Drawn by a Star

Who is this wealthy French/Jewish art collector really? What is his secret scar? And why did he commit such a dreadful crime ? Writing a screenplay is not the same as writing a novel. 'Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way.' David Whyte I'm trying to create a psychological profile for Reuben, but I'm stuck once again. The problem is, I've started to empathize with this character. A lot. Deeply. I want to know him. Hug him. I think I'm beginning to fall in love with him. He's starting to feel like a long lost brother. Or maybe an uncle. Yes, a mysterious uncle. I want something wonderful and good to come out of his suffering in the concentration camp. I don't want him to become a lying, criminal, misogynist. I'm empathizing deeply with the little boy who walked out of A

The research for my screenplay took another twist today. On the Internet I discovered two extraordinary Jewish artists: Bauhaus trained Freidl Dicker-Brandeis, and Felix Nussbaum. Could Rueben's mother be modeled on the saintly Freidl? And could his father be modeled on Felix ? The following is from the first article I found about Freidl: 'I was doing my rounds of the thrift shops, and found this heart rending book in the children's section. It's called Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin. It tells the story of Dicker-Brandeis, a woman who packed more art supplies than anything else when she was sent to the Terezin concentration camp. And once there,she dedicated her life to distracting children--and helping them document their fate--with the kind of self-abnegation one really only sees in saints. She gave lessons, invented contests with prizes, helped organize plays and musicals...anything to allow the child

Creating memorable characters for a screen or stage play is a must. Show, but don't tell is what's required. So the writer has to get to know her characters intimately before you the audience get to meet them. This is daunting in the case of Reuben, Shifra's father. He's the baddie. So for anybody reading this blog for the first time, creating Reuben will be a huge step forward in writing my screenplay. So far, in my head, he is basically scarred for life by his Holocaust experiences. As an orphaned child of 10, he walks free from Auschwitz, followed by a frail fatherless five year old child called Anabel, and her young (artist) mother Sonia, carrying two slim books. Many years later, Anabel becomes his wife, and Sonia becomes a famous artist in Paris. At the moment I haven't got a title for the movie. Maybe SHIFRA, or The Songs of Cybele. Or Sonia's Sketchbooks. The present synopsis goes something like this: Jewish Shifra, talented artist/

If you are interested in miracles, forgiveness, compassion,healing and the mysterious creative process of how a finished piece of artwork or writing comes into being, read on. If this isn't your cup of tea, fine, no probs, plenty of other blogs to interest thousands of different points of view. I am thrilled though to discover (through the stats on the blog site) that people in Russia, Bahrain, Australia, the US, the Ukraine, Pakistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Singapore, and about 15 other countries in including Iran, India, and Peru are reading this blog. Thank you, every single one of you. The motive for writing the blog continues to be the desire to share my belief in the healing power of creativity, and the belief in a loving higher intelligence available to all of us through prayer, meditation, being in nature, stillness, and music. Of course there are many ,many other avenues of connecting with the Divine. Healing though creativity is the main theme of the film I

Scarlet poppies. Friendship. Aloneness. Confusion. A piece of spinach quiche. A picnic. A river drunk with melted snow. Memories. Andalucia. 3rd of May. Three women saunter through long low mysterious tunnels of beige bamboo, crunchy underfoot, following a brown and dirty-turquoise river. One walks quickly. High caramel colored cave studded mountains to the north, silent keepers of secrets of the terrible Spanish Civil war. An enchanted pool, a favourite swimming place last summer, trashed by relentless winter storms. This is the river where Pepe saved the drowning boy,eleven years ago. These are some tags for yesterday. 'I think you've had a mystical experience.' I say to Sasha. We're all laughing , but not disbelieving. 'Really?' 'Yes. Baptized in the middle of a poppy field. Cleansed. Watered.' We laugh again. We are two artist friends and Sasha, 48, a writer from the USA. 'Well, I just can't explain this.' The Amer

Friday was The Wedding. Sunday the Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust. Monday, today, Osma Bin Laden and his son have been killed, and it's Mothers day in Spain and Portugal and Taiwan and The Netherlands. My prayer for all of us is that the feminine voice of compassion, not vengeance flood the world. Please let us not gloat. Please let us behave with dignity. 'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.' Mahatma Ghandi.

It's May Day. I'm longing to be back in Peru. It's worldwide Remembrance day of the Holocaust. I feel sick and sad and stunned, and numbed. So many lives lost. My Jewish father ran away from Europe. He found himself in Dublin, changed his name, and died his hair blond. And before I was born , like a puff of smoke, he ceased to exist. I have a Jewish retreat guest in my house for five days. I've found help for the screenplay. His name is Charlie. He's Jewish. So many swirling thoughts and strange feelings today, and then, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. A book which uses language in a way that stretches the brain like a piece of elastic, enthralls the soul, and lances the heart. 'The most important book I have read for forty years,' comments John Berger, no less. It's about the 'after effects', the after life of a young Jewish boy rescued from Poland by a scholarly and kind Greek bachelor archaeologist. They flee to Greece, then emigrate to