Emma Grimm

Description

EMMA GRIMM,
Emma Grimm, born Sandra Gandelin in Corsican, is an actress coming to this Art form from the stage Theater.
This little island, Corsica, is said to be a pearl set in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, nicknamed “The isle of Beauty”, smothered in scents of myrtle, and myriads of wild flowers forming clumps here and there in the “maquis”, the wild inhabited areas populated by a lush botanic overgrowth…
It is in this area, many centuries past, the Ancient lineage of Emma Grimm began.
The SORBA Family traces its roots, in the sacerdotal records, to the year 1010 of our era.
This family as respectable as it is respected from the deeds it performed during the centuries of Corsican history is exemplified in its modern era by the superb behavior of its members during the Second World War.
Although it should be said, in the past the family had already earned its honorary credentials when Napoleon Bonaparte sat on the knees of his great grand-mother, a SORBA and when, following the growth of the same Napoleon, the Genovese Republic surrendered Corsica to France the secession treaty was signed by the representative from France, the Duke de Choiseul and countersigned by…a SORBA.
In the space of thousands of years the SORBA multiplied, giving the gift of light to a pretty little girl Sandra, now known for the theater as Emma Grimm.
Born in a family where rigor, pride added to the respect of the given word, within the shelter of a name worn as a badge of honor, courage associated to sacrifice in utmost loyalty, these family attributes became the rules of life Emma would observe….
These values formatted through the preceding generations became the breast milk she was fed, and became an integral part of her own personality, her daily bread, so to
speak…a pattern of conduct which allowed her to fight whenever necessary to maintain her harbored behavior while never losing her dignity.
During the Second World War, the French resistance headquarters “Corsica Zone South”
was sheltered in my grand-father Francois SORBA’s house located in an area called “Les Martines”, through this location were channeled men and materiel parachuted overland.
It was also a refuge of the escapees and men condemned to death by the Italian invader, Nazis allies, this area of the “maquis” received the recognition of all.
The French Government Administration ordered a commemorative plaque to be affixed
on this house in honor of the resistance and the events taking place there during the hostilities. In the heroism of the patriotic gest many died, from our family, friends and our respected allies to liberate Corsica, a true Isle of Beauty, from the hands of the Italo-German invaders. The French Government, represented by Monsieur Maurice Choury, in recognition of the armed services rendered the nation by the SORBA family, in form of a thankyou note gave a book entitled “Tous bandits d’honneur”(x1) which, until this very day brings smiles to the lips of the whole family, particularly Emma’s grand-mother Marthe, adored as her second mother.
This exemplary family glorious past is met through Max Stanzel, from the Angers region in the westerly portion of France’s mainland, not a Corsican Islander, but an Islander of heart wedding the family in the person of Emma’s grand-mother…grand-father Max, one of these young men refusing to bow to the enemy, the Vichy government or its nemesis the Nazi regime of Germany.
A professional soldier, thrice prisoner, thrice escapee, he joined the French Free Forces then in North Africa to fight along the Allied forces in the landing on the coast of Provence in August 1944, military medal awarded in throve.
Emma Grimm keeps preciously in her wallet, one of the medals of her now deceased grand-father Max on which the caption “Valor and Discipline” in inscribed, so as to remember to never abandon a task in front of adversity, even as pain is endured.
Grand-father Max has joined the Paradise of the Just leaving a gaping hole in the heart of his devoted grand-daughter.
Emma’s father, Philippe, a lawyer within the shell of a humanist, always attentive to the protection of his family, dotted of a very strong personality where resides utmost
integrity remains the central pillar of the House upon which his entire family can rest in comfort during difficult times. Claudine, Emma Grimm’s mother, a woman of both Heart and Head, an artist, painter on porcelain and glass, writer at times, is a person of great sensitivity toward beauty under its many forms. Just as solid as father, if not necessarily an easy character, she is endowed of a strong personality, supportive of all in any given hardship.
An actress in the family, a film star, the lone sister of grand-father Max, known under the cinematographic name of Michelle Moure made a movie, opposite the famed
French actor Bourvil, in the film “Croisiere vers L’inconnu” (Cruise toward the unknown),
unfortunately bypassing fame, in a prematured accidental death in 1945, at age 23.
Emma Grimm attended the Parisian University of Pantheon-Assas, extended division, leaving this Institution at the end of one year, preferring the study of Art to the grim study of law.
The meeting of Claude Chasseur, nicknamed Teddybear, an artist dedicated to the restoration of works of art, decided Emma to follow this route.
She undertook restoration of canvases and sculptures, keeping a job to sustain her livelihood while attending assiduously the “Academie des Arts Paris Italie”.
Every morning before dawn, Emma was already busy at the restoration workshop, in the third underground level of the Hotel Drouot, the Art mecca, where she graciously did restorations for diverse Antique shops, Art resellers and the like.
It was during these times she also gave her time to a humanitarian society, the French Red Cross, if only for reasons of moral rightfulness at an attempt to help those fragilised
by life inequities.
In the course of the year 2002, a personal tragedy shattered Emma’s life yet, seven months later, the welcomed birth of a marvelous little boy replaced the tears of despair.
In 2005, Emma learns acting in a small theater group in Paris suburbs, where she acquires the skills to express roles with vitality and expression to finally step on the stage, from 2007, in series of successful theatrical productions.
Following her arrival in New-Caledonia, Emma Grimm creates a non-profit humanitarian
organization, “Pour Toi” (for you) of which she assumes the lead.
The goal of this association is to foster the possibility for parents to accompany their children in need of treatments or surgery outside the territory, and remain with the child until recovery and return to the island.
In regard to these endeavors, Emma Grimm attempted vainly to organize a concert with the benevolent cooperation of the Israeli singer Noa, accompanied by Gil Dor.
Unfortunately this concert did not occur, after travails of two years the potential sponsors not sufficiently engaged, the project closed for lack of sufficient funds.
This was the turning point at which Emma, having already sufficient theatrical experiences, sought the movie industry to be able to insure and finance her favorite objectives, children health, orphans care and eventually sponsored school grants, through the organization of humanitarian concerts taking place in different countries where the collected funds would be utilized within the same country hosting the concert.
A dream, it may appear to be… yet no realities are, if not preceded by a dream.
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(For the English reader: “Tous Bandits D’honneur”, meaning “All Honor Bandits”, refers to Corsica’s history during the past centuries when fights over Honor between family clans often resulted in bloody feuds. To escape justice these men, “Honor Bandits”, would then find refuge, armed with tromblons or hunting guns in the wilderness of the “maquis”. There were, in those days, many of these men hiding in the hills, kept alive by the clan of whom they defended the Honor. Still in the French mainland psyche, for the longest time and still today, mainland french associated Corsicans with these men, visualizing a bandit hiding in the bushes of the hills, his shotgun in hand at the ready.
This condition of times past does not exist today, the gift of the book in its title only underlines the misconception of the mainland French regarding their fellow French from
the Island, hence the smiles on the lips of the SORBAs.)