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TO BHMA

The Greek Australian VEMA

MARCH 2016

Digital Mosaic

Where the Ancient Faith + 21st century media merge

Love story: an Orthodox film by Shawnee Smith

Part II

By Chris Vlahonasios

TRANSFIGURE Media

Continuation of interview published in February

2016 edition.
Being an Orthodox Christian is a lifelong process.
What have you learned about yourself so far?
The greatest thing about the Orthodox Church is that
you start with accepting yourself as the worst sinner of
all. I am the worst, I am, forgive me a sinner, of whom
I am chief, so, it kind of takes the pressure off, you
know? Its like, okay, I want you to be real, whereas I
think the protestant approach, which is how I spent
more of my lifetime, was this kind of judgemental, legalistic, you are bad, you are doing this wrong, so its
like I never wanted to know myself, really, I just
learned to be a better and better actress but meanwhile inside Im just feeling like a jerk all the time but
meanwhile just trying to shine myself up on the outside and make it okay in these ridiculous ways like my
physical appearance, like thats going to last! So, its
been this wonderful discovery, self-discovery, of what
an arrogant person I am, selfish, gluttonous, lazy, but
the Truth shall set you free. And as an artist, this all
can work beautifully together.
So all these truths that I accept about myself, and
then begin to work with myself, from where Im at. Start at the Truth and then I can begin to have a relationship with God, Christ, because He can meet me
there, if I allow Him to see for who I am, then we have
a place to start. And its really a relief after so many
years of running from oneself, to finally just be okay
with being the worst, no pressure there, right? If you
start from the bottom, you can only go up. Its pretty
nice to have a relationship like that. And from all of
that, I can bring to parts that I play as an actress. So I
figure, when Im in my 80s, maybe my 90s, Ill be doing
my best work!
Now lets talk about your exciting new documentary film, Orthodoxy: A Love Story. Whats the project
about, and why did you feel the need to make it?
Its a very simple little movie, with a very simple aim,
to just be an icon, so to speak, or a reminder of what
family looks like. Its so beautiful, its celebrating the
sanctity of a family, of life, and then the life of a
church, its kind of like a family for dummies you
know? It gives you the tools and the way to grow closer to God by serving each other, and if you think about
it, the family is really the perfect setup to practice
these things, you have your children and you love
them so much that youre willing to sacrifice for them,
this is the idea of the family, but were in a culture that
is just constantly bombarding us every day, encouraging us to think about ourselves first and to pursue our
own pleasures first, as if a family would be there to
serve us, and if they stop serving us then we just dump
them and find a new one. But humans arent made to
be dumped, and its just not human to treat each other like that, and when you start to treat another person like a human, then you start to remember what it

Shawnee Smith with Father Constantine

Shawnee Smith in Anger Management with Charlie Sheen

is to be human and, whoa, thats a shift.

Why is this project so important to you?
I thought it might be useful to share my story, and
reflect upon my life and the shift that began to occur
when I began to be able to consider someone else before myself. This was a major repentance, and by repentance I mean, in its true form as F ather Patrick described to me and blew my mind, because I did not
have an understanding of repentance like this. He said
repentance is a shift in perspective, and then acting
on that shift. So that was a profound repentance, and
it changes everything and it makes the possibility of a
beautiful family, and life, possible. So I thought, well,

if someone sees that someone as spoiled and arrogant

and selfish as I could make this shift to any degree,
maybe that might encourage them. Thats all.
Where are you off to next?
Well, weve done all of our shooting of Los Angeles,
with the exception of our recent trip to Louisiana,
where we stayed with Rod Dreher and his beautiful
family, and spent time at their mission church, that Father Matthew is the priest now, thats a story that
I cant wait to share with everybody in the movie!
That was a great trip, they made a crawfish boil for us,

MARCH 2016

The Greek Australian VEMA

Cont. from previous page

and Rod made a blog about it, and the Orthodox community just lit up and responded. Its like everyones
excited to share this secret with the rest of America,
its the best kept secret.

TO BHMA

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crazy with this but I said well, I want to put this money towards it, and shoot some stuff, and well steer it
to a degree, but I really want to let it reveal itself. So
weve done that feeling and now we start the editing
process which is really exciting for me, because now I
get to see, and start forming, letting it form, and then
we will do a couple short films and launch an Indiegogo campaign, because Im out of money, and
now I need other peoples help and support. So Ive
made a start, and then hopefully you can jump in for
phase 2, on the Indiegogo campaign. And if you keep
in touch with us now through the F
acebook page,
which is then we will keep everybody up to date with
when well launch that campaign and we can share
this beautiful faith and this beautiful family life with
the rest of America.

Greece awarded as
Destination of Year 2013

Where are we off to next?

Well, when we finish phase 1, of shooting, and were
going to edit some things from that, and launch our Indiegogo campaign, and hopefully get real financing for
phase 2, and then we would love to go up to Platina,
and visit the monastery there, St Herman of Alaska,
and get to Alaska. Im from South Carolina and I just
saw this movie called Orthodixie, so now of course we
have to go to South Carolina, right? And weve got this
big dream to go to Russia, some of the oldest monasteries are there. Whew, show that beauty! Can you
imagine? A movie about beauty, and love, and family,
and life, sounds delightful!
Who are the filmmakers youre working with?
We have a great crew of these young, very talented
men who are not afraid to work hard for not a lot of
money and thats delightful! That kind of attitude, you
cant pay enough money for it. So that really permeates all of the filming, is the spirit behind the camera.
So Im really grateful for that, and my co-producer is
the most experienced of all of us as far as making films,
Rotimi Rainwater thats his real name! So hes kind
Shawnee Smith, learning how to peel crawfish on Sunday
of bringing us all along and were teaching each other,
after the liturgy at a church in south Louisiana
and its just been a great experience. Were having a
ball together and it shows on the film.
my intentions are true, to serve God, and the people
around me, so I just did it, I think really badly but my
How would you describe the filmmaking experiheart was in the right place. Thats kind of the feel of
ence, and what have you found to be most challengthis experience directing and producing this movie, its
ing?
great. Its a great place to be in.
This is my first time directing and I dont know if Ill
keep doing it because its really hard. So whats the
So whats happening now, and whats the next step
most challenging aspect? Its all challenging for me!
in making this film a reality?
Im sort of getting a crash course in directing and proWell weve just finished filming for what we call
ducing and standing tall on Rotimis shoulders and the Phase 1, which is the phase that I financed, because I
crews shoulders. But my intentions are true, so I got
really didnt want this movie to give my head, my
that going for me. Kind of like when F ather Patrick thoughts and ideas a lot of time to direct this movie, I
called me up during Vespers one day during the podireally wanted to give it a change to reveal itself beum and said Hey Shawnee, sing this chant, just follow cause it feels like something that is so much bigger
my notes. And I almost passed out! I had never done
than my thoughts and ideas, for sure. I feel like I serve
anything like this in my life! And I look up at him and
it, and you cant go out and make a movie that esoterhe say go on, and I look around, and I wasnt getting ically, you have to have an idea of what you want to
out of this, and I figure, everybody there loves me, and shoot and I drive my producing partner Rotimi a bit

How do you intend to market and release it?

Well, I have high hopes for this film. Im planning on
it coming out in the movie theatres like any other
movie, with the support of the Orthodox and Christian
community, and maybe even a little studio support in
the end. You never know, we might just end up with a
beautiful, wildly entertaining, surprisingly humorous
punk-rock film about wholesomeness! I mean, cmon,
family is the new rebellion, right?
Thanks for sharing your journey with us, and can I
just add, I thought you were fantastic as Linda in
Becker.
Thank you for spreading the word! And yeah, I have
a special affinity in my heart for Linda too. I really miss
her. People always said she was a dumb airhead, but I
said no no, shes no airhead, its just that her brain
has a front door, and a back door, so things just flow
through it. Shes real refreshing to me.

*****
To learn more about this film, go to:
www.facebook.com/OrthodoxALoveStory
Transcribed by Kyrie Fuss
TRANSFIGURE Media is an online media-house specialising in the sale of creative works by Orthodox
Christians.
www.transfiguremedia.com / 0423 273 803

Australias Contribution to the Humanitarian Crisis

in the Middle East
The first of ten Australian Civilian
Corps (ACC) specialists arrived in
Beirut on 18 February 2016.
This follows a pledge by F oreign
Minister Bishop at the Syria Donors
Conference in London on 4 F ebruary
2016 to deploy up to ten A CC experts this year to Lebanon and Jordan.
The specialists will provide education, protection for women and children, water, sanitation and logistics
for refugees fleeing conflict in Syria
and Iraq.
This is just one element of Australias response to the crisis.
Australias announcement on 4
February 2016 to provide a further
$25 million for life-saving humanitarian support to Syria, Iraq and the
region brings Australias total humanitarian assistance to $258 mil-

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lion since 2011. This is a generous

and proportionate response by a decent and compassionate nation.
Foreign Minister Bishop also announced that Australia is developing
a multi-year package to help build
and strengthen the capacity of Jordan and Lebanon to continue to host
large numbers of refugees.
In addition, Australia has significantly increased its humanitarian immigration intake.
In September 2015, the Australian
Government announced it would resettle 12,000 refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq.
These permanent resettlement
places, estimated to cost around
$830 million over four years, are in
addition to Australias existing humanitarian program of 13,750 which
will rise to 18,750 in 2018-19.