WEIRDO

Yes I admit it I am a weirdo. I thought I was the only person that knew this. Deep in my soul everything is upside down. My views, values thoughts, nothing is quite like my friends. I usually try to either conform or hide this fact. I like to fit in yet do not. I like to break out. When I do there is no stopping me. I would love to wear a burka then I could get away with everything. I now understand why they are popular and why girls like to be hidden. They do or they would not wear this gloomy garb?. It is not just religious, it also hides thoughts, looks, dreams everything in fact. If you cannot see someone and they cannot see you, in a way you are in bliss.
Nobody can tell you what you are doing is wrong. There is no outside judgement.
However Madame Arcati likes her weirdos glam. I understand that too. Why look at someone who is not attractive. My sons come round and if I look a mess, ask when the make up and hair are coming, for them it is an immediate necessity.
I used to wake up looking better than when I had just been to a hairdresser. Now its an hour job to look the same. I am glam and I am definitely a weirdo.
Thank you for the compliment MA.
I think that if I were able to release the film normally, there would not be cues round the block for its brilliance, but for the actions in it.
It is a work of art yet not. It is not an Amanda Eliasch commercial, Amanda is the only person that I can be honest with. The rest of humanity I have to be rather polite and kind with.
I am missing, on the whole,  all of the "mean gene", although don't be late, and don't be dishonest with me, or you will get the lash of my tongue.

Madame Arcati: Amanda Eliasch: Fame, movie acclaim and cakes of s...

Madame Arcati: Amanda Eliasch: Fame, movie acclaim and cakes of s...: Amanda Eliasch I like my weirdos glam and clever. Weirdo? A person who manifests her or his organic interior in a fascinating, creative,...

AMANDA ELIASCH's FAVOURITE TOP TEN ARTISTS FOR 2013

1.  Tracey Emin
2.  Barry Reigate
3.  Yassi Mazandi
4.  Vince Demaar
5.  Matt Collishaw
6.  Paul Fryer
7.  Polly Morgan
8.  Baba Anand
9.  Duggie Fields
10.Dan Attoe

ISCHIA GLOBAL FILM FESTIVAL and my love of film

Today I realise I like making films more than clothes, well this is what I am telling myself. I am on a huge diet, I do not want to buy another black dress, and I want to start my next film as soon as possible. It is the most exciting adventure of my life. I am learning so much and have met incredibly intelligent and inspiring people. All I want to do is to be locked into a room and write. I want to write a thriller something dark and surprising.  The gun the cake and the butterfly has been an interesting adventure. I used 8 cinema photographers, two editors and an amazing production house called Anarchy Post in Los Angeles. After winning best ART PRIZE in NYCIFF and Ischia Global Film Festival the Lina Wertmuller prize in memory of her husband Enrico Jobb, I feel on top of the world. Pascale Vicedomini who runs Ischia Global is the most charming and clever man in the world. He manages to get Baz Luhrmann, Nick Cage, Arnon Milchan, Trudi Styler, Joel Shumacher, Emmanuelle Seigner, Nastassja Kinski, Mike Newell altogether in intimate surroundings. The famous, the brilliant, the new. He has a grand dream which he makes real.

 I was laughing with friends yesterday that I want to make another film but need to sell my house in Cheyne Walk.  If I lose weight I can then fit into my vintage clothes which would be good as I can hunt in my storage rooms for little lost numbers and believe they are new. People are not easy in the film world,  in fact they were mostly hell. This made the whole thing evan more interesting, nothing like friction to get the adrenalin going.
I had several offers yesterday, one was doing a reality TV show, I am not sure about this I may not want to show my knickers to the world on a regular basis. 
I am also asked why there are so few women in the business, now I know, as there is a battlefield every day, and few woman want this. I think men have more menstrual  and ego problems than woman.   Never mind today is sunny in Los Angeles, I am meeting my favourite actor Michael Wincott, and dreaming about another lunch under a gentle spray to keep us cool whiles we eat. Yoga on my terrace and a smile on every corner. My world here is a beautiful delicious uneaten oyster. 

Yassi my favourite artist

COMMON ROUND THE CORNER

SLOPPY TABLE MANNERS, ELBOWS ON THE TABLE, PICKING YOUR NOSE, EATING IT, DIRTY HAIR, DANDRUFF, BANK MANAGERS,  DIRTY TEETH, BAD BREATH, B.O, MOTHS, YELLOW SKIN, HERPES, SLEEPING PILLS, RATS, MICE, BREAKFAST CEREAL, MEALS, SHORTENING OF WORDS, PICKING YOUR SKIN, NAILS, POP MUSIC, ELEVATOR CLASSICS, NEW CARS, PETER JONES, DENTISTS, GLASSES,FOOD, ESTATE AGENTS, TENANTS, DEPOSITS, HOMELAND POLICE, RAPISTS, DEVELOPERS, CRUFTS, GREYHOUND RACING,SAYING GOODBYE, BOXES, MAGAZINES, PLASTIC BOTTLES, CHEWING GUM, LUNCHES, DOG SHOWS, SUN. FUNERALS. ANTI DEPRESSANTS, CAR THEFTS,AIRPORT LOUNGES, SNAKES. NOT SAYING THANK YOU.

LOSS of LOVED ONES

When one person dies in a week that you love you are bereft, but last week I lost three important people in my life.

It all seems a long time ago, I was wearing a mini skirt and laughing when I met Alek Keshishian, writer  and David Collins, I was being ridiculous and they were teasing me. I don't remember the year, just that I was merry on life.  It must have been about 12 years ago. I loved David Collins the minute I met him. It is all a haze, yet not. I then stayed friends with him. I just knew what he was thinking and the advice he gave me was incredible. I knew I could trust him. I never expect any of my friends to die and with the news that he had left us last week,  I know his family will feel huge grief. He was glamorous  and witty whilst giving intelligent advice. His work ethic was totally professional and he has provided us with some of the most stunning restaurants in the world amongst them my favourite The Wolesley. He was out of the 1920's in so many ways crossed with the fabulous life of Andy Warhol. Taste and flamboyance were huge considerations. The Connaught, Claridges and all his other incredible projects will live on.

I also lost my old family gardener, Lionel Dobson who I only saw  three months ago.  He had worked for my grandparents at their house in Wiltshire, Embrook House, Hilcot, where they created the most spectacular garden on the planet, when I was a child. I used to have to help pick the fruit and vegetable for Sunday lunch. The design of the garden was by Vernon Russell Smith.  I am so pleased I went to see him taking with me a cake and some bread. We laughed together and he repeated to me again  all the stories  when I was a child.

Lastly my great uncle, Lesley Gilliat, brother to my Grandfather Sidney Gilliat, film director writer and producer. Lesley used to be his producer.  He was brilliant at sailing and I remember as a child often going on his boat.

All three of these wonderful people in different ways, will be missed.
Rest in peace my lovely friends and family.

Dream - Motivational Video

FULL OF DREAMS

My life is full of dreams. I am sitting here on my balcony, where my film, which I wrote, directed and produced, The gun the cake and the butterfly, is about to be shown tonight at The Ischia Global Film Festival. It is run by the energetic Pascal Vicedomini, I am thinking.  He is a visionary, with caterpillar vision, he assembles talent wit passion, creating a totally unique experience where everyone gladly supports each other.

“ Wow, how lucky am I,  I think?” How on earth did all this happen in a year? The truth is Pascal is instinctive, and what he likes he likes, he and the other film festivals have truly supported me.

He creates panels that discuss International issues and concerts on the beach, everything is done with joy and aplomb. Fireworks abound. I am about to win the Lina Wertmullerprize, in remembrance of her husband, Enrico Jobb, she is the first, out of only four women, to be nominated for an Academy Award.

This festival is very different. 

Cannes and Venice are huge, tricky to manouvre and full of clipboard doormen who  won’t allow you in. Thousands of people flock to festivals, crowded, hot and glamorous.

Ischia is about family, a talented family, involving friendship.

Yes I am right, with my thoughts  “What you are doing, is what you are doing. This has always been   my belief , and I am with one of my favourite actresses of all time Natasha Kinski,(The best author in the whole planet for me is Thomas Hardy, and Tess was my favourite heroine) she played her so well,  and  French actress Emanuelle Segnier. Who is showing her film Venus and Fur directed by husband Roman Polanski, her husband’s new film.

I keep pinching myself. I am following my passion.

Everybody is relaxed. 1950’s distressed glamour. Ischia is not Capri and it’s not Rome. The famous introduce themselves, as if you could not possibly know them. There is something very charming about this. You cannot lobby to be a part of Pascal’s Film Festivals, you have to be anointed to participate.

I have been included in four festivals now, The New Media Film Festival, The New York International Film Festival and have just been selected for the Bel Air Film Festival. The Ischia Global Film Festival, and Have won, “The most imaginative documentary film” in NY. I feel very chuffed. I think, “yes I did this, as a woman for women”.  I thought, I cannot be one of the Kardashian’s who wear ‘strap on’s’ before 9.30 am in Los Angeles, I could only be me.

I thought, I would pinch lines wherever I could, when writing, instead of snorting them.  I could not be one of those people who did  not have a line on their face and only under their nose.

The only people that have ever thought I was a star were London taxi drivers. I enter a cab on the streets of London and the first question they ask is “ What films have you been in, are you a model?”  I never know what to answer?, I do not want to disappoint the charming man driving me.  However, the truth is, that despite drama school ALRA and RADA, I liked to be hidden. My eldest son says however, “A blonde has unfair advantages over the rest of the planet, and you Mummy, can never hide”  

We know through film you can influence the world. Through pictures music and thought, you can change what is going on. I think we can all give back and choose our own platforms, inspiring communities to think. After doing this film I want to do this forever.

Last year women were moaning that there were too few serious positions held in the film world by women. Few films were made by them.   I thought I would have a go. I thought I would learn and expand from the experience. Indeed I did.  I thought I would use my own story, I could be blatantly honest, cruelly so. I had no intention of acting it but combining the script with a documentary to create the artistic world I inhabit so merrily. I enjoyed the focus,

I thought I would be finished in three weeks.

I was not.

The first edit I thought was nothing like me and that I had to be in it. So I decided at that point to intertwine my characteristics with the other actress Justine Glenton and with the actors I involved.

I don’t care about failure, I care about doing and being open and vulnerable to the world, I have put myself out there and I expect ‘judgement day’, but I am proud about what I have accomplished and how I feel, despite, having  to sell my favourite house to do it. Nobody gave me a dime, it was all me, for good and bad.

The story of my upbringing in Wiltshire to being tapped on the shoulder and realizing I have just contributed to the wonderful world of female film directors. Katherine Bigelow, Lyn Ramsey, Madonna, Jane Campion, Vanessa Redgrave, Kerry and Rory Kennedy, Barbara Streisand, my favourites Sofia Coppola and Sally Potter. They are bold and strong, having the faith to follow their own voices against all odds.

Now it’s my turn, I have entered stage right and I have no exit. I am addicted to the critics and the applause.

Music from The gun, the cake and the butterfly

Music from the gun the cake and the butterfly

The gun the cake and the butterfly at Ischia Global Film Festival

THE GUN THE CAKE AND THE BUTTERFLY

TALENT GOES WITH BEAUTY

I am not a lover of jewellery, not truly. Rarely do I see things that I dream about but today in at 7 Carlos Place, I saw new individual style that I have not seen for a long time. That is not say I do not love Loree Rodkin's rings, or Stephen Webster's style or the glove of Sean Leane, or  his woodland range,

he made for Asprey's. Which I love and a percentage went to saving trees in England. I love being a bit of a do gooder.  It makes you feel a better human being.  Getting back to 7 Carlos Place. These girls have style.  Jessica McCormack's atelier or gallery is a wonderful place to hang out, have coffee, smoke a cigarette and admire her taste and that of her friends.  You can make individual pieces, and send jewels with messages using different stones.  I could have spent all day there. We were then taken for a delicious lunch at the Connaught. Afterwards a trip to Lanvin was all that was needed to end a perfect fun afternoon with wits and talented girls.

 It is just would not go into debt for a ring or two.  Evan if I were a billionaire you would not find me thinking about it. I usually prefer art. That is my downfall, or one or two black dresses, as if I have not got enough. In fact I would rather make a film.  Today though I simply fell in love with some earrings by Jessica McCormack. I also last week fell in love with a ring from Elena Votsi.

ELENA VOTSI

A GOLDEN ALLIGATOR BY PAUL FRYER TO HELP BUY ELEPHANT TRAILS.

There are so many beautiful creatures on this earth that need space to live. As we, the human, become more and more demanding, animals have fewer places to hide, create their own lives and contribute to planet earth remaining ravishing.  The brilliant Mark Shand has been fighting for Elephants most of his life, and in turn, his charity helps other animals. Last night, he gave an incredible ball between Clarence House and Lancaster House. A rare glimpse of HRH Prince Charles and Camilla, Mark's sister,  was all that was needed to add to the glamour. Mark promised it would be the ball of all balls.

POPPY DELEVIGNE I THINK?

Tied up with my own world I had missed the excitement of choosing a stunning mask at Selfridges. Designers like Von Furstenburg made the evening truly  out of A midsummer night's dream, glorious feathers, exquisite designs were everywhere.

THE RAVISHING ALIYA MODI

I was lucky enough to spend some of the evening on a bench watching everything talking to the charming Peregrine Eliot and Jerry Hall.  I felt like we were the royal family. Sitting amongst herbaceous borders we watched Cara and Poppy Delevigne, photographed in the late afternoon sun.
Stunning art was donated amongst them a golden snake/alligator by Paul Fryer. Despite a huge attendance, and the very rich, some wonderful pieces were not fully appreciated.
I love art auctions, it is the best way to give to charity.
This charity is so important, without animals the world would be a sorry place to live.

WOMEN ARE HUMANS TOO

Andrew Murray is a magnificent win but let's not forget Virginia Wade who won in 1977..

I WANT TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT.

I want to run for Parliament. I believe I can, why not? I have time and energy.

Last year people sneered that I could not make a film, this year I am winning prizes. First the NYCIFF and the Ischia Global Film Festival, nominated in The New Media Film Festival and accepted to be shown at The Bel Air Film Festival, for my film The gun the cake and the butterfly.

 I feel this country badly needs help. Help comes in all shapes and sizes. It is a huge mess, now David Cameron wants to look East. I thought we already had?.  Last week a girlfriend's housekeeper who is illegal, told me that she would go to Hackney to get onto the NHS with no questions asked? This is outrageous?. Of course we wish to help other countries but is there no stopping our reckless generosity?
Money has to come from somewhere?.  Another friend is very ill, a GB tax payer,  has had to wait for three months to see a doctor despite numerous tumours on his thyroid gland. We cannot keep the safety net open for the whole world? Has our government gone mad?

Perhaps UKIP or EDL will put me to good work?

In any case with four or five charities under my belt and a great sense of humour I truly think I can help this country say how it is.  Two hundred pounds will not hit the spot for foreigners entering the NHS, have they not done the maths? Assuming curing cancer on one patient alone can cost up to 150,000 pounds this is not going to work?

Schooling has created an underclass, a class that cannot read and write. What is the point of sending a child to school where English is not the first language? What is the point of bringing people to this country where there first love is back home and they feel nothing for Great Britain. How do we make them integrate, how do we make them feel a community?
What is Great Britain?. Do new foreigners know the  names of our trees, the breeds of cows, the sheep, do they  mean anything in Mile End Road. Our composers, Wordsworth? Do the immigrants know the poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud". Siegfried Sassoon, Purcell, Byron, Henry V111, The war of the roses, hedgerows, The Marlborough Downs, The Lake District, the need for gumboots? Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood? Are these things important?
Can we all wake up before it is too late and contribute to the saving of a wonderful country?

Sonomorphic Mirror - Geoffrey Lillemon / Salvador Breed / Iris van Herpe...

NO TIME FOR DULL MOMENTS, HEADS UP FOR MURRAY AND A BIRTHDAY FOR TRACEY EMIN

Some week ends I turn into a lizard moving from a bed horizontal to a sofa remaining horizontal most of the time. However this week end was the best.  I had the lucky invitation of being asked to Tracey Emin's birthday week end. Tracey does things well. First we had the incredible visit of a  lifetime to Chateau Costes. Chateau Costes boasts delicious wine, food and art. With the Frank Gehry auditorium which was once shown in the grounds of the Serpentine Gallery, to Tracey' s new piece of art, a treehouse/viewing point in the woods above the Chateau. I walked in unsuitable shoes to the top in boiling hot weather, but was so happy to celebrate with her. Followed by a delicious lunch with cheeses that were treated like Sushi,  decorating the plate. If you wish to keep Tracey happy serve her cheese. My favourite piece of art was a wonderful sculpture of Louise Bourgeois, a Spider in a water feature, The Chateau was stunningly beautiful in every direction and well worth visiting..

THE SPIDER LOUISE BOURGOIS

 I decided to try a new hotel in France the Terre Blanc, which was excellent. Once a Four Seasons now independent, it had beautiful views in Provence and some art too. A brilliant man sculpture of Anthony Gormley. In fact there were two.  Art is everywhere in the South of France.
I also got into the gym which is a miracle. I decided before it is too late to enjoy in. I loved it.
I shall await for  rippling muscles.

FRANK GEHRY AUDITORIUM

The evening was spent on Coco Beach with a choir and the loyal friends of Tracey. All interesting. We all had a great time talking art, laughing and listening to some moving speeches by Jay Jopling, Stephen Webster and Hamish McAlpine. Amusing and witty and often touching they gave an amazing view into Tracey's life from Margate to one of the most important artists in the world. A fitting 50th birthday.

VIEWS FROM TERRE BLANC

Going to Tracey's meant I missed the finals at Wimbledon, which was exciting yesterday.
I was happy to see my ex husband yesterday, Johan Eliasch have two HEAD players in the finals. Well done and congratulations. Also it was a great day for Great Britain, With Murray winning against Djokovic after so many years.

JOHAN ELIASCH WITH MY OLD FRIENDS MARIE NOELLE AND WILLIAM WORSLEY AND ANNA WINTOUR BEHIND

Onegin Last Scene

Enzo Avitabile & Bob Geldof (Suonn' a pastell' (2012)