Colette Gabriel Answers Five Questions with SCREEN

What do George Clooney, Clive Owen, and a Shakespearean puppet show have in common? They are all waiting for you right here as we kick off 2022 with a fresh and thoroughly entertaining round of Five Questions with SCREEN. Keslow Camera Chicago’s General Manager Colette Gabriel stopped by to start of the new year right. Let’s get to it!

SCREEN: You and the fine folks at Keslow are all about the cameras so we have to ask… what is your favorite film, in terms of cinematography?

COLETTE: Children of Men. I was lucky enough to attend an early screening of this that include a Q&A afterward with DP Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki and Director Alfonso Cuarón. I rewatch this film every year or two and I’m still blown away at the shots they pulled off, even after learning about how they achieved them. The acting and story are also excellent. Clive Owen never disappoints.

Here’s a quick look at the trailer of this cinematic classic…

SCREEN: Your favorite Winter Olympic event? (They start up in February so we thought we’d ask!)

COLETTE: I’m not a huge watcher of the Olympics, but do enjoy them if I happen to see them. Downhill skiing is fun to watch, same with luge and ski jumping. I’ve been to the top of the ski jump in Oslo, Norway and can’t imagine plunging down it!

SCREEN: Any New Year’s Resolutions for 2022? How’s it going so far?

COLETTE: Pretty typical: getting back into a workout routine. It’s going well so far. I’m easing into it, doing 20 minute workouts in the morning. I hope this will be easier to stick to and build onto, rather than forcing myself to get up an hour earlier right off the bat.

SCREEN: Your favorite restaurant on the planet?

COLETTE: Wow, this is a hard one! I love good food and often have to have certain foods when I revisit places (bagels in Montreal, my hometown favorite burritos from Gordo’s in Berkeley, CA). Great meals are not just about the food, but also the company and setting. One of the most memorable such meals was stumbling upon Caffé Vecio on the island of Burano in Venice, Italy when my husband and I traveled there in 2007. It was the end of November and raining off and on. We popped into this place hoping for their special of the day: butternut squash and sage ravioli. They had run out so the chef whipped up a fresh pasta with radicchio cream sauce. Amazing! And the tiramisu was the best, forever ruining any other tiramisu.

SCREEN: Celebrity crush?

COLETTE: George Clooney has remained on the list for a long time. Not only is he handsome; he’s charming, talented, and does so much to help others.

Enjoy this look at Mr. Clooney’s most iconic big screen blockbusters, with commentary from George himself…

SCREEN: Your go-to karaoke song?

I actually sang solo karaoke for the first time a few weeks ago. I tried to sing something easy so I chose “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse. Tip: do not sing karaoke unless you know all parts of the song! I don’t know the melody for certain verses so I fumbled all but the chorus. I had fun anyway, and it was a confidence booster getting in front of an audience and making a fool of myself.

SCREEN: Strangest job ever?

COLETTE: When I was 16 I was a puppeteer’s apprentice. My friend’s mom ran the local JCC and asked if I would be the camp counselor for the puppeteering class one summer. Members of the Oregon Puppet Theater were brought in to run the program. We made puppets and put on a performance of “The Golem” with their professionally crafted puppets. After that ended I helped the head puppeteer with his one-man marionette Shakespeare show.

SCREEN: What’s that TV show you’re a little embarrassed to admit you love to watch?

COLETTE: Emily in Paris. It sounded silly and I didn’t think it would be good, but I had to watch the pilot to see what they included from their Chicago shoot. (Keslow Camera provided equipment for the local portion.) I got hooked! I’m a sucker for romcoms and I’ve lived in Paris, so it ticks the right boxes for me. They talk a lot about work/life balance. We can learn a lot about this from the French!

Thanks for great start to 2022, Colette! Click here to visit Colette’s team at Keslow Camera.