May 15, 2025 • 10 mins
Sam catches up with writer, actor and producer Tsu Shan Chambers about her new movie, My Eyes, which is premiering on 28 May across selected cinemas in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
To find out more about the locations you can watch and to book tickets, head to the My Eyes website to find these details and more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:05):
Suzanne, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for
your time.
S2 (00:09):
Oh, thank you so much, Sam. I am so appreciative
for being here. Very, very excited.
S1 (00:15):
Now we're here to talk about a movie which is
coming out very shortly, which you've been quite heavily involved with.
Tell us a bit about my eyes.
S2 (00:26):
Yes. Well, it is a feature film inspired by true events, actually,
of my life. When I volunteered at the Paralympic Games
and fell in love with a judo athlete, actually, by
the way, um, but it's a beautiful film, actually, about love, resilience.
The lengths we go for family also raises awareness about
preventative eye health as well, which is true to my
(00:47):
heart being an optometrist by trade, and it stars an
amazing cast as well. We've got Adam Garcia, who some
of you may remember from Coyote Ugly and Bootmen back
in the day, Eduardo Sanchez, who is a Mexican judo
Paralympic champion. He won gold twice and CU Chin from
the Joy Luck Club if you're big fans of that movie.
So it's something that we worked incredibly hard to create.
(01:10):
And yeah, glad it's coming out.
S1 (01:12):
Yeah. Now, um, tell us a little bit about your
involvement with my eyes. Susanna, I understand you're the producer
of the movie.
S2 (01:24):
Actually, I'm on both sides of the camera. Actor, writer
and producer.
S1 (01:28):
Oh, okay.
S2 (01:29):
So yes, but in terms of the story, yeah, it
is obviously something very close to my heart. It's almost
like a love letter. Back to the Ikea industry, really,
from my perspective, something that I wrote back in Covid,
you know, five years ago, based on obviously, my experiences
with volunteering when working with the judo athletes who are
vision impaired. And it was such a profound experience. Obviously,
(01:50):
I wanted to really tell the story, and it was
one of those things. Yes. That, um, I also produced it, um,
which basically means the buck stops with me when making
everything happen. And it was a hard decision also to
decide whether or not to play, you know, my character
in the film originally, I wasn't going to do that.
I went, oh no, let's get someone famous, you know,
like a wacko feeder or Gemma Chan or someone. But
(02:11):
one of my mentors said to me that, you know,
he said, Suze, it's, you know, this is your story
and you've got to think really hard about it. If
you ended up seeing someone else play you in this,
are you going to regret it? You know, because it's
one of a lifetime kind of shots. And so something
that I thought about and went, okay, no, okay. All right.
I will regret it. And so I decided obviously to
play also my character in the film. So yes, a
(02:33):
few hats still though in the making of it certainly.
S1 (02:36):
And Suzanne, as you've mentioned there, this has been quite
a few years in the making. Um, and of course,
Covid does sort of throw a spanner in the works
in terms of preparation and availability of people and resources
and all that sort of thing. Did that slow things
down for you, or did it all sort of really
(02:56):
take off after? Anyway, so it wasn't in the pipeline
just yet?
S2 (03:01):
Yeah. Well, I guess a blessing in disguise with the
Covid was that it gave me time to develop the
script to write. I mean, I was working quite heavily
as an optometrist at that time as well, because even
though the entertainment industry might have ceased, that's when all
our healthcare services, you know, hemorrhaged really in terms of
the need. But in terms of the impacts, it was
hard to decide whether or not to shoot overseas or
(03:24):
within Australia, because once we decided that we were going
to have Eduardo play the role of, well, pretty much
play himself, being the judo character and having tunnel vision,
you know, it was hard going, can we shoot in Mexico? Actually,
the resounding answer was no. But, um, so fortunately, by
the time we got to production and Borders open, that's
when we went, okay, let's see what we can do
and actually shoot over there as well.
S1 (03:45):
Was this the first movie that you'd put together yourself?
Had you been involved with production or acting or any
of that sort of thing prior to my eyes? Or
was this the first kind of foray into that for you.
S2 (04:01):
I've actually been in the industry now for 11 years professionally.
I know, I know, My Eyes is actually my third
major feature film. My first one, unsound, was actually back
in Covid days, actually, and that was actually about a
deaf trans man, actually. And another love story in a
sense with that. But it was my biggest one so
far in a sense of in terms of the budget,
(04:24):
it was like a $4 million feature film. My eyes and,
you know, yes, I've been obviously, you know, acting and
writing and producing all through the last decade. And in
my day job, I also work as a production accountant.
I believe my brain, I know, and then I work
on other major productions as well in relation to that.
But yes, it's a big undertaking making these projects. They
take many, many years to get.
S1 (04:45):
Up and, you know, juggling all of that with the
day job and being the accountant and being involved with
optometry and being involved with writing, producing, acting, everything. So
that's just, um, incredible, but let's have a bit of
a chat about the finer details of my eyes and
when people can go and check it out so it
(05:08):
releases on the 28th of May. Where can people go
and watch if they'd like to head along?
S2 (05:16):
Yeah, yeah, it's incredibly exciting. We are releasing across select
cinemas around Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and
because every portion of every ticket that we sell, for
my eyes, it's actually being distributed evenly amongst a group
of non for profit organizations dedicated to eye care and
blind sports. And so because of that, tickets can only
(05:38):
be found on the Fan Force website which is fan force.
And basically that's where you'll see all the location times.
We've got a few obviously in Melbourne, Sydney and across
every single state and territory in Australia. And as I mentioned,
New Zealand. And with some of these screenings, we're obviously
(06:00):
having a Q&A as well. So you'll get to actually
meet myself. You'll get to also meet Eduardo Sanchez, who
is the real life judo Paralympic champion coming through as well,
and also some of the other cast and crew in
various different screenings. So it's going to be a lot
of fun. We had our world premiere at the 39th
Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina last year. Actually,
(06:23):
it's one of the most prestigious and only class A
film festivals in Latin America, and it was incredible. The
film also got picked to represent Australia at the 69th
Asia Pacific Film Festival, Macau, which I was also very
lucky to be invited to go across, and we only
just had a full house recently, last week actually at
the Gold Coast Film Festival as part of that. And yes,
(06:44):
and you know, we really enjoyed the Q&A. We had
great response. And yeah, it was a great start to this.
And we're really hoping that we can raise awareness about
preventative health, about inclusion and to really put our industry
and vision on the map. You know, I think it's
something that's quite unique and it's never really seen much
on the big screen.
S1 (07:02):
As you've said, you've released a couple of movies before,
but this is the one that's really focusing in on vision,
on eye health, on what people who are blind or
have low vision are capable of. And so was that
something you'd always really wanted to get stuck into and
tell that story and show the world what people from
(07:23):
the blind and low vision community can do?
S2 (07:26):
Yeah, absolutely. It is one of my passions of mine.
I come from a public health background with optometry, spent
a lot of time in third world countries, and I
really wanted through this story to show that people with
vision impairments, with any form of disability, it's not a
negative thing in a sense of that typical trope. You know,
the stereotype that we tend to see or fall into
(07:46):
in the story. It is uplifting. It's seeing people with
vision impairment just be normal people, you know, like they
can fall in love. They can have, you know, children,
they have emotions, they grappling drama. Right? And they can
be super hot, you know, like just like with, you know, Eduardo,
he's amazing, amazing person. And you know, with just like
everyday people, you know, and that's where the authenticity comes from. And,
(08:09):
and I think it's something that it's important to just reinforce,
but in a very entertaining way. It's something that I
do focus on in my work. I call it Impact Entertainment.
You know, we want to make a positive impact but
also entertain.
S1 (08:20):
Mhm. For sure. Now let's get the details about a
movie launch event, which is coming up on the 2nd
of June for Sydneysiders out there to head along to.
It's at the Burwood Cinema. So tell us a bit
about that one.
S2 (08:36):
Yeah, yeah. So very excited that we're going to have
someone from Vision Australia hosting that event. Actually we're going
to be having myself, one of our consultant directors, Eduardo,
there for the Q&A, which means that audiences can ask
us anything. It is free rein.
S1 (08:55):
Wow. Okay.
S2 (08:56):
And yeah, and you obviously get to see the movie
and be amongst the crowd. And yeah, we just want
to amplify these voices and it's going to be exciting.
It's going to be the same with every single Q&A
that's going to be across the country, really. And we're really,
really looking forward to it.
S1 (09:09):
Looking forward to hearing what sort of questions come your way.
I'll have to, um, keep tabs on that one. That
could be quite interesting. But yeah. Suzanne, thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure to catch up with you today
and chat about my eyes. So that's my eyes coming
out on the 28th of May across Australia, New Zealand
(09:32):
and the USA. And if you're in Sydney, you can
head along to a session that Vision Australia is involved
with on the 2nd of June. Suzanne, thank you so much.
It's been so good and I'm really excited to hear
how the movie goes.
S2 (09:49):
Yeah, thank you so much, Sam. Thanks, everyone.
Suzanne, welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for
your time.
S2 (00:09):
Oh, thank you so much, Sam. I am so appreciative
for being here. Very, very excited.
S1 (00:15):
Now we're here to talk about a movie which is
coming out very shortly, which you've been quite heavily involved with.
Tell us a bit about my eyes.
S2 (00:26):
Yes. Well, it is a feature film inspired by true events, actually,
of my life. When I volunteered at the Paralympic Games
and fell in love with a judo athlete, actually, by
the way, um, but it's a beautiful film, actually, about love, resilience.
The lengths we go for family also raises awareness about
preventative eye health as well, which is true to my
(00:47):
heart being an optometrist by trade, and it stars an
amazing cast as well. We've got Adam Garcia, who some
of you may remember from Coyote Ugly and Bootmen back
in the day, Eduardo Sanchez, who is a Mexican judo
Paralympic champion. He won gold twice and CU Chin from
the Joy Luck Club if you're big fans of that movie.
So it's something that we worked incredibly hard to create.
(01:10):
And yeah, glad it's coming out.
S1 (01:12):
Yeah. Now, um, tell us a little bit about your
involvement with my eyes. Susanna, I understand you're the producer
of the movie.
S2 (01:24):
Actually, I'm on both sides of the camera. Actor, writer
and producer.
S1 (01:28):
Oh, okay.
S2 (01:29):
So yes, but in terms of the story, yeah, it
is obviously something very close to my heart. It's almost
like a love letter. Back to the Ikea industry, really,
from my perspective, something that I wrote back in Covid,
you know, five years ago, based on obviously, my experiences
with volunteering when working with the judo athletes who are
vision impaired. And it was such a profound experience. Obviously,
(01:50):
I wanted to really tell the story, and it was
one of those things. Yes. That, um, I also produced it, um,
which basically means the buck stops with me when making
everything happen. And it was a hard decision also to
decide whether or not to play, you know, my character
in the film originally, I wasn't going to do that.
I went, oh no, let's get someone famous, you know,
like a wacko feeder or Gemma Chan or someone. But
(02:11):
one of my mentors said to me that, you know,
he said, Suze, it's, you know, this is your story
and you've got to think really hard about it. If
you ended up seeing someone else play you in this,
are you going to regret it? You know, because it's
one of a lifetime kind of shots. And so something
that I thought about and went, okay, no, okay. All right.
I will regret it. And so I decided obviously to
play also my character in the film. So yes, a
(02:33):
few hats still though in the making of it certainly.
S1 (02:36):
And Suzanne, as you've mentioned there, this has been quite
a few years in the making. Um, and of course,
Covid does sort of throw a spanner in the works
in terms of preparation and availability of people and resources
and all that sort of thing. Did that slow things
down for you, or did it all sort of really
(02:56):
take off after? Anyway, so it wasn't in the pipeline
just yet?
S2 (03:01):
Yeah. Well, I guess a blessing in disguise with the
Covid was that it gave me time to develop the
script to write. I mean, I was working quite heavily
as an optometrist at that time as well, because even
though the entertainment industry might have ceased, that's when all
our healthcare services, you know, hemorrhaged really in terms of
the need. But in terms of the impacts, it was
hard to decide whether or not to shoot overseas or
(03:24):
within Australia, because once we decided that we were going
to have Eduardo play the role of, well, pretty much
play himself, being the judo character and having tunnel vision,
you know, it was hard going, can we shoot in Mexico? Actually,
the resounding answer was no. But, um, so fortunately, by
the time we got to production and Borders open, that's
when we went, okay, let's see what we can do
and actually shoot over there as well.
S1 (03:45):
Was this the first movie that you'd put together yourself?
Had you been involved with production or acting or any
of that sort of thing prior to my eyes? Or
was this the first kind of foray into that for you.
S2 (04:01):
I've actually been in the industry now for 11 years professionally.
I know, I know, My Eyes is actually my third
major feature film. My first one, unsound, was actually back
in Covid days, actually, and that was actually about a
deaf trans man, actually. And another love story in a
sense with that. But it was my biggest one so
far in a sense of in terms of the budget,
(04:24):
it was like a $4 million feature film. My eyes and,
you know, yes, I've been obviously, you know, acting and
writing and producing all through the last decade. And in
my day job, I also work as a production accountant.
I believe my brain, I know, and then I work
on other major productions as well in relation to that.
But yes, it's a big undertaking making these projects. They
take many, many years to get.
S1 (04:45):
Up and, you know, juggling all of that with the
day job and being the accountant and being involved with
optometry and being involved with writing, producing, acting, everything. So
that's just, um, incredible, but let's have a bit of
a chat about the finer details of my eyes and
when people can go and check it out so it
(05:08):
releases on the 28th of May. Where can people go
and watch if they'd like to head along?
S2 (05:16):
Yeah, yeah, it's incredibly exciting. We are releasing across select
cinemas around Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and
because every portion of every ticket that we sell, for
my eyes, it's actually being distributed evenly amongst a group
of non for profit organizations dedicated to eye care and
blind sports. And so because of that, tickets can only
(05:38):
be found on the Fan Force website which is fan force.
And basically that's where you'll see all the location times.
We've got a few obviously in Melbourne, Sydney and across
every single state and territory in Australia. And as I mentioned,
New Zealand. And with some of these screenings, we're obviously
(06:00):
having a Q&A as well. So you'll get to actually
meet myself. You'll get to also meet Eduardo Sanchez, who
is the real life judo Paralympic champion coming through as well,
and also some of the other cast and crew in
various different screenings. So it's going to be a lot
of fun. We had our world premiere at the 39th
Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina last year. Actually,
(06:23):
it's one of the most prestigious and only class A
film festivals in Latin America, and it was incredible. The
film also got picked to represent Australia at the 69th
Asia Pacific Film Festival, Macau, which I was also very
lucky to be invited to go across, and we only
just had a full house recently, last week actually at
the Gold Coast Film Festival as part of that. And yes,
(06:44):
and you know, we really enjoyed the Q&A. We had
great response. And yeah, it was a great start to this.
And we're really hoping that we can raise awareness about
preventative health, about inclusion and to really put our industry
and vision on the map. You know, I think it's
something that's quite unique and it's never really seen much
on the big screen.
S1 (07:02):
As you've said, you've released a couple of movies before,
but this is the one that's really focusing in on vision,
on eye health, on what people who are blind or
have low vision are capable of. And so was that
something you'd always really wanted to get stuck into and
tell that story and show the world what people from
(07:23):
the blind and low vision community can do?
S2 (07:26):
Yeah, absolutely. It is one of my passions of mine.
I come from a public health background with optometry, spent
a lot of time in third world countries, and I
really wanted through this story to show that people with
vision impairments, with any form of disability, it's not a
negative thing in a sense of that typical trope. You know,
the stereotype that we tend to see or fall into
(07:46):
in the story. It is uplifting. It's seeing people with
vision impairment just be normal people, you know, like they
can fall in love. They can have, you know, children,
they have emotions, they grappling drama. Right? And they can
be super hot, you know, like just like with, you know, Eduardo,
he's amazing, amazing person. And you know, with just like
everyday people, you know, and that's where the authenticity comes from. And,
(08:09):
and I think it's something that it's important to just reinforce,
but in a very entertaining way. It's something that I
do focus on in my work. I call it Impact Entertainment.
You know, we want to make a positive impact but
also entertain.
S1 (08:20):
Mhm. For sure. Now let's get the details about a
movie launch event, which is coming up on the 2nd
of June for Sydneysiders out there to head along to.
It's at the Burwood Cinema. So tell us a bit
about that one.
S2 (08:36):
Yeah, yeah. So very excited that we're going to have
someone from Vision Australia hosting that event. Actually we're going
to be having myself, one of our consultant directors, Eduardo,
there for the Q&A, which means that audiences can ask
us anything. It is free rein.
S1 (08:55):
Wow. Okay.
S2 (08:56):
And yeah, and you obviously get to see the movie
and be amongst the crowd. And yeah, we just want
to amplify these voices and it's going to be exciting.
It's going to be the same with every single Q&A
that's going to be across the country, really. And we're really,
really looking forward to it.
S1 (09:09):
Looking forward to hearing what sort of questions come your way.
I'll have to, um, keep tabs on that one. That
could be quite interesting. But yeah. Suzanne, thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure to catch up with you today
and chat about my eyes. So that's my eyes coming
out on the 28th of May across Australia, New Zealand
(09:32):
and the USA. And if you're in Sydney, you can
head along to a session that Vision Australia is involved
with on the 2nd of June. Suzanne, thank you so much.
It's been so good and I'm really excited to hear
how the movie goes.
S2 (09:49):
Yeah, thank you so much, Sam. Thanks, everyone.
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