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On August 13, 2009, I got the opportunity to converse with the multi-talented Carolena Sabah, via a telephone interview. Carolena is an inspiring woman, who has conquered many obstacles. She was born in Iran in 1974. Her family fled her home-land and immigrated to Greece before settling in the United States. She is multilingual and graduated high school at just sixteen years old. She is a dental hygienist, as well as a writer, actress, producer and executive producer.

For those of you not familiar with her work, she has appeared in Knuckle Draggers, Waist Deep, Futball – The Price of Dreaming, as well as, starred in Irangeles, Don’t Gag Me, and The Witch of Portobello trailer for the Experimental Witch Project. Her film for the Witch of Portobello will make its World Premiere at the Rome Film Festival in October. Ms. Sabah not only stared in the trailer, but she executive produced, as well as, starred in both The Witch of Portobello and Don’t Gag Me.

Ms. Sabah’s film, Don’t Gag Me, is a 10 minute short film. It won the ARPA (Foundation for Film, Music and Arts) International Film Festival Screening in 2007.  When Don’t Gag Me appeared at the Very Short Movies Festival, it was an instant hit. In June of 2008, Atom Films, a partner of MTV networks and Comedy Central, premiered Don’t Gag Me on their site; where it can be still be seen at http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/dont_gag_me/. Don’t gag me is a light-hearted and humorous,  sexually charged fantasy about a man’s trip to the dental hygienist. But, we must add a warning here: This film is for Adults Only.

In regard to her film The Witch of Portobello, it was filmed in the Imperial Dunes, California; on a miniscule budget of just $7000. It is based on a chapter of the book, The Witch of Portobello, by Paulo Coehlo. With a cast of only six characters, it was written and directed by Tadeh Daschi. The trailer for this is just a little over two minutes long, but is breathtaking. It can be viewed at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=38046961. The scenes, music, costumes and imagery that appear in the trailer, seem to suck the viewer into the story. I had not read the book, but after seeing Ms. Sabah’s trailer for The Witch of Portobello, I was so taken with the story that I immediately went out and purchased the book. While the book, in my opinion, was not a favorite; Ms. Sabah’s trailer for The Witch of Portobello had already enticed me enough, that I can’t wait to see the full film.

While, I must admit I was nervous entering this interview. Technically, it was my first star interview; Ms. Sabah managed to put me at ease during our conversation. She is a kind, soft spoken woman. I found her to be inspiring, as she exemplifies conquering your dreams and goals.

I hope my question and answer session, with Ms. Carolena Sabah, will leave you with a deep respect for her and a more intimate knowledge of her as a woman.

Q:        In the final moments of The Witch of Portobello trailer, when Athena leaps off the cliff, did you do the fall off the cliff, or did a stunt double? If you did it, what was that like and how did you prepare?

A:        “I did it myself,” she proclaimed with pride. “There was no preparation, only praying,” she said with laughter. “It was a cliff, and quite a bit of a ways below it was another little rocky cliff. I had to jump it barefoot for the final scene. In preparation, I did try it once with shoes, with tennis shoes. I only did it once, because I didn’t want to hurt myself before the final take. I just did it. I did hurt my foot, just a little bit. I did not hurt myself too bad; because I was barefoot I jumped on a rock. It all went okay, nobody fell, and nobody died.”

Q:        Will you be attending the film festival in Rome, where your film will have its World Premier?

A:        “Yes, I don’t have my tickets yet, but I am planning on going. I don’t want to miss it. I am very much looking forward to it. It’s going to be wonderful.”

Q:        Tadeh Daschi produced The Witch of Portobello together. I read that you approached him with the project concept, is this true? Did you know him prior to the Witch of Portobello? What was his reaction?

A:        “Uh, I did not know him prior to, I did not know him. Actually, I saw the music video that he did, and I saw him on MySpace, the music video he shot for Visa. It was just right around the time I found out about The Witch of Portobello and decided to do it. I saw his video and wanted to meet him. It so happened that the band Visa was having a concert, and Daschi was going to be there. So, I said great. So, that was the first time I met him, and I proposed the project. He sounded very interested, and that’s where it comes from.”

Q:        Have you recouped your investment in The Witch of Portobello as of yet, or are you still acting and producing just for the love of it?

A:        “Well, I have not produced anything since, and I have not recouped it,” she stated referring to her investment. “Um, yeah I did it for the love of it. I have not done any projects after that. Especially executive producing, that is not going to be possible!”

Q:        Now, moving away from The Witch of Portobello, where did you go to school to become a dental hygienist?

A:        “I went to Pasadena City College, for the Dental Hygiene Program. It’s a two year program at PCC.”

Q:        Of the many career hats that you wear, dental hygienist, producer, actress and writer, which is your favorite and why?

A:        She paused to think, “Uh, um, my favorite, it would have to be writing. Well, it would have to be between acting and writing. But, right at this stage, I feel a little more comfortable expressing myself with writing, right now.” 

Q:        Do you have any acting/writing/producing training?

A:        Yes, I do. For acting, I went to Stella Adler Acting Academy almost for two years. I took the program there. Then, I have been studying with coaches for many years independently here and there. For writing, I don’t really have any official training. I might have taken like one literature course in college, but that’s about it. I never took any professional writing classes or anything like that. For Producing, I actually put myself through Producing/Film School for a year, before I shot my first short film, Don’t Gag Me. For almost a year, I just learned all I could about film making and producing and all aspects of producing a film; as much as I could, by myself.

Q:        I read in a previous interview that you write articles, where do we find them?

A:        Well, I have a column that I am writing at, How To Tell a Great Story, the name of my column is Invading Spaces the Warrior Way. It appears about once a month.

Q:        Now it’s time to probe a little into your personal life. I am sure many people out there want to know, if there is a significant other in your life?

A:        “OH,” obviously uncomfortable, she giggled as she stated, “No, um there isn’t, but I don’t want to talk about that.”

Q:        In a previous interview, you mentioned that when you returned to Iran as an adult, you suffered from depression. Can you share with everyone, how you coped with that depression? How long did your depression last? And, do you have any suggestions for those suffering from depression?

A:        Oh gosh, any suggestions, I would say exercise is probably the number one feel good thing. Exercise probably helps the most. When someone is depressed, it is so hard to get them up and do something. I was depressed because of the circumstances yes. Also, this may sound kind of weird but there is a lot of pollution there. Smog and fumes from the cars. Literally, sometimes, it was so strong for me that I had to hold my breath out in public; trying not to breath. I am used to clean air. We have air pollution control here. It’s not like that there. So I think another part of my depression was not getting enough oxygen. The only way I dealt with it was coping with it, until I got home. Returning home helped.

Q:        Do you view your mother as an “Athena” type character, because she left her home country, in pursuit of another life?

A:        Well, we left the country because of the Revolution, the war broke out. So, we had to get out if we wanted to survive. Yes, my mother, you can call her an “Athena” type character. She’s determined and when she wants to do something she does it. But, we left because of the war. Before that, Iran was beautiful like Europe, very modern. After the Revolution everything changed completely, and we had to get out, to stay alive.

Q:        Do you consider yourself a feminist or role model to young women, especially young Iranian women?  If so what does that mean to you?

A:        Oh gosh, I hate to label myself anything. I don’t like to take the position of a role model. There is so much responsibility in that, you know. Although, I like to set a good example.

Q:        Who is your personal favorite Historical Woman and Why?

A:        My favorite historical woman, I would have to say Helen Keller and Aphrodite; because of Love, and because Helen didn’t let any barrier stop her.

Q:        Prior to 2006, I found no record of you acting or producing. Is this the year you broke into the movie industry?  How did you break into acting/producing?

A:        2006, oh gosh well, no. That is when I produced my first film, “Don’t Gag Me.” I believe for four or five years before that, I was in it. Prior to that, I was studying, training, going to auditions and trying to get work. The first couple of years were just training. My first film was actually, Irangeles. Then for a few years there was just kinda nothing there. So, I said okay, if there is no work, then I will make work for myself. I’ll just write something and produce it and put myself in it and act in it. What am I going sit around and wait for something to come. That just doesn’t happen so easily. So, I did, I wrote, before “Don’t Gag Me,” I wrote another short script, but that never got produced, because the budget was high. I couldn’t do it, or find any investors for it. Then I wrote “Don’t Gag Me,” and I kept it very short, so that I could be able produce and executive produce it. Between that, it was at least 5 years where there was just no work, when I was in it.

Q:        Do you have any suggestions for women looking to break into the field currently?

A:        It’s such a difficult industry. Make sure that’s what you really want to do. It’s very difficult.

Q:        What would you like our readers to know about you?

A:        I enjoy nature a lot. I don’t think I could live without being in nature for too long. I need to go to nature to ground.

Q:        Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

A:        Make sure you read the book before seeing the film. It’s always better to read the book before seeing a film, so you have the whole story. Some of the scenes had to be cut out from the film because it was way too long. It was almost, I think five hours, and they had to cut all that down to two hours. There was a lot they had to cut out. It’s good to read the book before seeing the film.
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