Tally

A documentary filmmaker, an author, a radio producer and a really good cook, Tally Abecassis was one of the first people I met here in Montreal.

A longtime friend of Sanj's, Tally was my own private welcome wagon when I first moved here and her kind gesture helped me feel settled here. I'd always think, "Wow, I can't believe someone this cool is taking the time to welcome me here." Yeah, she's cool.

Since graduating from Concordia in 1996, Tally has worked on various film, TV and radio projects. Some of her current and recent work includes:
-- A long term documentary on small stores, "Think Big"
-- Directing a few episodes for a new French documentary series by local creatives at Urbania magazine, UrbaniaTV
-- Several radio pieces for the CBC
-- Curating "This Really Happened", a bi-monthly non-fiction reading series
-- An engaging book on Barbershops with amazing photographs that's been receiving excellent reviews

-- A major achievement in her professional life was the documentary film she wrote and directed, Lifelike. A quirky film on a quirky topic, Lifelike delves into the world of taxidermy by following the lives of four taxidermists and one customer. From InformAction, "Funny, touching, and sometimes just plain absurd, Lifelike will make you think twice about human nature and our relationship with animals." Lifelike quickly caught on in the filmmaking world and her movie was featured in several film festivals around North America


One of my dream projects is to do a video press kit for OM home with Tally. A piece on the often wacky production process of OM home's textiles, including some history on the art of Alpona. Hmmmm, someday. In the meantime, Tally's next major documentary piece, Radio Waves will focus on children in West Africa; how they see their lives and their future. For this documentary, Tally traveled solo to Burkina Faso to gather some initial data, we were all very inspired by her diligence and creativity-- we are all very inspired.

In the spirit of this blog entry, I've asked Tally to send me some information about someone that inspires her. She wrote me about Marci Denesiuk, her friend and colleague. Tally writes,
"Marci Denesiuk is my wonderful friend and a wonderful writer. Marci is always pushing herself creatively to try new things. For the launch of her book she put together a quirky claymation film (very hard to do!) to accompany her readings. It was hilarious and a great way to change the dynamics of a reading. And of course, her writing is beautiful."

Thanks Tally, I'll miss you in Toronto!