St Lucia's award winning actress to showcase new film

By Anselma Aimable
Caribbean Net News St Lucia Correspondent
Email: anselma@caribbeannetnews.com

CASTRIES, St Lucia: One of St Lucia's multi-talented ladies, Mathurin Emmanuel -- actress, director and screenwriter -- is ready for the debut of her fourth film entitled "Nana's Paradise. Her first production was a short feature film commissioned by the Substance Abuse Secretariat titled "Tears in the Valley" and this was followed by the Award Winning "Ribbons of Blue."

In 2003, "Ribbons of Blue" captured the Minvielle and Chastanet Award for Best Film and in 2004 was the recipient of the Award for Best Director of a Documentary Feature at the New York Independent Film Awards. The third film was named "Troubled Waters."

After two and a half years of hard work and challenges, Nana's Paradise, which was shot in London and St Lucia, a production which is based on the success story of a young man despite the obstacles he faced, will premiere on Christmas Day at the Cultural Center.

In an interview with Caribbean Net News, Emmanuel, who describes herself as very spiritual said having been a teacher for twenty-seven years, writing, acting and directing comes naturally and she will continue to give all the praises to the Almighty for her talent. When quizzed about her motivation, inspiration and characters, she indicated that her students, the people in her community and everything that happens around her inspires her. Emmanuel admits that she is a perfectionist and she has a passion and desire to work with young people so they do not become victims of circumstance.

Upon becoming a teacher, Emmanuel took pride and pleasure in organizing the students into acting groups and some of the students have formed part of her casting crew. Her previous films were in Creole and English, which encompasses St Lucia's rich cultural heritage, but since wanting to reach a wider audience, Nana's Paradise is 99 percent English and unlike Ribbons of Blue, which has been viewed in countries such as the UK, USA, St Maarten, Trinidad and the Cannes International Film Festival, Emmanuel said her main goal is for her films to reach a very diverse audience and is also looking forwarding to do sub-titles in French.

The devout Christian and her sister began their acting career long before they were teenagers, entertaining friends and family and with encouragement and support from these same people, her career is destined to go places. Once a teacher always a teacher, Emmanuel knows the secrets and habits of ghetto children and her next film which is already in progress is deliberately entitled "Secrets of the Ghetto," and she thinks that using ones' God-given talent to enrich the life of others is the best thing one can do given the circumstances we live in.