Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties podcast featuring conversations with industry
Speaker 1: leaders about the business of entertainment. I'm Cynthia Littleton, Managing
Speaker 1: editor of Television for Variety. My guest today in New
Speaker 1: York is director timur bekmom Betoff. The Russian native is
Speaker 1: known for movies such as Night Watch and Wanted, and
Speaker 1: of course Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. But he's also an
Speaker 1: entrepreneur who is eagerly promoting a new filmmaking software for
Speaker 1: what he calls screen Life. Features. In these movies, all
Speaker 1: the action revolves around the screen activity of unseen characters.
Speaker 1: Timore explains why he thinks this is a way of
Speaker 1: the future for filmmaking, and he also offers his intriguing
Speaker 1: thoughts on the new Cold War between the US and
Speaker 1: his homeland. Welcome timur bekmm bed Off. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for stopping by here with us today. You for
Speaker 1: inviting me. You are in town in part to talk
Speaker 1: to people about your You have a new film technology
Speaker 1: that you are trying to spread the word on and
Speaker 1: train filmmakers to use, called screen Life, and it is
Speaker 1: it is an effort to capture our sort of daily
Speaker 1: lives as we live it on social media and multiple
Speaker 1: screens and multiple devices. Tell me about it and how
Speaker 1: you came to develop it. It's perfect. It's perfect presentation.
Speaker 1: By the way, I think it's sent not technology. I
Speaker 1: think it's more like a language and new film language
Speaker 1: because because we we are recording screens, our computer screens
Speaker 1: or our screens of our devices. Because today, in today's world,
Speaker 1: most important events of our life happen happening not in
Speaker 1: physical space but on screens, like we're falling in love,
Speaker 1: losing friends, betraying sometimes uh, making money, losing money, and
Speaker 1: most important for storytelling, we're making moral choices today and
Speaker 1: it's happening on screen. And there's no way you can
Speaker 1: capture this this uh, this events with the traditional film
Speaker 1: camera because uh, it's it's just two kids sitting with
Speaker 1: the iPhones in the in the in the cafeteria and
Speaker 1: talking to each other without even looking to each other.
Speaker 1: And it's very emotional, it could be very emotional, it
Speaker 1: could be very dramatic, and the camera will just capture
Speaker 1: boring two silhouettes again the window. Yes, but if you will,
Speaker 1: if you'll, if you will uh catch their screens, you
Speaker 1: will understand how dramatic. Maybe it's our man Juliet, Maybe
Speaker 1: it's uh, I don't know, bony glide planning to to
Speaker 1: to to to rob the bank. And even the robbing
Speaker 1: the bank today is different like in today. And it's
Speaker 1: very funny when we see when we see in the cinema,
Speaker 1: when we see the movies about rubbing the bank today.
Speaker 1: I don't know why people's filmmakers keep producing making movies
Speaker 1: about the same thing, like a four guys and who's
Speaker 1: with the rifles breaking the door and screaming give me cash.
Speaker 1: It's absurd. It's a retro because there's no more cash.
Speaker 1: Theists are done with zeros and ones. Yes, because it's
Speaker 1: because it's just the stereotype, and it's just a lack
Speaker 1: of lack of a sense of reality. And today's world,
Speaker 1: the hacking the banks maybe two kids sitting in cafeteria
Speaker 1: with the iPhones and and and sneaking into the bank
Speaker 1: system to to to to move money from somewhere in
Speaker 1: New Zealand. But how do you make that visually compelling out?
Speaker 1: How it can make it visually compelling without screen life?
Speaker 1: And and that's what we what we decided like five
Speaker 1: years ago that we should focus on it because how
Speaker 1: it's happened. I was on Skype with my partner, with
Speaker 1: my colleague. Her name is Olga. She was in Russia.
Speaker 1: I was in Los Angeles and during the Skype I
Speaker 1: asked you to share her screen because Skype just released
Speaker 1: the function share a screen, and she did it, and
Speaker 1: she's found the button pushed and she did it, and
Speaker 1: we discussed some poster of the movie. And then when
Speaker 1: we finished, she forgot to unshare the screen, and for
Speaker 1: a few minutes I saw what's happened on her screen.
Speaker 1: How she because she didn't pay attention to think that
Speaker 1: I don't see it anymore. And she sent messages to
Speaker 1: her mom, bought some very intimate stuff and just there
Speaker 1: was something personal, but we were still talking about some
Speaker 1: business issues. But it's this moment I suddenly understood. Then
Speaker 1: of course I said, sorry, sorry, I see a screen
Speaker 1: you should you should share. But at this moment it
Speaker 1: was short, but it's moment I understood that I was
Speaker 1: inside her. And there's no tool in traditional filmmaking allowing
Speaker 1: me to do to have the same effect of intimacy
Speaker 1: of engagement or I saw and I saw every move
Speaker 1: of her whatever mind you know, it's like it's like
Speaker 1: a window into somebody's mind if you can see what
Speaker 1: they do online. It's a good version of voiceover, you know,
Speaker 1: like usually traditional filmmaking we have. He I was thinking
Speaker 1: about how I will Maybe I will, I should send
Speaker 1: him email, maybe not, maybe I should keep it secret.
Speaker 1: This is what voice over doing. But in in in
Speaker 1: screen life, I see how she tries to send she
Speaker 1: types the text to send her friend. Then suddenly she
Speaker 1: decided to to change your mind and deleted and send
Speaker 1: something different. And I and and if I see it,
Speaker 1: I totally understand what's happening inside the inside the character.
Speaker 1: And and I decided that we should make a movies
Speaker 1: we should make we should use this to make movies
Speaker 1: about today's world and today's heroes. And the first the
Speaker 1: first case, the first movie we made was Unfriended. It's
Speaker 1: a Nelson Grieves. It's when he was my colleague assistant
Speaker 1: at that time. And I asked him to write the script. Ah,
Speaker 1: and he did because he was young enough to believe,
Speaker 1: to believe my crazy idea. UH. And then I asked
Speaker 1: my friend Leo Gabrieze to direct this movie. And uh,
Speaker 1: and we made a movie called called Unfriended, and UM,
Speaker 1: nobody believed that it's it's serious, honestly because I I
Speaker 1: screened this movie for studios, for agencies, for distributers, and
Speaker 1: people said, who will Nobody will go to see UH,
Speaker 1: to stare on the computer screen in the cinema and
Speaker 1: pay money. And and I was trying to explain that
Speaker 1: the logic that we live on screens today, it's our
Speaker 1: where our life is. And people said, yeah, maybe, but
Speaker 1: maybe people doesn't stay so busy with this in the
Speaker 1: in everyday life. Staring at the screen they don't want
Speaker 1: to go to see this in the theater is not
Speaker 1: entertaining enough. What how we can cut the trailer what
Speaker 1: we're going to show. It's it's it's it's very logical,
Speaker 1: it's very logical observations. But I think the logic is wrong.
Speaker 1: It's logical because we because there is no because what's
Speaker 1: happened after UH shows that I was right because every
Speaker 1: movie we made, but we made seven movies since then,
Speaker 1: seven screen life movies and one web web series called
Speaker 1: It's released by BuzzFeed, and and every movie we made
Speaker 1: and every festival, we we we we we showed the
Speaker 1: movie We're getting the same price, which is audience a word.
Speaker 1: And it's not not jury, not critics, but audience. It
Speaker 1: shows me that that that the right It was the
Speaker 1: right concept. Audience wants to have stories about the reality,
Speaker 1: about the life that we live in. Yeah, and uh
Speaker 1: and uh and it just a question. It was then
Speaker 1: it was just a question for me how we can
Speaker 1: make this movie because nobody made it before. It's a
Speaker 1: totally new language. So you have no traditional live action
Speaker 1: elements in the it's all screen. You see in the screen,
Speaker 1: screen to screen, so you see the perspective of characters
Speaker 1: comes through their screens. Yes, uh, we have we don't
Speaker 1: have cameras. Of course, we have production designer because if
Speaker 1: if I am front of computer in the room, somebody
Speaker 1: should figure out the background. And and we need production designer.
Speaker 1: But our production designer designer must design not only the
Speaker 1: background behind the room where the character with the computer
Speaker 1: uh we will place, but also to design the screen,
Speaker 1: to design the folders, like what kind of folders, what
Speaker 1: kind of images, what kind of logos on the screen,
Speaker 1: what kind of And it's a it's a new it's
Speaker 1: very new for for for for the business. Uh and uh.
Speaker 1: And it's about everything that the whole language is different
Speaker 1: because the sound is different. In screen life movies, it's
Speaker 1: very different strategy you because in traditional movies, the screen
Speaker 1: it's like a window into another world. And the sound
Speaker 1: sound coming from the screen because of the reality we're
Speaker 1: talking about, is on behind the screen, except maybe some
Speaker 1: stereo movies when it's a little bit a little bit,
Speaker 1: a few few feets in front of the screen. But
Speaker 1: but in screenlight movies, the reality is front of the screen,
Speaker 1: not behind the screen, because the character is sitting front
Speaker 1: of the screen, and the screen in the cinema it
Speaker 1: just a computer screen and and there's nothing behind the wall,
Speaker 1: and the sound is around you, and we use for profile,
Speaker 1: we used very very tricky atmos atmos sound to create
Speaker 1: the environment to give you a sense of take sense
Speaker 1: of that you are the character sitting in front of
Speaker 1: the screen. Are these so you're distributing these movies around
Speaker 1: the world? Are they profitable? Are you able to make
Speaker 1: money off of them? Do you know what? I think
Speaker 1: you should check because what I heard from the Universal
Speaker 1: that The Unfriended First Unfriended was one of the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty most profitable movies ever made in the history because
Speaker 1: because it was because it was a million dollar budget
Speaker 1: had made no, it made sixty four sixty five theatrically
Speaker 1: and and uh and it's and there's no risk because
Speaker 1: the way how we make this movie is very specific
Speaker 1: because we spent we don't spend one million even we
Speaker 1: spent I don't know, hundred thousand dollars to make to
Speaker 1: do the to shoot it uh and shooting period is
Speaker 1: uh ten days. Uh. And then you can cut, resemble it, cut,
Speaker 1: see the see the what you have and then you
Speaker 1: can continue to the production or you can stop, or
Speaker 1: you can change. You know, it's it's it's slightly different
Speaker 1: the risks. You don't need to commit hundred million dollars budget.
Speaker 1: You're committing only hundred southand a little budget. And then
Speaker 1: you can have we have a chance to to analyze
Speaker 1: what you've got and then continue. And in terms of
Speaker 1: you know, capturing this imagery, do you have is there
Speaker 1: do you have some kind of as you say, a
Speaker 1: technology or a language that is yes, it's what we
Speaker 1: what we what we discovered immediately after unfriended during their
Speaker 1: friend that there's no tools because cinema exists four hundreds year,
Speaker 1: for hundreds of years and UH. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of tools like a tripods, cameras, lights and a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff like lenses and but but for for screen
Speaker 1: life movies, we don't have it because this business exists
Speaker 1: only five years when we started. And the biggest problem
Speaker 1: is when you're recording this screen of your character. You
Speaker 1: recording five years ago ago, we recorded only the flat
Speaker 1: screen flex just video and there was no way to
Speaker 1: manipulate with this image because it was just flat baked
Speaker 1: video of the screen. And and for for for me
Speaker 1: as a director, I want to be able to change things.
Speaker 1: I want to be able to change the timing, to
Speaker 1: change the composition, to change the elements, and I couldn't.
Speaker 1: Then I decided, what if it will make a new
Speaker 1: recorder recording not the image, but recording the programming code
Speaker 1: like the code UH computer generates to create the image.
Speaker 1: Then if we're recording the code, then we can use
Speaker 1: any element and change it. And you know, because it's
Speaker 1: more it's more flexible this type of the file. And
Speaker 1: we spent two and a half years now two and
Speaker 1: we've got we received two patents invented the new recorder
Speaker 1: allowing you to record UH your screencast as a as
Speaker 1: a code with the consequences which are which are First
Speaker 1: of all, I can target the movie like for example,
Speaker 1: you will see you will watch one movie in New
Speaker 1: York and if you will go, if you will fly
Speaker 1: to l A, you will watch different movie because computer
Speaker 1: can understand where you are and change the elements for example,
Speaker 1: banners or something. I mean, I'm not talking about the
Speaker 1: whole movie, but I can adjust and if if you
Speaker 1: I'm the movie I'm watching, a movie you're watching will
Speaker 1: be different movies because I can make a movie when
Speaker 1: we will understand who's watching and adjust the the slightly,
Speaker 1: just the elements to the story and the story. But
Speaker 1: this is for somebody watching in a streaming or yes, yes,
Speaker 1: of course there story different, not in cinema. So you
Speaker 1: have patents, So do you have It's a great idea.
Speaker 1: It could be even in a cinema because with like
Speaker 1: mended reality, because if you will put the glass like
Speaker 1: mended reality glasses, then everyone can can just different different meals.
Speaker 1: They do it in sports right now, in sports right now.
Speaker 1: So you have a couple of patents, Do you have
Speaker 1: a kind of proprietary software to use this and or
Speaker 1: is this is this a business for you. Are you
Speaker 1: trying to license this to other filmmakers and other companies
Speaker 1: around the world. Yes, it's what we do now we
Speaker 1: uh in September, we will release it because now we're
Speaker 1: testing ourselves and we're using to produce our movies. Uh
Speaker 1: and uh and now we we will license from September
Speaker 1: for a few months, we will licenses to different like colleagues,
Speaker 1: whatever businesses uh. Uh and then uh from from December,
Speaker 1: it will be free for everyone to use, like people
Speaker 1: can just record themselves. We will release it for free
Speaker 1: for millions of people. Because because I believe that about
Speaker 1: in today's world, So what I said, because our most
Speaker 1: important events of our life happening on screen, why we
Speaker 1: take pictures, why we make photos, is putting it on
Speaker 1: Instagram because it's not where we leave today, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, I'm I'm sorry, I'm a little
Speaker 1: bit more. I'm trying to radicalize the problem. But I'm
Speaker 1: saying that, like if half of my life is on
Speaker 1: screen today, that half of the images on in Instagram
Speaker 1: should be screencasts. You know, it should be about how
Speaker 1: I got a message from my girlfriend, or how I
Speaker 1: learned that I lost a lot of money, because the
Speaker 1: release of the movie was not successful, and it's a
Speaker 1: very important events and and it's it's what I should
Speaker 1: remember and it should share with my friends and uh,
Speaker 1: and it's what we're trying to promote. Please pay attention
Speaker 1: what's happening on your screens, Remember it and share with
Speaker 1: with share with your friends, with your whatever enemies, if
Speaker 1: you want to to to to pull somebody, it's it's
Speaker 1: what what This is an interesting perspective on our visual
Speaker 1: lives from from a director. But I can, uh, I can.
Speaker 1: We can do one step forward, which is what's the mission?
Speaker 1: Why we do it? Why we do this movie? Not
Speaker 1: because we want to make a lot of money, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not the case their passion projects it is. It
Speaker 1: is it is kind of what we intuitively, I feel
Speaker 1: that it's important, and I try to understand why. Uh.
Speaker 1: And one of the explanations for myself I found, as
Speaker 1: we we leave, we're entering the different, different universe like
Speaker 1: reality now. Because it's what I said, If we leave
Speaker 1: on screens, if we if we sending messages each other
Speaker 1: like I love you digitally as an SMS, it's happening
Speaker 1: on screen, and it means we live in different reality
Speaker 1: now with with entering different reality within the reality of
Speaker 1: social networks and messengers and and like many browsers and games,
Speaker 1: and it's a different reality. And we spend our life
Speaker 1: in this world more and more. But we don't know.
Speaker 1: We don't have a trust yet, you know, we never
Speaker 1: because it's so new civilization. We all like human beings.
Speaker 1: We don't have a trust yet. We don't know what
Speaker 1: does it mean? Death? For for example, my friend died
Speaker 1: two years ago, still sending me happy birthday messages and
Speaker 1: and we don't know. I don't know how to react.
Speaker 1: It's scary, you know, it's really scary. And and we
Speaker 1: don't know what what what does mean family in internet?
Speaker 1: Like if wife cannot excess access the information of her
Speaker 1: husband or not or kids for example, like the movie
Speaker 1: calls Searching we're releasing in August. It's a story about
Speaker 1: the father uh suddenly discovered the world his daughter lived in, shocked,
Speaker 1: And it's what every problem and and and and and
Speaker 1: I and what we don't have this realization. What's the
Speaker 1: mission for us now? How we can together create the
Speaker 1: trust what this world is for us? And how we
Speaker 1: should live in this world? And as we know there's
Speaker 1: only one way to to to create this virtual document
Speaker 1: or like a rules or let's called trust. Yeah, to
Speaker 1: tell stories. It's how it's happened thousands years ago, when
Speaker 1: when our ancestors told first fair tales and myths and legends,
Speaker 1: and then novels and and Leo Tolstoy a route word peace.
Speaker 1: It was the whole culture was about creating this trust
Speaker 1: to like it, to create the rules how we should
Speaker 1: behave and uh and and the screen life movies. It's
Speaker 1: a way for us now to explore this world, to
Speaker 1: learn who we are, to express ourselves, and to tell
Speaker 1: stories about our lives and how they're very interesting. My
Speaker 1: question for you now, if you're going to try to
Speaker 1: license in September but give it away for free in December,
Speaker 1: why would anybody pay you? Because there's a there's a
Speaker 1: few there are a few versions of there's a professional.
Speaker 1: When you have more tools, you can change things. You
Speaker 1: can you can even re like you can record one website.
Speaker 1: You can change the content, move things around. Oh, there
Speaker 1: is a very simple recorder for for for broad audience. Interesting.
Speaker 1: Do you do you have a sense do you think
Speaker 1: you'll have some takers? Yes, I'm sure because we tested it.
Speaker 1: We tested it and uh, we've got we've got an
Speaker 1: unbelievable number. If you know what its means CTR click
Speaker 1: through rate, it's a CULTI merry engagement. Now usually it's
Speaker 1: a one percent. It's it's a good number, like one
Speaker 1: percent of people clicking. We have FI average it could
Speaker 1: be eighty. It means our our, our recording provokes people
Speaker 1: to click because you see somebody's else life and and
Speaker 1: you want to participate. You want to co co exist, coexist,
Speaker 1: you know, you want to how to say this connect connect? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to be inside somebody's else life and we
Speaker 1: can we can provide it. I mean if when I
Speaker 1: was when I was yes, when I was fourteen, if
Speaker 1: somebody will give me this tool, I will talk to
Speaker 1: my friends and girls and flirt and I will do
Speaker 1: it because it's I'm recording my uh my life, recording
Speaker 1: like thirty second one minute of my life and sharing
Speaker 1: with with my friend. And my friend can enter my life.
Speaker 1: Can you can explore my piece of my life. It's
Speaker 1: something very uh game. It's a game changer, I think,
Speaker 1: a right interesting. Now through your company, you have a
Speaker 1: you have a Moscow based production company, baselofs ye. If
Speaker 1: I said that, right, and you do your you do
Speaker 1: a range of material and a lot of you know,
Speaker 1: more traditional live action live action features, buzzle lifts exist
Speaker 1: for twenty five years. It's how old we are. Uh
Speaker 1: and uh, it's a tough time for independent filmmakers and distributors.
Speaker 1: How are you guys faring in the new world order?
Speaker 1: We're looking for? Easy answer is very very simple. We
Speaker 1: are not. We're not ducing traditional stuff. We are because
Speaker 1: it's a company driven by creators, not managers. It's why
Speaker 1: every project we make we produce. Uh. It's it's something
Speaker 1: new and unpredictable. Like I can give you some examples
Speaker 1: of like we made a night Watch and they watched.
Speaker 1: It was first fantasy movie in Russia. It was very
Speaker 1: h new for Russia. And at the same time it
Speaker 1: was very new, very unusual, very innovative for uh, for
Speaker 1: the fantasy for for the American fantasy movies, because it
Speaker 1: was first out rated. You know, I think it was
Speaker 1: one of the first out rated edgy tonally graphic novel
Speaker 1: type of the movies. And and also then we made
Speaker 1: A nine with the Tim Burton, it's animation, animated movie
Speaker 1: about for Edgy dark post epiccalyptic, uh uh cartoon. And
Speaker 1: we made Hardcore Henry. It's a first person movie. Crazy movie,
Speaker 1: very talented director Gianna Ruler. Short in Russia was released
Speaker 1: by STS. We made now seven screen life movies. I
Speaker 1: mean every every movie we we make, we're trying to
Speaker 1: surprise ourselves. And it's not only about the esthetics. Usually
Speaker 1: in my mind, usually business ideas provokes you to figure
Speaker 1: out the new language, new new esthetic, and in opposite,
Speaker 1: like if you need something like now, for example, I'm
Speaker 1: working on the project, cooking the project, working developing the
Speaker 1: project where the artificial intellect creates images and uh and
Speaker 1: and it's very very exactly it's it's not it's it's
Speaker 1: a very early stage, but it works. And I think
Speaker 1: we tested it and I saw a computer generating images
Speaker 1: not not um, I'm not talking about generating images. I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: serialistic images. But what what a computer with think if
Speaker 1: it was it's like like like for example, people said, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a visionary director and I use this idea and
Speaker 1: just developed the software. When it's a visionary, how is
Speaker 1: it not director of visionaries software? Whatever, it's it's a
Speaker 1: it's a it's an interesting it's because it's it's why
Speaker 1: we don't have competitors. We can fail. We can fail
Speaker 1: because sometimes sometimes idea could be not you cannot reach
Speaker 1: your audience. But but but usually we we we have
Speaker 1: a good result because it's a cost effective because there's
Speaker 1: no there's no competitors yet in the world. We uh
Speaker 1: in the project we producing and uh and it's exciting.
Speaker 1: And distributors they like movies we make because we do
Speaker 1: something new. Have you done anything in television content and
Speaker 1: any TV series or only in Russia? We uh we
Speaker 1: we produced the TV show it's quite it was this
Speaker 1: was quite traditional. It was a really good story a
Speaker 1: long time ago. And and now we produced web series.
Speaker 1: It's released by by BuzzFeed. It's a project calls sorry,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a web serious screen life, web serious
Speaker 1: entertainment because the story of of presented in today's uh,
Speaker 1: in today's reality. Like so like if you can imagine
Speaker 1: that there was a there was a Instagram and Facebook
Speaker 1: and and it looks like so the events the incredible
Speaker 1: events of ninety six Martin Luther King, Rob Kennedy getting killed,
Speaker 1: but as if they were today. Yeah, it's like fifty
Speaker 1: years like the same week, but fifty years ago, and
Speaker 1: it's every week we released, were releasing a new episode
Speaker 1: about the same week fifty years ago, and very very
Speaker 1: very exciting and very relatable because suddenly you understand the
Speaker 1: history because it's because it's uh, it's very relatable. What
Speaker 1: is um? I think the Russian media market for even
Speaker 1: for a lot of US media firms, still seems very opaque.
Speaker 1: What do you find? Is it a vibrant market? Do
Speaker 1: you is there are there buyers for TV content and
Speaker 1: digital content in Russia? Sponsorship? Is that? Uh? Is it
Speaker 1: as vibrant as it as it is here for for
Speaker 1: digital content in Russians they think that it's impossible to
Speaker 1: understand what Russia it means. It's like it's it's it's
Speaker 1: in our mentality, you know, in our mentality. We we
Speaker 1: believe that nobody can understand us. I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: a bullshit probably, but it's what we it's what we
Speaker 1: think that Russian soul we've always heard about, Yes, it's
Speaker 1: something like Russian soul or because it's absurdity, it's idealistic,
Speaker 1: it's uh, sometimes it's very bad organ you know, the
Speaker 1: organized world. But sometimes it's unbelievably focused, like a war
Speaker 1: like world What two was one of the examples. And
Speaker 1: we think we're special. I mean, I don't like this concert,
Speaker 1: but it's what what what? What's what people believe in.
Speaker 1: But the same with the with the movies. Uh. For
Speaker 1: many years during Soviet era, Russia had its own film industry,
Speaker 1: very very solid, and it was one of the one
Speaker 1: of the most profitable industries in Soviet Union. After saying
Speaker 1: I think product vodka production and uh and and then
Speaker 1: when Prettystroca happened, and and but yes, it was all
Speaker 1: state owned. It was all state controlled during Soviet time
Speaker 1: and very well organized. It was like monopolized because it
Speaker 1: was development, production, distribution. Everything was in one hands. And
Speaker 1: these were the movies that you probably saw it. Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: There was a two types of movies. There was a
Speaker 1: Russian Soviet movies, Soviet Union movies, and some little bit
Speaker 1: of Eastern European movies, and a lot of French and
Speaker 1: Italian movies. I don't know why the communists they were
Speaker 1: in love with with French and Italian Uh, like a
Speaker 1: Buzzolini feeliny or like a French French directors, like like
Speaker 1: comics is Fantamas was one of one of my uh kids,
Speaker 1: huge events. And I have I have a conspiracy sory
Speaker 1: y because I think they bought these movies and used this,
Speaker 1: uh these cases to finance communist parties in Western world.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a it's conspiracy theory. But but mostly
Speaker 1: it was Soviet in then in nineties, suddenly the whole
Speaker 1: industry collapsed and thousands of thousands of theaters like it
Speaker 1: was the same as United like a twenty thousand screens
Speaker 1: or thirty thousand screens. It disappeared in during like a
Speaker 1: few years. And uh, and there was it was uh,
Speaker 1: there was like a furnishing stores and in the theaters
Speaker 1: and then all ninety there was no there was no
Speaker 1: industry and uh you think because the state collapsed, so
Speaker 1: that went away and then it was just chaos. There
Speaker 1: was no Yeah, there was no money too. There was
Speaker 1: no money to rebuild theaters because the theaters were old
Speaker 1: fashioned and not Dolby. You know, it was like old
Speaker 1: fashioned theaters mostly and uh and and and there and
Speaker 1: uh somehow, no, there was no money to invest to
Speaker 1: produce new movies, and American movies were not so so
Speaker 1: they were okay and and v chs of destroy this
Speaker 1: because there was every everyone had its VHS player and
Speaker 1: could watch movies for free, and the pirate pirated movies
Speaker 1: and uh. And then only the end of the nineties
Speaker 1: there was the first theaters were resurrected started to come
Speaker 1: back back, and uh and uh and then and for
Speaker 1: next then we in two thousand four we released Night
Speaker 1: Voich and it it became a hit, like a biggest
Speaker 1: It put you on the map there and over here. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: and and uh and I believe that there was only
Speaker 1: one way for a filmmaker to to be recognized. It's
Speaker 1: just to make to be successful in your own uh culture,
Speaker 1: and then you can travel. I mean, that's what I
Speaker 1: believe in. Then then for many years the Russian movies
Speaker 1: were like a fifteen twenty percent of the market and
Speaker 1: eight percent we're American movies because the old investors came
Speaker 1: from the United States rebuild the theater's invest money and
Speaker 1: and there was a there was enough products came from
Speaker 1: US to to support the theaters, and and the whole
Speaker 1: generation grew up watching American movies. And this is what
Speaker 1: what's people think about movies in Russian. But then a
Speaker 1: little by a little Russian two Russian filmmakers too of
Speaker 1: the market. And and it was fifteen twenty up to
Speaker 1: two years ago, like one two years ago, and now
Speaker 1: it's like forty. And so there's financing, there is support
Speaker 1: for Russian based Yes, first of all government supports because
Speaker 1: we have subsidies and the government financing eight nine like
Speaker 1: a major productions supporting every year and Minister of Cultures
Speaker 1: supporting also some some projects and uh. And it's how
Speaker 1: they try to re reboard the industry. And it was
Speaker 1: not really successful until a few years ago, mean successful
Speaker 1: but not there was nothing magical magical h But now
Speaker 1: it's unbelievable, twist happened, Uh suddenly Uh last year, the
Speaker 1: last two years Russian movies to the market. You move
Speaker 1: between East and West frequently as a filmmaker and as
Speaker 1: a businessman. It's obviously we are at a very heightened
Speaker 1: time of tension between the countries. The Cold War seems
Speaker 1: to be back in something maybe not so cold? What
Speaker 1: is what is your person? That's very scary what you
Speaker 1: just said, Well, maybe not so cold, because it's as
Speaker 1: if it will be. If it's a cold, it's okay.
Speaker 1: If it's a hot it's it's it's scary, let's hope,
Speaker 1: let's hope not But what what is your perspective on
Speaker 1: what is what is fueling this? It seems like we
Speaker 1: do have a sort of fundamental class of cultures at
Speaker 1: a time of nationalism for both countries. Uh. Yes, you
Speaker 1: just answered your Christian yourself because there's no conflict. I
Speaker 1: feel there's no conflict between countries, there is no conflict
Speaker 1: between people. I think both countries divided, you know, in
Speaker 1: both countries. That's true about this country. It's the same
Speaker 1: in Russia the post both countries divided in the world, divided,
Speaker 1: not geographically, not politically, not not between countries, not geo politically,
Speaker 1: but inside societies. And every society like breed in England, Russians, yea,
Speaker 1: and France and Germany, every society has a has a
Speaker 1: has a divided in two different ideas. And I think
Speaker 1: because I made movie calls night Watch, and I can
Speaker 1: use the terminology of this fantasy movie. There is a
Speaker 1: freedom and responsibility and and there are two big ideas
Speaker 1: like either about freedom free choice or about safety and
Speaker 1: response about and it's how the society, every society divided today.
Speaker 1: And uh, and I think, and I think people who
Speaker 1: believes in freedom and this and importance of freedom in
Speaker 1: Russia or the United States, they understand each other perfectly,
Speaker 1: but in the same way as the other their opponents.
Speaker 1: They understand each other perfectly. And I don't see the
Speaker 1: confrontation between societies. I see more like I think. I
Speaker 1: think confrontation inside Russia or inside the United States, confrontation
Speaker 1: between two ideologists much stronger than confrontation between two countries.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for stopping by. This has been
Speaker 1: an interesting conversation. Thank you, Thank you very much. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. To be sure to join us next week
Speaker 1: for another episode of Strictly Business.