Very excited to be involved in this new project with UK-China Film, a rising NGO dedicated to inspiring and encouraging film related collaboration between the UK and Greater China.
This story is still in the early days of development but so much to look forward to. It is a fantastic story based on real events in period costumes. Just how I like it! Looking forward to researching more and seeing how the project develops next year.
Some BTS with Roger King, Hiu Man Chan and Herostratus Films.
I spent most of this Autumn rehearsing and performing “Kindness” an educational play by Cate Hollis and Mark Wheeller based on the testimony of Susan Pollack MBE - a Holocaust survivor and an extraordinary woman whom I had the chance to meet earlier in the year.
There are 21 characters in the play performed by 4 actors, hence we all had to multi-role and act in a number of different accents to represent the different people who appeared in Susan’s story. It’s been a busy few weeks as we travelled from London to the Midlands to the North, to Wales and the South. Many corners of UK explored and precious moments shared on stage and behind the scenes. We performed in schools and theatres and one of the highlights of the tour was performing at the Birmingham Old Rep - UK’s first-ever purpose-built rep theatre, a stage where many legends such as Laurence Olivier have performed.
After the shows, we often had Q&As which made me reflect on the art that is acting and theatre as well as have a chance to speak in more detail about the Shoah, Judaism and Susan’s life.
Q&A
Full cast & the famous Laurence Olivier mirror
Setting up
A photo on stage pre show!
In the dressing room
Photo from backstage
The project and the tour have been supported by the European Jewish Fund and the Association of Jewish Refugees.
Directed by Cate Hollis
Actors - Katrina Michaels, Joseph Creaser, Ed Oulton and Anya Zraykat.
This year I went to my first Cannes Film Festival and absolutely loved the experience. The energy of a screening at a film festival is so very special!
Among the movies I watched and particularly loved was “Corsage” based on the story of Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Queen Sisi), it’s funny, visually stunning and I cried a bit at the end. Vicky Krieps won Best Performance - Un Certain Regard which is totally deserved and I highly recommend watching it as it is coming to cinemas in London soon.
I am still catching up on some of the films I missed myself as they are slowly coming to the cinemas.
Earlier in the year, TikTok launched the global #TikTokShortFilm competition celebrating their partnership with the Festival de Cannes. I enjoyed making my short film as part of the competition using TikTok’s creative tools. I describe it as an experimental film about love and separation. As I’m trying to get into the spirit of creating and sharing my own work this was an excellent exercise for me and the film was entirely created and filmed by myself on my iPhone (with a little help from a friend) in a span of 2 days, so I call it a sort of my own 48-hour challenge. You can see it here.
I hope you like it. I’m a crazy perfectionist so it’s not easy for me to share work which has been done with limited resources and without a film crew but it was fun to make and I do want to share my creativity.
I was excited to be part of the Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Challenge in September. Using the prompts given to us which included the film title “The Monitor” we created a film over the course of 48 hours with the Nightpiece Media team. It was an invigorating couple of days and a very creative process. I am glad to say I made new friends in the process and got inspired to create more sci-fi.
Here are some still from our short film “The Monitor”
Director - Al Caretta
Starring - Anya Zraykat, Delaney Conway, Alison Harris, Sonny Barr, Ezeikel Martin
It has been two months since we performed the Deceiver. Such fond memories of the rehearsal process and the three nights of performances. It was a real gift to be back on stage after the pandemic and even more so to be part of a cast of 16 (!!) exceptionally talented actors supported by an amazing crew to bring this new incredibly ambitious play to life.
The Deceiver by Tyler Jake Gray
A Tragedy in Three Acts
London. 1899. A frigid winter’s night. It is the night before a highly anticipated dinner party.
When Lord Theodore Evington II receives a life threatening letter from The Deceiver, he must discover their identity before his life and reputation are lost. With the looming arrival of his secretive family, we see how far he will go to prevent the revelation of his darkest secrets.
With so many possibilities, the question remains: Who is The Deceiver?
One devil of a dinner party in second act of the Deceiver
