“We are entering a new era”: Yuri Bykov - about coronavirus, the advantages of self-isolation and the future of the film industry

On the pros and cons of self-isolation

This (self-isolation. - RT ) test for any normal organism. I do not live in a villa in Cap-Ferrat (a resort on the Cote d'Azur of France. - RT ) and I am not now even on any elementary coast. I'm in the apartment. But in self-isolation there is one plus: I do a lot of writing and reading. Unlike people whose work involves moving from home to work and to be in another place. I can imagine how hard it is for them ...

I see all kinds of media reports about how many activities can be at home. But still, I will take my usual pessimistic position: any classes, online training are interesting and useful for the first two weeks.

Coronavirus and this whole pandemic story is likely to teach people the most important thing: understanding that there is nothing better than live communication, and nothing will replace it. 

It seems to me that this is one of the main advantages, if in this situation you can even say that. Because all online rehearsals, online training, online chats for work and more - all this turns into some kind of endless observation of people in the box. It seems strange to me, sometimes even vulgar. A person must come into direct contact with a person. And, of course, in such critical moments, we inevitably resort to the latest technology. Thank God that they are. In the end, communications are not broken. But this is not a substitute for live communication and, especially, the movement of man in space.

One way or another, even for those who, it seems to me, are in more picturesque places, the absence of a change of scenery still provokes a feeling of routine, which turns into a feeling that everything that surrounds you is a mural. When the president announced the month, the hair on his head began to move. It was not very pleasant. Because a month is really a very serious test. People are just starting to go crazy. As far as I know from my friends and acquaintances, it’s really hard for some.

On the feeling of drama and mood in society

Cinema is a minimum of six months of work on the script, preparation, and then three or four months of active work with a group with a large number of people, search for locations, castings, shootings. This is internal fermentation and reflection. And if the director is also a writer ... More than half of the time working on the film is being alone with yourself. The feeling of drama arises not from the fact that you are sitting in the moment, but from how long it will last. That is, if it lasts a month or two - it is not very good and not very pleasant. And if you live with the feeling that in general they will only let you out of the house in six months - well, then, really, write is gone!

We are entering a new era and will live in a new era. And not only because of economic consequences: oil is practically worthless, airlines went bankrupt, and this is a global situation. First of all, we realized that we were very afraid for human life. Not just for your own. In general, in principle, the value of human life has grown, especially in secular society - I now mean both ours and Western. Maybe we can make some kind of footnote to the countries of the Third World. Although there technology, especially network, is everywhere. We all now realized that we were very afraid of death.

Society realized that it had become fragile. For better or worse, time will tell.

I think society has become less resilient. It seems to me that those people who lived in caves and ran after mammoths, excuse me for such vulgarity, felt a little more confident than we are now. This is too extreme an experience for most of our population. Moreover, what is Russia - 1/6 of the Earth! We are all accustomed to the horizon of at least 40 kilometers. I was generally born in the steppe. Well, how - not in the steppe, in a small working village. But from the five-story building I could see, relatively speaking, 40 kilometers of the horizon. And to me, a man who at least twice a day went outside and walked through these expanses is unusual.

I have a friend who, realizing that the situation is brewing, flew specially with his whole family to Moscow from the Maldives. He is not the poorest person, he could have stayed there for a very long time. But he specially flew here, because there is medicine, native walls, and so on.

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• © Ekaterina Chesnokova

About relationships in conditions of self-isolation

Incidentally, this is also not so much a plus, but socially useful knowledge. Especially for professionals. In a long isolation, oddly enough, it is better to be alone. It turned out that even many close people - parents, children, husbands, wives and so on - who have been in isolation for a long time alone with each other, have very serious problems, all the shortcomings of the relationship, unexplained questions come up. And, as far as I know, this is somewhat hushed up, but in China, after quarantine, there were a huge number of divorces.

I am a single man. But I must say frankly, I can imagine how difficult it is to be with the same person. I don’t think that being with someone else, even with a close, beloved, important, dear to you person, is a problem in principle. But even close and loving each other people who lived well enough before and had no problems, I think as a result of this isolation they will realize that it is better, of course, to have their own space.

It is abnormal, unnatural to be constantly with the same people. And this is also a useful moment. Because we are still entering an era when we know more and more about man, and so many archaic illusions disappear.

It becomes clear that a person needs his own space. It's all about balance. A certain amount of time you have to be alone with yourself, a certain amount - with other people. New people must appear in your life. If this balance is not, then everything turns into a radical social hell.

I do not feel the problem that people are alone with themselves. Another thing is that this state is extremely unbearable, if you have no way to contact at all. In a cramped space, two, three, or even four people (wife, husband and children) are very difficult to get along if the situation does not change. It is obvious. Where to sit in prolonged isolation - alone or with someone? To each his own. One is a little easier at first. But then the same mess appears, it seems to me.

About the pros of the pandemic

The epidemic happens, in my opinion, once every two or three centuries for sure. And consider that civilization has reached some heights that allow this to be avoided ... Nature is smarter and more cunning. In the end, it is possible that this could be an artificial virus. Again, I do not have information, I can not say. But there is such an opinion.

I think that the virus is a natural phenomenon, based on the social agenda. Because the population is large, the resources are not distributed fairly. There are endless movements, there is an unstable situation in various problem regions.

It seems to me that this is generally the lesser evil of what could have been. Forgive me those people who have already suffered and who will still suffer, but this is not a plague, not cholera, not a Spanish woman, when 50-60 million each died out. By and large, this is just a warning to come to your senses, to think, to look back. For many - for me, including - this is a way to change the space and change something in life, stop, just pause. You understand: when you are in a decision-making state or in some not very fruitful phase, and the whole world is running, developing, and it seems to you that you are not keeping up with it, and many people have this feeling ... I also , of course. And now everything has stopped. And this time - at least for those who are not at risk and who observe some elementary norms - is a way to look inside themselves. Personally, I see inside a lot of bad and a lot of unresolved.

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• © Alexey Kudenko

On the impact of the pandemic on the film industry

Cinema will probably change to such an extent that the wide screen will no longer be of key importance to the industry. I don’t know, I’m not Vanga, not Nostradamus, but, as I understand it, the economic situation will force people to be very selective about spending money and time on their leisure time. In this case, this very second, the situation shows that online views have increased tremendously. It is simple and easy from life, from a social habit, people will not leave.

I think the wide screen will suffer very seriously. Some great releases will remain. It has its own economy, I just don’t want to explain it now, but Russian cinema, when done with an eye on fees, should basically collect at least a billion rubles - on an objective economy. I’m not sure that the producers will be able to guarantee themselves such fees in the economic situation that will come next.

Well, what a picture it may be. Next year there will be releases of the films “Silver Skates”, “Fire” with Khabensky and so on. Perhaps these pictures, with the right investment of resources, both producer and logistics, and with the support of the state, will work, as other successful releases like “Legends 17” worked before. But, it seems to me, with a wide screen everything will be harder.

Multiplexes are now empty, you have to pay rent and restore everything. And in principle, people will get used to it, that it’s better to sit at home, watch some cool series on an inexpensive subscription. It seems to me that online views and, accordingly, online sites will develop. A wide screen will remain a field of competition for large releases.

A niche, controversial, or, say, without the potential for large movie fees can simply disappear as a phenomenon. Or go to the same Internet.

By the way, the Watchman went online on Yandex. There was a small optional rental, about 50 copies. But he had no global significance. By the way, they tried to impute something there, to start counting these fees. This is very funny, because no emphasis was placed on rental. Everyone understood that the Watchman was a picture for online viewing.

Probably, the Internet will continue to develop, and the wide screen will be in great difficulty. Everyone felt that a new era was approaching, where a massive concentration of people could even be dangerous. Now the coronavirus has passed, COVID-19, or maybe COVID-21 or COVID-23. I am ironic, as they say, in a sad vein. But the feeling that getting together in large numbers is somewhat dangerous may linger a little longer than we expect. People will be afraid of large crowds. I think we need to think positively. Over time, this fear will go away.

About the opportunity to make a movie about COVID-19

I think it’s interesting to make a movie not about COVID-19, but about this situation in which everyone was in a vacuum. Not about the situation as such: about a man who, even under these conditions, understands that the main hell, the main tragedy and drama is not in the coronavirus, but in his own head.

If I were to write and make a film about a man who lived in hell before the coronavirus, and then when the coronavirus appeared and this whole situation happened, he slowly pulled himself by the hair from the hell in which he existed! I mean conformism, lies, treason to his wife, betrayal to himself ... And suddenly, in these circumstances, it would seem, of total panic, he realizes that the main thing that needs to be solved and what to cope with is your own demons and fears. That would be an interesting story. Because to shoot about the coronavirus that someone is sitting somewhere and cannot communicate with their own mother ... I understand that this is tragic, but not so much. But to take off the story that total panic is happening, everyone is waiting for the end of the world, and the end of the world - here he is, if he comes - that would be nice. Then the contrast ratio would be very interesting. And of course, you need to think about it. And I'll think about it.

See the full version of the interview with Yuri Bykov here.