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| Sunday, 20 June 2004 |
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Samy Pavel is here to make a change by Kaminie Jayanthi Liyanage
Sitting calmly in the verandah of his Mt. Lavinia residence, this Belgian Film Director, who only the other day screened his Sri Lanka-made movie The Music Garden at Galle Face Hotel, has some soul-searching announcements to make about the local film industry. "Here, the Director and the actor is focused on 'showing' something," says a critical Pavel. "Life is dramatic and you do not need melodramatics to show it. I think that acting addressed to the public must be hidden. If I cry, I will not cry in front of you but in shadows, by myself. It is that kind of acting done in a natural way that we need, to reflect human problems. Something that is simple and modest, not arrogant." Pavel, with Sri Lankan producer wife, Reshan, and six-year-old actor son, Alyosha, is about to begin an actors art workshop with the collaboration of ART TV, in the hope of making not "stars" but human actors who brings to life "life". Auditions beginning on July 15 will run for ten days and Pavel hopes to pick about 40 students for his first batch of "human" actors and directors, writers, editors and others associated with acting "who works around an actor." "The workshop is open to everybody," says an inviting Pavel. "There are no age limits and whether 10-year-old or an 80-year-old, I will work with human beings!" Warning that the workshop will have a totally different approach and might shock some people, Pavel tells not to expect a certificate, certifying that "you are a good actor", at the end of the six months each batch go through the workshop.
"Here, people are used to be awarded. But, I tell you, that you can't be a good actor in six months! You must stop looking inside a camera and become more human!" The comment is in comparison to America where even the most versatile actor will still continue to polish his skills by attending classes. A benevolent Pavel adds that his "students" will gain the added opportunity of presenting their work on ART TV. "Each group of ten can 'put out' their work and stay on to help the others. My job is merely to 'put out' personalities hidden in my students. The workshop is to open yourself, not only to read dialogue." An actor is a visceral person, says Pavel, it is action-instinctive. "All my work is based on the actor and his/her personality that must be reflected on the scene. The light will be to help him in his character, in his personality to secure him. I will put him in the context that he can express himself so that he can find the interior voice within, broken by other directors who had failed to bring the interior voice to the surface. I speak here about life, acting is breathing. It is the connection between our sub-consciousness and our consciousness. It is the expression of our emotion with no fear, no excuse; it is the honesty to not abdicate what we are when we are in front of the camera. Acting is not to copy life, it is being life." With that vision to strengthen him, Pavel, did a trilogy of films for the Belgium TV Canal+, namely, 'The Music Garden', the 'Tea Garden' and the 'Flower Garden', all three made in Sri Lanka. Prior to coming here, he worked in France, Italy, America, Cypress and Greece, moving among many. His very first film, made at 28 years of age, won him the first prize at the Venice Film Festival. "I had the intelligence to make it half mute," says Pavel of the movie made with the famous film musician Ennio Morricone. "My main character expresses his relations by music and silence." "The Music Garden", a Gold award winner at the Houston Film Festival tells the story of a famous sitarist who lived in Kandy before the 1970s, and her psychological struggles, as written by Stanley, a Britisher who came here to see her before the 1970s. In the beautiful cinematography recorded there, all actors and characters drawn from the local arena, Pavel was assisted by Andrew Jayamanne and Sumith Prasanna Lal. Pavel is now gruelling to get his "garden trilogy" shown on Sinhala TV channels as it is mainly made with Sinhala dialogue. "Sri Lankan TV audiences are ready for a change," says Reshan, his wife. "Even housewives, even my mother wants a change from what is generally shown now! Many of the tele-dramas have similar dialogue and they all have the same story!" Remarks which must be echoed by many a local TV watcher who might take heart in her assurance, "That is why we are starting our workshop here!" |
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