Heidi Lynch, you are a Canadian actress, producer and creator of TV series Avocado Toast (2020). Can you tell us more about yourself, what did you study and why did you decide to become an actress and producer? On a crisp fall day in October 1987 the youngest sister of three boys was born. When she came out her mother thought she was a boy, despite being told “it’s a girl!” and called her Joseph. Joseph was quickly named Heidi after her Swiss grandmother. Heidi wasn’t born a writer/producer/actor. She became one through her desire to tell meaningful stories that uplift, change and comfort others. She now splits her time between Toronto and London (U.K.), spreading her stories and living her life. Hahaha. I read somewhere that you created the series after your own experiences and therefore your lesbian relationship and coming out issues of the main character in the series are the same as in your life. How your life has changed ever since you came out and are you still with that 'special person'? Firstly to be super clear I wrote Molly’s story to create representation for BISEXUAL characters. Molly is bisexual as am I. I never saw myself represented on screen when we started writing the show. I am overjoyed that there are more bi characters I can reference now. The derision and relative lack of representation is even more jarring when you remember that there are more people who identify as bisexual-plus — a spectrum that includes bisexuality, pansexuality, queerness, and everything in between — than those who identify as lesbian or gay combined. My life has changed for the better because of my partner but not really because of my bisexuality. I got to come out with the beautiful announcement that I was in love and was starting a relationship so although I built it up to be a potentially challenging conversation it went very well. I know how lucky I am about that. I must say that I am bit baffled about coming out issues. I come from the former socialist country and I came out in 1988 to my parents, to some of my former classmates from secondary school in 1989 and to all my former university classmates and professors in 1993. It is true that because I unexpectedly felt in love with woman I started questioning if there was only one right notion of love which lead me to professionally research concepts of love and emotions. However, I thought societies throughout the world became more progressive towards inclusion and acceptance of different sexual orientations and sexual identities in the past decade. Where do you think these doubts and questions regarding being (not)accepted by the parents, friends and peers (still) come from? If you watch or read the news there are cases every day of targeted homophobic attacks. I live in London and there was a stabbing just last week of a gay couple. On a double decker bus a bisexual woman and her lesbian partner were punched in the face because they wouldn’t kiss for a group on young men. I come from a wonderful family but no one is queer in the entirety of it. We are scared of the unknown and everything in the world we live in contributes to our fears. I don’t want anyone to feel fear of non-acceptance when they are coming out but I think it is inevitable. Creating representation for stories where coming is accepted is key. Was it intentional to emphasize the notion of a monogamous exclusive relationship in the series? I have to say that I strongly agree with you about that, however I get the feeling that people think of those who want to be in a long term monogamous faithful relationship as somewhat conservative. Do you agree? No I don’t agree but I think loving authentically and honestly is all that matters. As long as both people in the relationship consent to be in it with all the honest communication that specific relationship provides that is good! I am a monogamous person but I don’t judge anyone who isn’t, as long as being truthful to the people in their lives and protecting others’ hearts. I learned that some of your female colleagues are also bisexual and which I applaud. Was intentional to look for co-stars with the same sexual orientation? How do you think that actresses playing lesbian or bisexual characters being themselves the same sexual orientation contribute to the quality of acting and the series in general? It’s impossible to ask people their sexuality in an interview or audition. If people haven’t come out yet it puts them in a tough position. If people are out and can bring an authentic perspective to the role that is beneficial for everyone but not required. In some ways Avocado Toast is similar to Feel Good series where a Canadian gal also falls in love with English woman and series presents coming out issues of a woman who never before felt in love with a woman (it is interesting that both women work in primary schools too), however the added value of your series is that you deal with parents' sexuality and happiness as well. It is brave to tackle the sexuality of the parents and as you said in one of interviews we are all progressives regarding our parents just not when it comes to their sexual life and putting their happiness and independence as successful adults above their children. Finally, someone addressed this issue that parents as successful adults have the right to be happy and live their life independent from 'worrying' about their grown up children issues all the time. That is all true! Yep! I know!!! I watched Feel Good after we were done our show and was like “DAMN, we will never be on Netflix!” I like the idea how you presented being in love as 'work' of hormones of love and happiness, such as oxytocine, serotonin, noradrenaline. It is believed that the aforementioned hormones have boast for the first two years of the relationship and that is why the excitement and enthusiasm is the strongest in that period and then slowly goes back to normal, afterward partners should work on relationship to boast the levels of hormones if they wish to maintain its excitement. Why did you decide to include that in the series? Molly is trying to find a pragmatic way to write her feeling for The One off so she tries to change them into logic. Which lesbian film(s) and TV series has been the best in your opinion and why? Orange is the new black Brooklyn Nine Nine (bisexual xo) The Bisexual What inspires you most in your work and in your personal life, where your inspiration comes? NEW and FRESH stories. People or places or things that I know nothing about. I want to learn and explore and give voice to the NEW and FRESH. At last but not least, what are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future? I am producing a new web series in development called Womb Envy. I am assistant producing a dating show. I am researching a feature film. Katarina Majerhold Natalia Zamilska, you are Polish creator, composer and producer of electronic music. You graduated from Uniwersytet Śląski in Cieszyn with a degree in social and cultural animation and cooperated with a local Foundation of Audiovisual Culture »Strefa Szarej«, by leading workshops in electronic music production and working for Galeria Szara. Can you tell us more about yourself - how come you decided to study social and cultural animation? What do you wish to achieve by that and when did you start making electronic music and found out it could be a profession as well? A friend persuaded me to continue onto higher education. There were pros in doing so: I would’ve been further from home but still in Silesia, the degree was culture related, university campus looked like Woodstock, and most importantly the program had an easy syllabus. I knew that eventually it would drop everything I was doing to make music. The campus really was like Woodstock, you could write a book about it. I am surprised we survived. Reality hit after graduation, there was no work, no one would employ me, not even in retail. I was recording music during the day and drinking beer in the evening while pondering, how I am going to pay rent. Then I made Quarrel. My favorite genre of music is melodic techno and I grew up with all kind of techno music, however your industrial techno is really good and when I first listened to your music, especially debut album »Untune« from 2014 I thought it reminded me a bit of the music from Tresor Club in Berlin at the end of 90'ies through 2000 when techno was at its peek. This is of course my personal opinion. Who was your biggest inspiration and/or musicians that influenced you the most in regard to your music as well as videos you make for your songs? I listen to so many different genres of music that it is hard to pinpoint one specific source of inspiration. I'm a patchwork of everything. When I was working on my fist album, I had no agenda. No plans, no expectations. I let it flow. I remember, when I was recording Quarrel, my main focus was to connect elements that on their own would never work together. I wanted to give listeners goose bumps. I generally have a DIY approach when it comes to recording. I can convert very poorly recorded sound bits from a market in Morocco in to a melody line, and you would never know that it didn’t come from an expensive synthesizer. Same goes for visual content. I am able to create a story from various, unrelated video clips. Total punk rock and garage. Some despise it, others like it. Did you know, that one of the melodic lines on Uncovered comes from porn? Someone asked me if they were bisons. Album »Untune« has been also very popular with more then 800.000 views of your videos/songs Duel 35 and almost 400.000 Closer on YouTube. How does it feel to see your music have been listened/watched so much? They will play Duel at my funeral. I am sure of it. Honestly? When I look at these statistics, I worry that they are low. Your second album »Undone« from 2016 and song Ost to the game »Ruiner« also from »Undone«, was nominated in the Electronic Album Of The Year category of Fryderyki 2017 and Digital Dragons 2018 award for the best game soundtrack. How come that you wrote a song created for the game and how is it different making songs for games from other fields? How did it make you being nominated for the awards and what influence the award had on your work, people recognized your more, you got more offers for concerts and tours? Winning the soundtrack category at the Digital Dragon gala was a great experience. The more so because I do not come from the gaming world and my music wasn’t really popular in that community. The fact that music from »Undone« was included in the Ruiner soundtrack was a milestone for me. Since then I’ve developed a strong fan base among gamers. You can see that in YouTube statistics. It also shows in the comments, there are many slogans from the game: “get them puppy” or “kill them all”. I am very amused and happy when I read them. Being nominated for a Fryderyk Award was fun. It is the most prestigious music award in Poland. It is usually awarded to popular musicians. When I was a kid I used watch the gala on TV. So you can imagine that it was a great experience to be there and be nominated. This year Unocovered, my third album, was nominated in Electronic Album of the Year category. But the awards were postponed due to pandcemic. Let this be my comment on importance of these types of awards. You third album »Uncovered« is quite different from the two previous ones, as Bob Cluness (2019) wrote you fine-tuned your production skills and buffed up your beats to a crisp clean, minimal finish and added your voice. I agree with him that it is your best album. I particularly like songs Alive, Hollow, Back. How come you decided to start singing as well and what do you wish to achieve by adding lyrics to your songs? I envied my friends - female vocalists. Adding vocals was a wet dream. I thought about it for a long time, but there came a moment in my life that I needed words as another source of communication. Like an additional instrument. It was another big challenge for me as a producer. Maybe that's why this album is considered the best - because I surprised everyone, myself included. So, what do I have to do on the next album? Do you think music could or should reflect certain »sign of times/zeitgeist« and also should it represent certain values, such as democracy, equality, freedom, peace? I am asking this because when I watched videos for songs Duel 35, Closer, Army (from »Untune«) all deal with violence, aggression and war. Why does this topic interest you in connection to your music/videos, do you wish to make a statement about the aforementioned topics? I think that every young musician must come to the point where he begins to understand that music cannot be non-political. This is impossible by the very assumption of especially electronic music which was founded on the foundations of struggles for human rights and the proclamation of equality slogans. Techno was created in black neighbourhoods, in gay clubs. I am under the impression that nowadays many people in Poland forgot about it. My main premise while recording, especially »Undone« was to remind everyone that electronics can carry a message. In addition, I have been fascinated by the music and customs of other cultures since I was a child. I have always been always under the impression that our white race did a lot of damage. There was a lot about that on my second album too. It was the result of total anger at what is happening around the Word. I think globally, less locally. How is your music connected to your sexual orientation? In song Hollow we can hear you sing »She said what should I tell you?«, in song Alive (both songs are from album »Uncovered«) you sing »She is a girl, She is alive«. Do you sing about your personal experiences? Do you find it important raising awareness regarding different sexual orientations through music? I always talk only about myself and my feelings on my albums. I couldn't create a fake story. I can't make up and lie, which is often my curse because I talk too much. I never hide my orientation. I never had a big coming-out, although one newspaper tried very hard to make it seem that way a few years ago. For me this is my way of "fighting" - NATURALITY. I do not scream, I do not stomp my feet, but in interviews I use the phrase "my ex-girlfriend” without batting an eye. I never pretend, I never lie about myself. I usually don't take part in any actions because I just don't like them and I don't like the way, dealing with the problem, that associations working for LGBT people in Poland have chosen. Very often they lock themselves in a certain enclave, instead of opening to different environments. So I think that more important than expressing yourself directly in music is how you behave on a daily basis. However you are not working only as a music maker and producer. In the years 2017–2019 you were a host of a programme "Nocny TransPort" in national radio station Czwórka. For instance I have tried to raise awareness about the representation of different sexual orientations and identities through my books, work on radio and television and even editorial work. What was your work about? Have you also included a topic on homosexuality? I returned to the radio during the pandemic. I try to raise many different issues regarding other cultures, human rights, current and difficult social situations. I never leave matters without a comment because I consider it an obligation if I have such a platform as a radio. Not only that - I work on Polish National radio which 99% were taken over by the current regime authorities. I can't imagine not taking advantage of this opportunity and smuggling out different content in a thoughtful way. However, I don’t focus solely on LGBT. There are really many issues in which people in our country needs awareness. Music from different cultures is a great link. How do you perceive current situation of LGBT people in Poland? It’s bad. No one goes to prison for homosexuality yet but I’m not sure if we should consider "bad" from prison for sexual orientation. We currently have a very right-wing party in power which spreads propaganda in national media that LGBT is a group that will pervert your children. And these are the lightest hits. Of course, we don't have any rights. I’m ashamed of that, but Poland is not a tolerant country. There are of course many groups that are fighting for LGBT community, but isn't it sad that in the 21st century we have to prove to someone that a gay or a lesbian is not a perverse creature lurking to stalk your children? Many people have to leave the country if they want to start a family. There is violence at parades, like the one in Bialystok last year. It's terrifying. This is unacceptable. Forget about holding your hand on the street if you don't want to hear insults. I live in the capital city and I can't imagine how scared kids from smaller towns are, who discover their sexuality. Something must change. This is a violation of human rights. I hope that finally someone will weigh it, hear it. This should finally be dealt with by the European Union, to which Poland, after all, belongs. What inspires you most in your work and in your personal life? I don't think I have such a specific thing. Life in itself, simply. At last but not least, what are you currently working on and what are your plans for the future? I'm trying to get together and focus only on myself and recording a new material. It's hard work. Believe me, I'm the least focused person I know. Katarina Majerhold Interviews with women in film industry, research institutes, art organizations ...Archives
July 2023
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