Ruth Negga on identity, fame and falling in love with film via her local Xtravision in Limerick
Ruth Negga is an ambassador for Limerick’s Catalyst International Film Festival.
Ruth Negga is the new ambassador for Limerick’s Catalyst International Film Festival, which takes place virtually from 19th-20th of March. The Oscar-nominated actress embraced the chance to support the festival in her native city, which prioritises stories and storytellers under-represented on screen. “I feel that the Catalyst International Film Festival can and will act as a compass, a beacon, a buoyant celebration of the multitude of exciting stories that are brimming in modern Ireland. And I am thrilled of course, that this is all to take place in Limerick.”
“I expressed a desire to be an actress from a very early age, and I never ever received any sort of rebuttal of that from my family. It was just a given. I think it's a really lovely sort of naivety and innocence that no-one really wondered if I would actually be able to get jobs!
“Let alone land a place in Trinity in the acting department. I don't know, if I knew that was always in me, or circumstances would have gently nudged me in that direction. I think when you're outside, you have a certain perspective. You can see from a lot of different perspectives. That kind of empathy and compassion, those circumstances are ripe for storytelling.”
“I identify as Irish and Ethiopian. I was born in Addis, I spent the majority of secondary education in England. I am used to being othered. I'm used to people not really knowing where to put me. So I identify with the othered and the underdog. And if I can help shine a spotlight on to that I think, brilliant. I rejoice in that opportunity.”
“We have to convert into real change, they have to exist in reality. And that requires determination and a cultivation of creating opportunity, actively engaging other voices, recruiting other voices, creating safe spaces and giving marginalised communities and people the power to tell their own stories, so they can tell their own stories through their own eyes. And that has to be everywhere, at every level - in the boardroom, to the production meeting, to who's behind the camera. That's what art does. It's how we investigate ourselves and our reasons for existing, but also creating empathy for others. That's where I think our wholeness as a society lies. I mean, every bastion of wisdom recognises that seeking a whole, complete, healthy, inclusive society is where we're all happier and fulfilled.”
Nominated for her role in Loving, Ruth was in the audience when the 2017 Oscars ended with a shocking and historic bang as La La Land was mistakenly named Best Picture. Moonlight was the actual winner. “I remember that with great clarity not least because of the infamous envelope opening. It was an extraordinary night. And it's great because I think: ‘Gosh I was there’. I felt really calm that night because I'd been through the intense press roundabout. It kind of thickened my skin a bit. And I just really wanted to experience it wholly and fully so I could put it in my memory, so I would remember it very clearly. It was great, I loved it.”
“I watched so many videos: Bette Midler, Michelle Pfeiffer and then I was watching Bette Davis, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne. The old black and whites with Katherine Hepburn. Juliette Binoche in Three Colours. As I got older Spike Lee was a huge influence on me. Do the Right Thing I thought: ‘Wow. That's the Truth Ruth’,” she said, referencing a line in the film.
“Talk about marginalised unheard voices being brought to the screen! He's brilliant. So kind, so dedicated, so funny. I look back on that experience as the ultimate fond memory. There's a great, lovely late afternoon, late summer kind of haze. A nostalgic, warm haze that surrounds my memories of that film because it was just such a lovely film to be involved in. Such joy and humour, I adored that experience.”
“I've been here in LA. It's a long time since I've been on a plane. We finished Hamlet on the eighth or ninth of March (2020). I came back to LA, and we went into lockdown about four days later. I baked and I ate. I cooked and I ate. I didn't learn anything new, I mean a language or a skill. I'll look back and I'll think Ruth - what have you been doing?! But I'm lucky - I'm by nature used to periods of not working. Also I'm an actor who has luckily worked. I don't work paycheque to paycheque so I'm one of the lucky few. That's something we need to address isn't it? How are artists supposed to survive. We expect excellence, but we don't invest in excellence with our artists. A lot of Ireland's esteem in the world is held through the lens of creativity. It's seen as a land of poets and scholars and artists. And I think we need to reconcile that with the attention that we give to our artists. It's hard to survive, let alone thrive when you don't have a support network and a safety net to fall back on.”
“All those women at that time, it's extraordinary that they managed to put themselves at the centre of stories. I mean, can you imagine the fight that they had? They were inheriting a broken system, trying to change a system and investigate the legacy that they could leave, while being brilliant artists. It's no coincidence, these women were all super vibrant, super determined to make their voices heard, with as much self determination as possible. Josephine was one of those extraordinary talents. She had courage in the face of fear and marginalisation. She just comes across as this lovely wicked child.”
“I feel like the aims and ethos of this festival resonate hugely for me, because its primary focus is equality, diversity and inclusion. To redirect the under- representation of marginalised voices, bodies, those who have been traditionally not the centre focus of stories or even on the margin of who we see on the screen. This is an opportunity to lend my support to not just the idea, but the action for a strategic and structural change that will encourage and empower people whose voices and bodies have been largely absent from the creative arena, in this case the screen - both behind it and in front of it. Who have been edited out, really.
- Catalyst International Film Festival takes place virtually this year due to Covid restrictions from March 19-20 of March. www.catalystfilmfest.com
