Keeping the spotlight on the Irish - Lisa McLaughlin - 08-10-09
Lisa McLaughlin-Strassman is the Malin woman behind the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival.
Already, in its second year, the festival played to packed houses at the home of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, attracting such luminaries as Gabriel Byrne and Natascha McElhone.
LIsa's childhood pals, The Henry Girls, performed at both the opening and closing of the festival, to a rapturous reception. So, how did a wee girl from Donegal find herself at the centre of things in LA?
First, though, a bit about growing up in Malin.
Lisa was born in Manchester but after her older brother died of spina bifida, her parents John and Eileen sent her back to Malin. There, she was raised by her maternal grandparents, John McLaughlin (Eugene) and Nora McLaughlin (Sean) - she called them Mum and Dad and always considered her aunts and uncles as brothers and sisters. John and Nora both passed away during the last ten years.
Lisa recalls her early days with a smile. "I had an amazing childhood in Malin, unforgettable really. My father was the local postman so I would deliver the mail with him all over Malin and the Malin parish."
As Lisa wasn't certain what she wanted to do for a career, her history teacher at Carndonagh Community School, Sean Beattie recommended she study Philosophy.
"So I went to the Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Dublin and got a BA Hons Degree in Philosophy.
"As a result of doing my degree in philosophy, I accidentally fell into the film world and have never looked back.
"It happened very oddly. I was studying a subject called 'Reading Lives' and I had to do a thesis on someone's life I felt was interesting. Most of the students were choosing Daphne Du Maurier and the like. I had just finished reading Anthony Hopkins' biography by Michael Feeney Callan. I found his life fascinating and decided to contact the biographer to get some more insight for my thesis.
Helping hand
"The author happened to be living in Sutton Cross and I was living in Clontarf. Surprisingly he answered my letter and I met him to discuss the book. "We have been great friends ever since and he is on the advisory board for the LA Irish Film Festival. His new book is Robert Redford's Biography (coming out this month. www. michaelfeeneycallan.com),
After helping me with my thesis on Anthony Hopkin's life, MIchael asked me what I was going to do after I graduated. I still was unsure. I had always had a love for film, arts and culture.
"I used to have an arts and crafts shop in Malin during the summer months. When I was a student in Dublin, I would drive around Inishowen gathering art work and crafts on a sale or return basis to sell in the shop).
So, I knew I wanted to pursue the arts. Michael suggested that I get some work experience at an editing house in Merrion Square for the summer to feel out the film business. He very kindly set that up for me and I ended up meeting a cameraman there who was looking for extras for the film'How to Cheat in the Leaving Certificate'. I jumped on a bus to Wicklow and was an extra on the set.
"While I was on the set, I saw a girl with a 'walkie talkie' and she was running around organizing people. I asked Patrick McCarney (the cameraman) what her job was and he told me she was an assistant director. I asked him, -'How do I get that job?'
"He put me in touch with a straight-talking production manager in Dublin who set me straight. He said, 'Don't waste your money taking a film course if you are not sure what department you want to work in. Spend your money on a car and get yourself a trainee assistant director ticket.
"That is exactly what I did. I bought myself a Citroen 2 CV and got a trainee ticket and started working straight away. I went from film to film, working my way up to third assistant director and second assistant director on short films.
I worked in Ardmore Studios on film - Disney's Oliver Twist, Crushproof, The Boxer and The Last Bus Home. I also did locations work on Ballykissangel and other tv work. And I was extras co-ordinator and third assistant director on Sunset Heights, which was filmed in Derry and Inishowen. A lot of locals in Malin can be seen on that film!"
Chance meeting
Despite all this work in film, it was love, not career, that brought Lisa to LA, but not straight away.
"When I worked in film in Dublin I also volunteered at the Anna Livia radio station on Tuesday nights presenting an arts show with another Irish girl. We would attend arts events in Dublin and then interview people on the show. We both attended David Strassman's ventriloquist show at the HQ in Dublin city. I had to be dragged there kicking and screaming as I wasn't a fan of ventriloquism. However, when I saw the show I had never seen anything like it. I was blown away and very impressed with David.
"After the show, we went backsatge to do an interview with David. His puppet Chuck Wood immediately started chatting me up and asked me out for dinner. I started dating David and spent a lot of time with him during his six week stay in Dublin. He left Dublin to tour Australia and New Zealand and we stayed in touch.
"He is from Los Angeles. I went to visit him in LA for a couple of weeks. My mother(Nora) had passed away six months earlier. I was very ready to start travelling, so I made the decision to leave Ireland and move to LA with David. We immediately started touring in Australia and New Zealand, and ended up spending three years there.
"After that, we went to Ketchikan, Alaska on a fishing trip. David bought a house there, on a whim really, probably as a reaction to having toured so much. We moved to Alaska and I got pregnant but then I felt the need to move back to Ireland to have my son. I moved back to Dublin with David and our son Carson was born there seven years ago. When Carson was six months old we moved back to LA. David and I got divorced when Carson was three years old. We are still friends but no longer married."
Because Lisa now had a child, she did want to spend endless hours on film sets. After producing a few films and documentaries, she started working as a development associate for the Indian Film Festival and as a volunteer for the American Film Institute Festival. She also freelanced as an events designer. But, a nagging desire remained.
"The Indian people I worked with used to joke with me about starting an Irish film festival. I eventually thought about it seriously.
"I hooked up with Niall McKay who runs the San Francisco Irish Film Festival and asked him to help me start getting some films from Ireland and officially launch a film festival here.
"Last year we played at a 120 seat venue in Beverly Hills. This year we opened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences venue in Hollywood and the American Cinematheque co-presented the festival at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. It was a big step up, filling 320 and 400 seat theatres.
One of the highlights for me, was screening Gabriel Byrne's documentary 'Stories from Home' and watching him take part in a questions and answers after the film. It was very moving. He had previously not been doing any publicity for the film, as it is a very honest, revealing and personal film. He called the festival publicist on the Monday before the festival and said he would attend and take part in a Q & A. The audience loved the film and I watched him on stage embrace the film in a new way-it was very moving.
"And of course, it was wonderful to have my good friends The Henry Girls be part of the celebrations with me. I even sang with them on closing night. It meant a lot to me to have them here and have their support."
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