Secrets are to be kept
It was unbelievable, impossible, strange in Venice. It was difficult to endure…
''I was at the European Film Festival in Palić for only one day and I do not have definite impressions. If I had been able to come for the whole week, as I wanted to, it would have been a different story. I was welcomed in a wonderful way, I enjoyed myself in one wine cellar, with relish I drank champagne and the sweetest and most subtle alcoholic drink I have ever tasted – brandy (''rakija'')'', says the winner of the Venetian Golden Lion for the film The Return, whose latest film Elena was shown in the official selection of the Festival.
''I know that Nikolai Nikitin will be in despair, he does not like it when I am unconditionally honest, and I am always like that. If I did not have the obligation to follow my film at festivals, the obligation I will accept never again, I would rather stay in Moscow to work on my new film. I would tell a lie if I said that I would set out on this exhausting journey only because I had always dreamt of coming to Serbia for one day. This was the first time I watched my film being shown outdoors. What a blow! Silence is one of the main characters of my film. And there were neither peace nor silence. A film viewer has to be all alone with the film in the intimate contact and the dark cinema.''
You revealed to us that you are working on a new film…
I am always in the state of preparation for the new film. As soon as I finished The Return I started working on the new film. Recently I have been contacted by a person over the Internet who offered me an idea for a film presented in eight passages. We met, and I was intrigued by the idea. I told him to write the scenario. I do not know what will come out of it. And to tell you what it is about – no way. It is modern nowadays to beat the drum for new projects. I do not understand the laws of advertising. Secrets are to be kept.
Your way is unusual...
I studied acting twice, first time in my hometown of Novosibirsk and in Moscow on GUTIS. I had an acting education, but I didn’t become an actor. When I graduated, the Soviet Union collapsed. And with such a bang that it touched all aspects of life. The best way for me to explain it is with a quote where Hamlet speaks to his mother, presenting the depth of her despair. Theatre ceased to be a temple of art, and became a fair. I did not want to deal with such theater. I was a janitor, cleaner of streets for three years. It was the most important period in my life (1989-1993), I read, went to museums and theater, I was with myself. I had no perspective, but no idea what to do with myself, I wandered. I fantasized about the art, high service goals. I walked the streets as the last romantic and wondered. I am a perfectly impractical man. I surrender to impulse, intuition, emotional reactions.
And then you were on your way…
Suddenly in 1993 I was offered to direct commercials. Although I had never done that before, I accepted it. I said "Yes, yes, I am a director, I have done it, I am great in commercials." Producer liked my work and I continued to shoot commercials. In year 2000, on TV channel Ren the general producer was ambitiously starting with work, and hiring new people. I arrived with a recommendation. I presented myself well, so he quickly offered me to choose from 15 scenarios one in which I would shoot a short film. He liked it, so I got another chance. I recorded my first three feature films. And then he said: "Why don’t you shoot feature-length films." Do you mean on thirty-fives, I asked almost breathless.The rest is history.
An anonymous author of his first feature film The Return returned as a big star back from Venice, where the Russian cinema did not triumph for years before. Did you expect all that somewhere deep inside?
No, I did not expect anything. Standing ovations and applause lasted for fifteen minutes. In Venice it was unbelievable, impossible, strange. I had to endure it all somehow. Immediately after the screening I felt what was going to happen. Announcement of the winners was three days later and it confirmed my intuition.
