MATRIX FILM FEST

Did you study in any film school or private course? Or did you learn to make movies on your own?
I studied on my own. 

 

How many years have you been making movies and how did you get started in movies?
I started in 2002, with my best friend we were making a full-feature film. It was in my native city, Minsk. I was a teenager so that film was inspired by Mulholland Drive, Fight Club, and Last Tango in Paris. While we were shooting the film, we were studying the theory of scriptwriting and after each shooting day, our film seemed for us more and more terrible. So we stopped this idea. And until 2017 I was making low-budget music videos and working as a motion designer. 
 

One of the problems that we filmmakers have is that we are not like the actors or the technical team, who work with many different productions and can learn different ways of doing things. Normally we only attend our own shoots. Have you had the opportunity to assist in the shooting of other people or are you usually only in your own shoots? If yes, is there anything that caught your attention?
Several times I worked as an assistant director on some video adverts (with the budgets $20-$40K). So I know how the process is going on. And also as a regular job, I worked as an assistant director and an editor for about 1.5years on a 3D animation series in CGI company. But of course I prefer to help someone on an indie film! 

 

What budget did you have for your project?
This film costed me less than $500.

Is it self-financed?
I made this film not by my own, I made it with my friend, so we split the budget. But yes, it was self-financed.

 

Any anecdote that you can tell us about the filming?
Only one issue. For the 1st part of the film, we needed an old-looking apartment. In Minsk, it’s difficult to find such on AirBnB. So after a difficult search, we found it. The building was built when Stalin ruled the country, more than 70 years ago. We wanted to shoot the whole film in one day, but in the middle of our shooting, the electricity socket had been fired. And the electricity had disappeared. So we had planned the second day of shooting.
 

What are you most proud of about this project?
Working with the actress. She is amazing, very optimistic, very fun. 

 

And what less? What would you change if you could go backwards?
I would re-write the script to make it - dark comedy. Not like now- gore horror.

 

Did you comply with the shooting plan or did it take longer than expected?
It took longer cause of the electricity.

 

Fincher says that if a director can translate into a film 70% of what he had in mind, he can be more than satisfied. What % do you think you have achieved in this project?
I think about 60%, maybe just 50%. I would add some extra scenes. In my mind the story was more clear than now. But now lot’s of people don’t understand it. 

 

If you had unlimited budget. Which actor and actress would you like to work with?
For this role I would like to see Margo Robbie in her crazy side, like Harley Quinn.
Or Melissa MacCarty.

 

Your favorite movie?
Godfather/Pulp Fiction/Bladerunner/Trainspotting/Solaris by Tarkovski

 

And filmmaker?
Tarantino/Coen Brothers/Fincher/early Oliver Stone/Tarkovski/Coppola

 

What is the scene that has impacted you the most?
-“french toasts” in Kramer vs. Kramer
-all conversations between Michael and Fredo in Godfather II

 

If you could do a remake of a movie, what would it be?
“À bout de souffle” (On the last breath) by Godard

 

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? Do you think you will continue making movies?
I would like to work full time in the film industry, maybe on the TV series.