(Ep 21) Self-love and Being Unapologetically Ourselves: Filmmaker Uga Carlini Inspires with “Angeliena”

On Friday, October 8, 2021, multi-award winning filmmaker Uga Carlini‘s fiction feature “Angeliena” premieres on Netflix. It’s a story about self-love and being ‘good enough’ and having dreams and caring for one another. It has characters you’ll hiss at and the ones you’ll cheer on. THIS is the kind of story – the madness to magic – that I love. It was an honor and such great fun to chat with Uga who, for me, has been such an inspirational storyteller and one of those creative souls that makes this world better by being who she is and doing what she does. Uga is the founder of Towerkop Creations a boutique production company situated in Cape Town, South Africa where she lives and makes it her mission to tell female-driven heroine stories. Watch “Angeliena” and be sure to share it with #Angelienamovie, and visit Uga and her brilliant team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @Angelienamovie.

Here’s a few golden nuggets to take away from this episode with filmmaker Uga Carlini.

Key Takeaways:

Self-love means being at peace with yourself. That’s what self-love is in essence for me.

Finding the magic in the madness is what this film’s all about because it is the film about underdogs and I love a good underdog. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than an underdog or listening to how many times you failed and how shit it was and now here you are. I don’t really care about the here you are. I care about the you that got there. Cause that’s the stuff that keeps me going.

Don’t sweat, the small stuff. I love that saying. There are so many, “they say”… they, they, who the hell is they? Let’s start with that question because you only have you, that is 100% authentic. That is 100% flawed. And it’s going to 100% have good days and bad days. And I think once you accept that, the rest is bonus because sometimes those “nos”, for me, speaking for myself only, I get them for years. And it’s shitty it’s not cool. I want to walk into a room and get an immediate yes and move on with my life and go. But life just doesn’t work like that. And recently I, I learned that you need, I see myself as we all, all we are river, right? A river water cannot flow up. It’s not possible water flows straight at a gentle pace or whatever or down, right. And the soul, this, the goal in life is to stay in the flow of YOUR river, not your buddy’s river, yours. And then what happens in that flow every now and again, you get a curve ball or a rock or a beaver or whatever. It’s okay. Just the flow is what we can be certain about. So the story I want to tell is what I’m certain about, how I get there is the journey and, and, and, and every journey is different that people on meet, the lessons I have to learn the mistakes I make are no different to my character’s, you know, there’s always someone that challenges you. There’s always someone that blocks your river. And it seems like the goal is to find a way as quick as possible without rocking your own boat too much, to just stay in the flow. And I think the more I’m in tuned with that, the easier the film’s flow again. And the moment I go out of my flow, then there’s might be a big hurdle again or whatever, but, you know, it’s, it’s such a cliché, but no tough less is ever learned in vain. It also serves me, it becomes my next character. It becomes my next moment. It becomes my next tool to deal with a difficult situation. And it becomes my, my what do you call it? Like if you don’t have shit in life, you’d can’t appreciate the good stuff otherwise, How will you know that? It’s good.

Every project that I take on is because of a shift in perspective. So for me taking that and now taking it into Angeliena is that realization of what self-love is when we take the influencer self-love side out of it. Because it’s a very, very, very, very, very valuable, valuable thing. That really is the answer to world peace. Because if that was intact, we would not be the damaged human race that we are at the moment, because we really are, we are all horrible to each other because we are horrible to ourselves. You know, and this, this, this goes right to addiction. You know, someone taught me the most valuable thing they said, don’t speak down to yourself. Don’t, don’t make jokes at your own cost about yourself because your subconscious does not have a sense of humor, right?

You know what was really important to me about this film was the fact that my heroine is over 50 and that my heroine is physically flawed as to what the world out there seems to think beauty is, because Angeliena, because of her initial self-worth issues, self-love issue is makes herself as ugly as possible on the outside. She’s got scars. She’s, she’s dressed sort of like she can be a man or woman. BUT she makes everything beautiful around her, right? Because she’s feeling so ugly on the inside. And she loves everyone like how, how she makes things beautiful. Now that sounds like a bit of a contradiction. What I just said self-love is, you know how you talk to yourself about yourself, but this is her journey to discovering that to be reminded of that, but the possibility and the potential is there from the get-go because of how she beautifies everyone around herself.

I am done with having to be apologetically myself. We are now UNapologetically ourselves and we are okay with it if others are not okay with it.

I think it’s very South African, it’s gonna be interesting to see. There’s a lot of stuff there that a South African will get and maybe an American might not, but that’s part of the lesson. That’s part of the lesson, we need to start understanding. We need to start getting to know each other. And in this film I’m inviting everyone. Let’s get to know each other.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to Madness to Magic, and my podcast, “I’m with Crazy: A Love Story.” I’m your host, Paolina Milana, I’m the author of several books, all of which tell stories that I hope help to inspire, enlighten, heal, maybe give you permission to have a good cry, and maybe even a good laugh about all things crazy. For those who don’t know my personal story, I grew up surrounded by madness. Raised by a mom who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and then becoming primary caregiver not only to her, but to my little sister, also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Keeping it secret and being ashamed of the insanity that had taken root in my family tree is what nearly did me in. Spoiler alert: It didn’t. I journeyed on, and what an incredible ride it’s been. So for anyone listening who is struggling with their own mental health or that of a loved one, this podcast is for you. Know that you aren’t alone. Your life isn’t “just” about the cray-cray. And your story isn’t finished. “I’m with Crazy: A Love Story” is where we can come together to share our stories and to realize that there’s magic to be found in whatever madness we may be experiencing. I know it to be true, and I hope so will you. So let’s get to today’s episode.

Self-love, Embracing Flaws, and Being Unapologetically Ourselves: A Chat with the multi-award winning Uga Carlini, filmmaker and founder of Towerkop Creations, about her latest film called Angeliena that on October 8 debuted on Netflix.

(Ep 21) Self-love and Being Unapologetically Ourselves: Filmmaker Uga Carlini Inspires with “Angeliena”

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