Friday, January 26, 2018

Melinda Camber Porter in conversation with Roger Vadim


Roger Vadim (1928 - 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director, producer, author, and actor.

ROGER VADIM ibored with the image hhas created for himselfHfeelthat hhas lost sight of what hwantto do by fulfillinthdemands of producers, distributors and starsIn the 20 years since hdirected his first filmAnd God Created Woman with BrigittBardothhaknown only too well how to sell himselfhiwives and therby his films. He calls himself someonwho habeen typecast too long.
“It was very difficult to me to liberate myself frocommercial success. Wheyou've made a successful filmproducers want to repeat the formula,” he says, talkinin a mixture of French and English (although hhas a perfect command othe latter).
At 46he had madhifirst film for which his willing to takfull responsibility. La Jeune Fille Assassinee is, according to Vadim, an exploration of thproblems of the new freedom that women have todayHe has scripted, directedand produced it and also stars in itItheroine, Charlotteplayed by new actress Sirpa Laneis “youngbeautiful and brilliant and feelthat she can do whateveshlikes”But Vadim shows that it isn'that simple: she ends up brutally murdered.
Read the full article from The Observer here.

Monday, January 22, 2018

Melinda in conversation with Jean-Louis Barrault

[Barrault] is a friendly, and ultimately comforting person to talk to. Age has not worn out his
enthusiasm, or his energy. His first concern when we met was to make sure I was at ease, so he asked me to lead him to the part of the theater where I would feel happy conducting the interview.

"I gradually realized that one eventually encounters destiny. And I believe destiny is something that is exterior to oneself."

"There is only one religion for me, and that's love of humanity. So I believe that one has to sow the seeds of a celebration, and of mutual friendship, and within that atmosphere, in the theater, one can say things to people."

"There are two kinds of works: There are plays that fall like fruit from the tree, which don't really belong to the poet. And then there are works that poets create which they never complete. And these works stay within them for the rest of their lives. The umbilical cord is never cut."


Friday, January 19, 2018

Melinda in conversation with Jean-François Revel

Jean-François Revel (1924 - 2006) was a French journalist, author, and philosopher.


Revel does not confine his analysis to France. And he also gives warning to the West about the fragility of democracies. Nor does he feel that living in France has made him more sensitive to these issues. He speaks as a European. "I have always said that democracy is an abnormal political system. It's an exception. In Europe, people have always found it difficult to maintain a democracy."


Excerpted from Through Parisian Eyes

Sunday, January 14, 2018

New Book Coming Soon

COMING SOON

Melinda Camber Porter in Conversation with Françoise Sagan
a dual language book from Blake Press


During this dual language interview, Sagan talks quietly. She responds to questions with a momentary look of deep reflection, then looks straight at you as she rushes through her thoughts. She rarely disappears into a reverie or a monologue. And she does not lose herself in her thoughts. She constantly tried to find out my responses to all the issues we discussed, not as a way of avoiding being interviewed, but rather out of curiosity. Her liveliness radiates out of her very thin frame and gives her an ethereal quality. Yet her voice is deep and earthy.


All of Melinda's Books are available at Amazon

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Eric Rohmer discusses his film The Marquise of O with Melinda

Eric Rohmer discusses his film The Marquise of O with Melinda

Rohmer, having set up the tape recorder himself, continued to conduct the interview. He neither solicits nor suffers any prompting and heads straight to the point: "It's the past in itself which interests me. I make no attempt to modernize. I want to make people appreciate the past and the art of the past. We have inherited a great tradition and must not lose it through laziness."

It is perhaps unwise to ask the dedicated professor of the past why his suject is so important to a modern audience if he makes no attempt to relate it to the present. Unconvinced by my simple question, Rohmer paused for the first time.  "But surely you feel the reason," he said rather plaintively. Then he sighed and in a resigned tone continued, "I'll explain why the past is important in modern terms, if that's what you want."

MelindaCamberPorter.com

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Melinda in conversation with Monique Wittig

In 1976 Melinda Camber Porter sat with the French author and feminist theorist Monique Wittig to discuss her novel Le Corps Lesbien.

Monique Wittig, the small, dark-eyed Joan of Arc of the lesbian community, perched on her chair, and in a voice which gradually lost its defensive tone, said, “I could not bear to write anything obscene about a woman's body. Until now men have held the monopoly in describing a woman's body. But their vocabulary is tainted by their attitudes. I felt it was time for women to start writing about their own bodies. In Le Corps Lesbien I tried to use a fresh and untainted vocabulary.”


Read the full article "The Lesbian Body Re-Examined," Excerpted from The Paris Post here

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Polaroid Selfie #13



Melinda Camber Porter purchased a Polaroid camera in 1981. She was fascinated by the fact one was able to get instant feedback with a Polaroid camera and not wait days or weeks to get one’s traditional photography developed. She could now take pictures of herself and see if it showed what she was thinking. Today, of course, we call this a ‘Selfie.’

My Polaroid Selfies 1981 now available in hardcover and ebook at Amazon