s what I think about the place of female artists. We have been missing from the
conversation for such a very long time. It is enough just to be here.
⚡️ The #MeToo Movement has changed something in the USA ? In despite of #BalanceTonPorc in France, it's still complicated for women to advocate their rights, their art and their regards... There is still a lot of work to do...
Absolutely, I think it’s similar here. I do think the #METOO movement has had an
immense impact on public perception and awareness, and I think it has also
demonstrated that some amount of justice is possible — even in cases where the
abuser seems invincible, like Harvey Weinstein. Although there is still a lot of work to
do that does give me hope, and hope matters.
✈️ How can we do to move on and see the future for women, artist and the planet too ? The ecology problem is really important today.
Kurt Vonnegut said something about the role of artists that has always stayed with me:
“ I sometimes wondered what the
use of any of the arts was.
The best thing I could
come up with
was what I call the canary
in the coal mine theory of the arts.
This theory
says that artists are useful to society
because they are so sensitive.
They are supersensitive.
They keel over like canaries in poison coal mines
long before more robust
types realize
that there is any danger whatsoever… artists
— all artists — should be
treasured as alarm systems.”
🤍 Speaking of dreams... What is your biggest dream ever ?
My biggest dream ever is for there to be equality, freedom, and for individual human
rights to be respected and protected in every society on our planet. When people are
treated with dignity and kindness, it creates a beautiful ripple effect.
🍿 If you had a possibility to have a main role, what is the movie or the serie in which you would have liked to play or do the sequel / the reboot ?
🐝 Who would you like to share a movie with ?
🦸♀️ The Heroes are really important in our lives. And what is your ?
I have many heroes, so this is really difficult. But here are a few women throughout
history that I really admire:
Joan of Arc.
Harriet Jacobs.
Clara Barton.
Emily Dickinson.
Nellie Bly.
Malala Yousafzai.
💤 I'm talking really often of the "American Dream", but if you come in France, what is your "French Dream" ?
Ahh, I do have French dreams! My husband, Joey, and I are actually working on
obtaining our Italian citizenship, and once we are members of the EU, we have dreams
of living somewhere in France, with a little cottage where we can raise a family, and
host gatherings of friends and fellow artists. :)
✏️ What are your projects at the end of this pandemic ?
I have a few things in the works currently. I’m most excited about a screenplay I’m
working on. It’s a 19th-century thriller that follows a small, isolated group of emigrants
going West on the Oregon Trail.
☘️ A positive words for the Readers ?
“If you send out goodness from yourself,
or if you share that which is happy or good
within you,
it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times.
In the kingdom of
love there is no competition;
there is no possessiveness or control.
The more love you
give away,
the more love you will have.”
I think this is such a valuable thing to remember in all areas of our lives — including in
our art.
🍰 Thank you so much, I wish you the best !
🎬
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