Tuesday 31 December 2013

THE SNAKE YEAR STRANGLED ME WITH CHARM

I was thinking what to write on the last day of the year 2013 and I agree with Stephen Spielberg when he says that every year we are a different person. This makes perfect sense to me. This year was my most ambitious to date. Making a film was definitely a challenging artistic adventure
.
The year of the snake was a car crash year for most people I know. Upheaval, exhaustion, a rise to the top, jealousy, and outrage on the way up or down, malevolence,  depending on where you were heading. It is depicted often with a rabbit being strangled by a snake and that tells you everything. Strangled with charm, so watch your back. One friend has stayed in bed most of the year so that dramas were hidden by the duvet. The year of the snake has had so many historical disasters from plagues to the Twin Towers.

 I had a great time, however it had extremes of highs and lows.
My son Charles gave a debut concert at Carnegie Hall and got into The Royal Welsh College of music and art, performed in two operas and gave a stunning performance with Lisa Zane at a fashion show, I gave at my house for Brit Week for Pam Hogg, mixing British Artists together with her. Duggie Fields, Yassi Mazandi, Damien Elwes and Nigel Daly all pulled together to make Britain look great in my house in Devlin Place.
I also decided to move three times in a year. Hells bells I must have been crazy.

The highlights of course were competing in 7 film festivals with my film The gun the cake and the butterfly, NYCIFF, Ischia International Film Festival, Bel Air, Burbank, LA Femme, La Jolla Indie FF, and winning 5 awards, for best editor, best art film three times, best film chosen by an audience and being nominated twice once for The new media film festival for the trailer and once for best female director for Burbank International  FF. It was non stop and I was extremely lucky and grateful  I could however thank a million people this year.
Actually I will do a GRATITUDE list.
ARTIST YASSI MAZANDI AND ME AT BRITWEEK ART SHOW AT MY HOUSE WITH BRILLIANT FLORIST ERIC BUTERBAUGH

1. Nancy Sill for being their for me when all the natural nonsense of selling and buying a property, happen.
2. Xaque Gruber at the Freedman's for his belief in me.
3. Pablo Ganguli for pushing me to new heights with my art.
4. Artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Marina Abramovic, Rushka Bergman and Tomas Auksas for their  encouragement.
5. My sons Jack and Charlie whose humour I am grateful for. The tease me so my head fits through the door.
6. Tim Willis whose ideas mixed with mine and Vincenzo Demaars could  have brilliant consequences if God is on our side.
7. Justine Glenton's hard work and dedication did not win her best actress but it certainly put her on the map as a good sport. She really supported the team in every way.
8. Peter Medak whose advice, life would be very boring without.
and 9 and 10 for everybody in my life, Rowena, Francesca, Snowden, Nathalia,Emma, my friends and family and Genlux.

Jam packed with travel I visited Moscow, Venice, Zagreb, Rome twice, Miami, New York, Budapest, Palm Springs,  and Los Angeles added colour, edited a film, worked at Anarchy Post.

I got fabulous hate mail, love letters and fan mail. I don't know which made the most impact. The hate mail was so weird because  it was a control freak who made themselves look pitiful, but they had a point, I had come out of my box. Love letters which I will treasure forever and fan mail that I can keep near to my heart..However this is how I really feel. “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
Eleanor Roosevelt


ISCHIA In my YSL dress and Justine Glenton 


My greatest night this year..
Ischia International Film Festival winning the Enrico Jobb prize for best Art Film from Lina Wertmuller.
My funniest moment?
Everyday there are ten minutes which make me howl with laughter.
My best look?
My favourite dress this year is the YSL dress I wore in Ischia.
My craziest moments are?
Bothering to tell the truth.
My happiest times.
Feeling the love of my children and cuddling good friends.
Terrifying moment.
Visiting the 8th Floor at the American Film Festival and entering the Weinstein offices.
You felt the power and agitation in the corridor.

For everybody in the world it has been a year of goodbyes to great leaders for me Mandela and Thatcher, actors like Peter O'Toole, and for me losing my friend, the designer and architect David Collins.
So many other things too. It was fast and furious, one minute a soldier is being murdered and the next a
new Prince was born to our Royal Family, HRH Prince George.

So summing up the year I have to agree with Margaret Thatcher when she said"“If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”
With the year of The Horse just around the corner, it is a worrying year for me, perhaps more so than the Snake. The Horse just loves to kick a Rat round the stable.

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