Vocalist, songwriter, composer, producer, and artist Maya ‘M.I.A.’ Arulpragasam is hard to define. Known for her high energy beats, and hard hitting lyrics, M.I.A. has been making waves in the underground music scene for years.

    Born in India, Maya Arulpragasam was 1 of 3 children. Six months after her birth, her family moved to their native Sri Lanka. Her father, a devote member of the Tamil rebellion, Sri Lankan wasn’t the safest place for her family. Targeted by the Sri Lankan government, Arulpragasam’s mother sought refuge in England. It was in England that Arulpragasam learned english. Her time in England was

ReelYoungCritics.com had the privilege of  being at the screening of Distractions:  a short by independent film makers Kevin Craig West and Michalina Almindo.  Kevin, the writer and star of the film was a suave and demure guy, with charm and wit. While a beautiful and gracious Michalina was full of joyous sprit. Both spoke exclusively to ReelYoung Critics.com following the screening of there funny,well done, and well received film.

RYC: How did this project come to be?

M: You want to tell the story this time Kevin (laughs)?

K: Michalina and I both work constantly creating. And I had some down time of not creating, and wanted to do something. So I said, “Hey, want to direct something next week or something like that ?” We were actually on a shoot as talent, and we were in the green room sitting around. So yeah, why not do something?

M: Make a movie.

K: So I asked her, “You want to direct?”, and she said, “Sure, but people have to die.” (laughs) She asked me what the script was and I said, “Well, I haven’t written it yet.” So I said, “I’ll write it right now.” And I grabbed a pen and a napkin--

M: Yeah he started on a napkin (laughs).

K: Wrote it down and it was like five minutes...

It was actually half my idea. A friend of mine and I were driving, I was driving while texting in China Town in New York City. She said, “You know you should stop doing that.” I told her “Oh, I do it all the time. I’m really good at it, no problems.” Because I drive with my knees and all of that stuff. Anyway, she says, “Yeah but someone could walk out in front of you not paying attention, while your not paying attention--accident.” It’s like wow, that would suck, that would really suck: hey that’s a good movie ideal! (laughs). So  it was stuck in the back of my head.

RYC: It’s a cautionary tale about karma, how do you feel about karma? What are your views?

M: Oh my god you know my views! I absolutely live my life that way That your getting back what you put out there, wheather you want to call it karma or whatever, the universe...If people know you do wrong, wheather or not you get caught, the universe works it out (laughs). Like I really believe that. I believe that there is equally as much good stuff out there, as there is bad stuff. So I live my life that way. And when I read the script, I was like. “Rock on ! This is awesome!” It’s such a powerful quick little lesson in instant karma (laughs).

RYC: Distractions is the first thing that I’ve seen from you, is there anything else that people can find you in?

K: I have a number of projects, this (Distractions) is my first written project, but I have a number of projects that are out there. As a matter of fact, that’s how I found out about the Hollywood Black Film Festival. A feature of mine, The Assassin was at the Pan African Film Festival. I was at a panel that Sonya was on, and she was talking about this festival, and they were talking about shorts. I was like, shorts-smorts, you know, I do features. But I said I just did this short, and she said, well you should send it. So I was convince. The dead line was like five days away, I went to the with-out-a-box, and it was about $65 dollars to submit because of  the late deadline. So I said, “Uh, what the hell?” And later they called me.

RYC: Well it was definitely $65 dollars well spent, I would say. We are at the Hollywood Black Film Festival and its a place for networking and getting your projects out there. What happened for you Michalina?

M: Absolutely. I have a number of projects right now. I have, outside of this one, three additional shorts that are on the circuit. One of which that I directed, all three I produced, and two features. I have three features, but two that I’m really working on. One is called Aftermath and it is starring Chris Penn, Anthony Michael Hall, and Tony Danza. It’s a  full cast but its going to be a wide theatrical release next year. And I also have another one that I just completed titled Noir.  And um, here making connections and networking, this has been such a productive film festival, I am going to actually leave the screening of our movie to go to the office to work out a DVD deal for Noir(laughs)! Which is a movie that I didn’t come here with. So, it’s just really exciting that there’s a lot of networking going on. It’s really productive.

RYC: Okay. The movie, people were screaming and yelling and clapping at the screen. How did that feel? It must have felt really good.    

K: It felt great! It really did. I mean, to know that, from its inception of, “Hey let’s just do something”, to people really raving about it. I’m like “Wow”, blown away by it.

M: Its amazing! Very exciting. For me, as a film maker, my goal is to emote emotion. Wheather you know how to do that, that’s why I always say people have to die in my movie. I don’t have an obsession with death. But I do have an obsession with making  people care, and emoting something , and death usually does that. So, to the end when people are hooting and hollering its just so twistingly fun. You know, you never wish anybody bad no matter what they do, so the audience is like happy to see him die. But there’s that little thing like “Wow, that’s really wrong.” So as a film maker, its so exciting to hear that eruption, you know? That mixed bag of emotion its so exciting, its like, “yeah (laughs)!”

RYC: The movie was really short, about 7 or 8 minutes, what’s it like to work on a project that short? Is it difficult?

M: For me, I think that shorts are under rated, in that, I think it’s very challenging to do a good strong short. Because to have a full story, a full arc, and develop characters in a short amount of time...usually, you have an  hour to two hours to do that, you have that time to explore the character. But to do that in a short period of time, I think that is really challenging. I love that.

RYC: As an actor, was it difficult for you because it was a short film?

K: Um, no. Its just acting. You can only act each line at a time. So it wouldn’t matter if it were two lines that I had to do and did it, that’s the movie then that’s it. So, no not difficult.

RYC: Last question, where can people find your work? Where can they look you up?

K: Either www.mobettafilms.com or www.KevinCraigWest.com or Myspace, or Google me: Kevin Craig West. Goggle me.

M: I’m going to say this first: everybody knows the IMBD(www.imdb.com) and from the IMDB, it has my links to my websites which are www.MichalinaAlmindo.com. And www.IAC411.com that’s my production company but we also mentor film makers and actors its called Independent Artist Collaborative.

                                                                                   

Interview By: Michaela A.J.S.

Entertainment Journalist

                                                                                                                                                                                            

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