Conversations with Josette Eales

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josette Eales.

Hi Josette, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in 1983 in South Africa and raised under an apartheid regime. I was eleven years old when democracy came to my country. So much of what I understood about the world was born of segregation and racism. Of oppression and violence. My journey to becoming a more realized human has been about eradicating separation internally; by letting go of my beliefs. Letting go of my identity. Again and again and strengthening my ability to hold paradoxes. Deepening my capacity for empathy. I began my career in theatre working as an actor and producer. I started a theatre company right out of University and produced and directed plays. I founded a theatre in downtown Johannesburg that still plays host to some of South Africa’s most cutting edge works. I rose to success quickly in my home country, from my position of privilege, the odds were stacked in my favor. I achieved a successful career in TV and became a well known actress. This was how my country valued women. The next most obvious step was achieving this on the global stage so I set off for America and landed in Los Angeles. I assumed my success would arrive as easily as it had before but what followed was a radical discovery of who I really was. I was now an immigrant, without a network, without support, without the means. I was way behind the starting line. After a long while of not getting work, I began to search, to write, to dig. In this process I began to uncover my voice. The desire to tell my own stories surged within me. I was no longer looking to amplify other people’s stories I needed to tell my own. With each character I liberated on the page, parts of myself we liberated along with them. Beliefs dissolved. Truth found its way to the surface. I’m now an indie filmmaker, a woman writer / director, a role I’d never dreamed was possible for me. I’m living a life beyond my wildest dream.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
So many of the obstacles have been keys that have unlocked doors to my inner world. I’m endlessly grateful for this wildly bumpy path. Often the bumps have appeared as actual road blocks. When I was pursuing acting in Los Angeles it honestly felt a lot like walking into a brick wall. I’d come from a career of constant work as an actor and to have to audition again and again and again and continue to get so close to booking parts and then not get them felt like emotional torture. In hindsight if I had booked those roles I would never have begun to examine myself. As an actor I was constantly asking the world if it wanted me, when I started asking myself what I wanted everything changed. This shifted the entire paradigm I was living under. My soul wanted to tell stories my ego wasn’t allowing. There is so much more power for me in being the creator. Living a life of authenticity to me is the greatest, most exquisite way to live. But I believe struggle is such a huge part of the human experience. We’re all offered different struggles that wiggle our heart wide open if we let them.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an indie filmmaker; a writer, director and producer with a deep love for poetry. I bring my unique perspective and spiritual orientation to my work. I’m not afraid to explore the shadow and my well developed muscularity for holding paradoxes means I’m often tasked with telling stories that dig below the surface, explore trauma and liberate the psyche. I’m most proud of my own grit, my tenacity, my unfailing hope and love for this often under supported art form. My feature film MEIN SODLAT, a beautiful WW2 indie set in Austria in 1943 is currently out for sale and is being submitted to film festivals. I’m really optimistic that this film will find an audience and sell world wide. We need beauty and complexity in art now more than ever. I have a good number of projects in development I can’t mention unfortunately, they haven’t been announced, but I am actively adapting an exquisite novel for a two time Oscar Nominated actor that I am so excited about. Last year I also became an Academy Nicholl qualifier with my script LIFE AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I’d love to share a poem… Poetry is a language of the soul and rather than me speak more about myself I’d love to share some creativity.

How Strange

How strange it is to come here for such a short time.

To be simply an idea until someone else offers you space
inside the waters of their womb.
To struggle through the birth canal
and enter this world in a suit of flesh.

To walk upon sacred lands but not always feel connected.
To believe ferociously, then change your mind.
To meet friends and loose them.
To have family and un-choose them.

How strange it is to need love and know love
but not always allow love.
To suffer for year, upon year under the illusion
that you are anything but love.

Then, there are those fleeting precious moments however,
when you truly touch your place.
Under the clouds perhaps,
surrounded by trees,
against a setting sun.
And you know.
You trust.
Briefly of course because,
that
too
slips
away.

But perhaps each recognition sprouts a root.
Perhaps the rememberings wiggle at the heart.
Gently,
ever so slightly.

Until one day,
when your suit is weathered and your perspective soft,
you can hold that knowing.
You can honor that gateway through which you entered.
Thank the beings who journeyed alongside you.
And lift your weary arms in celebration
For all that was
And is
And continues to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm4382665?ref_=hm_prof_name
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josetteeales/