We were lucky to catch up with Yaz Canli recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yaz, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’ve just come full circle on the most meaningful 4 year project of my life so far which was writing, directing, producing and starring in my first feature film My Home Unknown. If doing all of the above wasn’t already enough to wrestle with, I also went on that journey in the height of the pandemic to add a few more challenges. When the world shut down the script of My Home Unknown poured out of me. I brought it to my producer friend Diane Foster, who passionately jumped on it and next thing you know we were filming a few months later with a skeleton crew in the midst of uncertainty for our human kind as covid death numbers were rising as well as the numbers in homelessness in Los Angeles where I live. The film is about a female artist battling through a mental health crisis while living on the street and the courage it takes to accept help. It is bringing awareness to our unhoused members of the community and mental health issues. Not only was this film produced and finished, but after a wonderful series of film festivals and educational screenings with non-profit organizations is now released by Gravitas Ventures and available on digital and streamers like Apple TV and Amazon Prime for everyone to watch. This journey was a truly magical lesson of becoming unstoppable and growing as a person through it. One take away I can share from it with certainty is: Whatever you put your heart and soul into will take off.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I always knew that I am an artist. I didn’t always believe in myself, that is my life journey but I always knew I’m here to express through art. From a young age I started dancing, singing, acting, playing instruments, writing poetry. I never pursued another career. After high school I went to drama school and started working professionally as an actor right away, even though I will never stop learning and exercising my craft as an artist. I’m a lifetime member at The Actor Studio which is my artistic home and gym to stay creative. It is also filled with legendary mentors and colleagues that inspire me. I finally had the courage to try writing and directing around 2016 with my first short film ‘Walt & Ich’ a poetic story about isolation and grief. I fell in love with the complexity of creativity that added so much more than simply being the actor in this gigantic machine of filmmaking and I continued on that endeavor to fast forward writing, directing, producing and starring in my first feature film My Home Unknown, a raw and authentic look on female homelessness and mental health.
I’m drawn to deeply layered and complicated character stories and telling them cinematically yet truthfully. I’m also passionate about lending voice to underrepresented and misunderstood souls in efforts to bring us all closer together as humans and remind us how relatable our struggles, our desires and needs are to each other.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Getting a feature film made is a miracle in itself – but it is so possible no matter what your circumstance might be. I made my first feature My Home Unknown with no funding, in the middle of the shut down pandemic, with a skeleton crew and no clue how to get it finished. I’m telling you my friends, I did it – so can you! If you have a story to tell that is burning in your heart you become unstoppable and ways will present itself you would have never thought of. In my particular case I inspired people with the cause of raising awareness for mental health and the crisis of homelessness we are facing since the pandemic. My character’s story in the script made people come on board. We all saw the importance of telling a story of humanity in these chaotic times. When we lost a location, I re-wrote the script. When a crucial piece we needed didn’t work out, someone stepped up and knew someone who knew someone who could help. It really was a powerful demonstration of community coming together for one clear vision.
I was also told many times by so many people ‘that’s impossible’ ‘you can’t do that’ ‘this won’t work’ and yet I just kept listening to my burning heart knowing this story had to be told. People will tell you NO plenty of times and it’s up to you to listen to it or not. The only real important question is: What makes you become unstoppable?

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

What I love so much about visual art is how quickly and deeply it can move people and really create change. There is nothing more powerful than taking an audience on a journey straight to their heart and (non physically) touch them in a way that something stays with them forever. Through well crafted character story telling we have the incredible tool of relatability. We can find even the smallest piece inside of us that innately is able to relate to themes like grief, love, fear, anger and so on. In no other art form can we so elegantly create that feeling of being seen or of not feeling so alone by watching someone else go through it, because I believe subconsciously we all long for that. We all want to feel less alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yazcanli.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yazcanli/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Yaz-Canli-Offical-100026704672907/?_rdr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaz-canli-8a52538b/
• Twitter: https://x.com/yazcanli?lang=en
• Other: Film Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myhomeunknown/

Image Credits

Maury Phillips, Getty Images
Kevin Sikorski, BTS “I Got you”