Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominika Juillet.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born in Eastern Europe to parents that were one half aristocrats, one part mountain folk. Both sides of the family were scientists who loved the arts (marine biologists, neurosurgeons, horticulturalists, all of them at one point performed in theatre, music or poetry). My great-grandmother was a Baroness but my other grandfather worked with bees and orchards in the countryside. As a kid between the two households, I had an early existential awakening about how opposites relate and actually help each other grow as people and culture.
When we moved to Canada, I had another level of two different worlds; they were so different and yet, in some ways, so much the same. Thinking about a common language between the city and country, as well as two different continents, much of my creativity and work has been inspired by bringing these things together.
I was a late bloomer in almost all things, a tall dorky giraffe. I wanted to be a secret agent since it was a career where you could love Vogue fashion magazines and also be a mathlete, I was on student council but also got drafted for the Canadian Olympic volleyball team when I was 15. I got chosen to do a year long course in “peer counselling”.
I started acting in theatre around that time, intrigued by the idea of getting to do “character study” for roles playing people in society who were different than me. I loved debating and discussing inconsistencies in religion, history and how I did or did not identify with the stereotypes laid out for me (as a blonde, as a skinny girl, as an athlete, as a nerd, as a girl, etc.)
During university, I found myself on a film set with Rosanna Arquette one day and her pushing me to “get that face in front of a camera.” *I had tested for modeling for Lancome at 21 and absolutely HATED the sitting around aspect of modeling, didn’t see much appeal in film acting which didn’t require you to memorize more than a few pages of script. Rosanna insisted they write in a small part for me and the producers offered to write me a referral to the school of LAMDA in London.
I was stupid at that point in history and declined, still not much inspired by the types of roles they suggested I could play as a “slim European blonde girl”. I auditioned for guest stars opposite Jessica Alba, Chris Isaak and Kate Hudson’s brother and maybe because I wasn’t obsessed with “talking about the craft”, I booked nearly every role the agents sent me out for. He called me the “wild card’; in theatre, I learned not to care about looking pretty as much as feeling truthfully invested emotionally.
I had written a short film pilot and was awarded a CBC mini-series as both writer and lead actress. Out of 140,000 submissions nationwide, they had picked my bizarre dark comedy about feeling “discombobulated” from how society told me we should behave when dating. Invitations to come to LA started coming in.
I landed in LA with an audition for Luc Besson, one of my filmic idols (which I blew completely enough to not get a callback, but was memorable enough to earn a referral to the great Lesly Kahn school of acting). Thanks to her, I soon had my first indie feature role, a small part in a Roland Joffe role and even representation for commercials (my first big gig was a Superbowl ad with Jason Statham, even though I didn’t know anything about the superbowl).
While booking things that were very commercial, or guest stars on a Seth Green show, I also felt a distinct need to somehow “give back” creativity to the things which had helped me grow up (nature and mixing opposites); it was around this time I had the idea for Provoke. I loved films and ads which made me think about a bigger picture and I felt like there was definitely a void (a missing “heart”) to a lot of the commercial stuff I was doing. The idea to dedicate a certain percentage of time BACK to raising awareness for issues that were bigger than me came together while I was an advisor for Global Green, an ambassador for ASW and on the board of the members only club 41 Ocean. I had worked with some great directors and actors and it quickly became an obvious formula to put people together for one day of work “pro bono” while highlighting an issue that was important to all of us.
The environment. Immigration issues. Gender equality. Race relations. The importance of taking action within your own community. There was no shortage of things that needed more of a profile in film and commercial work.
The first film was with directors Ash Baron Cohen (sasha’s cousin) and showcases an homage to CK perfume ads with a unique twist about the importance of taking care of our oceans. There was a photoshoot with Hannah Frasier (mermaid environmentalist) dedicated to using glamour to showcase the detrimental effects of purse seine fishing methods.
Scion did a nationwide tour showcasing innovation and forward-thinking across the USA and Provoke and I were chosen as one of the commercial finalists to be featured in their short films. There was a speaker series (featuring noteworthy stereotype disruptors such as artist Alexa Meade, poet InQ) and a host of unique guest designers and musicians who came on board to share this vision of creating a place and conversation in society where we could talk about “big ideas”.
I had written and starred in a VR film premiered by Samsung when a writer from WWD reached out about profiling the importance and power of this alignment; just as the political landscape of the US was shifting in a way that seemed to call on everybody to use their voice, the pandemic wave momentarily removed our ability to collaborate and co-create.
The idea for shooting something promoting the vote in the 2020 election came to me as LA started to permit in person auditions and I was faced with the grim fact that as an o-1 I was not yet able to vote. The feature film I had been filming was suspended indefinitely. For fall 2021, I found the 90s trend very inspiring because of how Cindy, Naomi and Linda had reshaped the profile and influence of a pretty face in the fashion industry. I had been in contact with a few designers I had met while being sent out to Fashion Week and it seemed JUST possible to do a small scale shoot that could capture the importance of using “beauty for a cause” in social media.
The Beauty for the Vote campaign was assisted by a photographer and a model who helped flesh out casting and style team but it was thanks to friends at a very special location and designer Maggie Barry that we were able to create a unique follow-up to the article in WWD. The next stage, as Maggie put it, is that none of this local activism can stop just because the vote has happened. The US has officially pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and systemic racism and sexism continue to be a recurring issue on the ground.
The ability to use your spotlight as a performer at any phase in your career is always there; it’s just up to you to decide when and how you want to share that.
Has it been a smooth road?
Canada and the US are very different when it comes to work ethics in the film industry. There is an obvious sense of teamwork and camaraderie up north as the “underdog” that comes from knowing you are all working together to make it onto the Hollywood map. People are humble and expect to put in time learning, working their way up. In LA, there is a bizarre sense of entitlement from people who have done very little work to get training or experience learning before they feel they are owed something or because someone has told them “you look hot”. Factor in the new influencer and reality tv “fame” and there are a lot of people suddenly feeling like you can literally get paid just for showing up. When you’re doing pro bono and there is a cause involved (or if you have some access to things), it SHOULD be that people only show up because they are actually invested in the cause .. in all the speaker series I did, and some of the shoots, there were people who got involved not to get behind the message but just to get exposure for themselves. I am still learning how to make sure that I team up with people who bring equal parts and are genuinely as passionate on any given project; you make an easy mark when you are an idealist in this city.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Philosopher Immanuel Kant had a theory called “dialectical unity of opposites” being the space in which culture and society evolve and become better. I think he meant that we are best when we keep friends with people who are different than us, maybe even disagree with us (see final words of Social Dilemma to echo this idea) so as to always feel a sense of connection to ALL of the elements around us that make up our local and global community.
Thanks to my fluency in multiple social groups as a kid (I was as comfortable at a fancy opera as I was in the orchard following bees), I created Provoke to be a perfect “collision course” of the opposites. I had a “nerd and bombshell” party just before launch (you could dress as either as a guy or girl) and we had both elements of philosophical discussion as well as dancing our faces off after dinner. The partnering with 41 Ocean and ASW meant that I was able to use my assets as an actress with some work credits to get things like a sponsorship from Patron and backup from celebrity designer Lorena Sarbu. These incredible brands and people showed up to work together with me to create a space in which you were encouraged to “talk to strangers” and speak about your passions instead of just your IG following. I featured male suit designers, I did a benefit for Nepal and I believe there were at least five couples who started dating as a result of conversations triggered by Provoke. (that I know of)
I did all of this work for free, bringing together people I knew or believed were similarly invested in creating experiences and projects that reflected a bigger conscience and regard for the well being of humanity, the environment. I was very proud to be featured by Scion and incredibly honored that Maggie chose to design a dress for Beauty for the Vote when I called her to describe my idea.
What has set me apart is doing it all for free and mostly on my own as the point of origin; every Provoke idea has started with something that I decided to write/create and then gone out to source people of similar passion to make it with. (this makes it challenging since it requires constantly having to search for people to really co-produce, and by that I don’t mean JUST taking a title and doing very little, I mean people who actually want to do the work from prep to post). This is something I hope to change in the future.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think we are going to visit that unique space of retelling history in a way that is more truly representative. I had ALWAYS felt that since men historically wrote all the accounts of battles (and conquerors, whatever war in whatever time and all races ALSO were in charge of recording history), there are a LOT of missing stories in the human narrative. I think we are going to start telling the stories of female heroes, black heroes, non-white heroes, nonconforming heroes… and I also hope we tell them with a universal reconnection (among all the things that make us so different) also to the things that make us the same. We all struggle to answer “why am I here?” we all quest to define the meaning and real-life actualization of I think AR and VR are going to re-emerge as tools with which to do this, as well as gaming. Gamification can be a huge learning tool and I think this will open up a whole new faction of education; imagine if you could BE in a gladiator’s life from start to finish as a “choose your own adventure” story with factual details that actually simulate what it was like to live back then?
I think the shift towards a more balanced view is already happening… and I think we will hopefully see the end of “insta fame” for people who have done very little to deserve it; if the pandemic gave us all one useful insight as talent, it’s to revisit that important question of what it is we actually contribute to society with our work. I ask myself this all the time when I undertake new projects, especially when I am starting to create a Provoke concept.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.provoketheworld.com
- Instagram: @dominikapounce
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/provoketheworld
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