- Your directing project is about to appear on the court of a wide audience (the interview was recorded a few days before the release. - RT) your directorial project - the series "Flight".

How do you feel a few days before the premiere?

Is there any excitement about how the audience will receive it?

- Naturally, I feel anxiety.

I think every director tests it before the premiere.

And, I will not hide, it is important for me how the audience will receive our series.

But, unfortunately, I can not guarantee anything - our story is still a little atypical.

In places, maybe provocative.

Therefore, it is very difficult for me to predict the audience reaction.

- The main characters cannot deal with the trauma of the past.

What attracted you to this topic?

Some personal experience is associated with it, maybe you are just fond of psychology?

- The people I see, with whom I communicate, cannot cope with the trauma of the past.

And, to be honest, it is difficult for me to remember a person who could easily cope with them or would not have had such injuries at all.

Therefore, I think this story concerns modern people in principle.

Gradually, people learned to analyze themselves, their past.

But self-knowledge and introspection do not always lead to something good, to a cure.

I am very interested in this topic.

It concerns me and the people with whom I communicate.

- Are there any episodes from the lives of your friends in the stories of the heroes, or are they all exclusively fictional plots?

- Almost all the characters have prototypes, I wrote from nature.

But, naturally, as it always happens, a lot was thought up and compiled - a kind of mosaic.

But in general, of course, I wrote about real people and real problems.

- You noted that people cannot cope with injuries, like the characters of the series.

What do you think, if you set a goal, work it out with psychologists, is it really possible to deal with such problems?

Or will they always guide a person through life in one way or another?

- Rather, it seems to me, unreal.

I have a feeling that life and genetics write some kind of code for a person by which he lives.

But one would like to hope that free will also exists.

Therefore, I think you can get off the ground - just like fix some things in your life.

But is it possible to completely escape, get away from this code and be reborn ... I'm not sure about that.

- The stories of your characters make you think about many things: about your own path, purpose, searching for yourself.

Did you yourself, while working on the script, ask similar questions?

- It seems to me that any normal, mentally healthy person asks questions about his purpose, path, and so on.

I think if a person doesn't ask them, it's some kind of mental disorder.

All the more so if you want to write.

- By developing these stories, have you managed to discover something new for yourself?

- Probably, I opened the abyss of my soul (laughs -

RT

).

And so, it's all the same anyway some kind of my statement about life, about people.

And I really think that's how it happens.

Therefore, the point here is not whether I was able to discover something for myself, but what I managed to formulate.

  • © Shot from the series "Flight"

- The series has already been shown to foreign audiences in the Czech Republic, Germany and the UK.

Do you know what the audience's reaction was?

- Due to the coronavirus, no one was able to travel, and this is very sad.

But as far as I know, the reaction was good.

In the Czech Republic, we won a festival.

The series was shown in England, I read positive reviews, including from professionals.

In Germany, I don’t know.

As far as I understand, it was luck that we got to the forum, which is quite prestigious.

But how the Germans reacted to the series - I don't know.

- Do you think this story is universal, it can interest any viewer, or does it need a certain mentality?

- I believe that it is universal.

But not because I wanted to make a story that has nothing to do with our country.

No, it just seems to me that the life of that circle of people about whom I shot the series in Russia is not so different from the life of people around the world.

In any case, in developed or developing countries.

And, it seems to me, both life and the problems discussed there are universal.

- You once said that you tried not to show your family your Lovestory movie in order to avoid advice and keep your statement.

Has anything changed in the case of Flight?

Did you consult with relatives while working on the series?

- I didn’t take much advice.

Because you need to keep some kind of freshness in your head.

And still, when you write and shoot a series, there are a lot of advisers around you.

Therefore - yes, I did not need additional advice.

But I must say that, for example, my mother (Natalya Tokareva. -

RT

), a wonderful film editor, sometimes helped me.

- In general, in your work, do you tend to listen to someone's opinion?

- I listen.

It just seems to me that it is important to have some kind of filter in your head and to feel when they are talking to you about the case and when not.

But I prefer to hear as many opinions as possible, then formulate some of my own and make corrections.

  • Petr Todorovsky, Vilma Kutavichyute and Alexander Petrov on the set of Lovestory

  • © kinopoisk.ru

- Do you have any favorite directors whose works do you inspire in your work?

- There are directors whose films are very important to me, and who I often watch, I try to learn from them.

These are Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Altman, the Coen brothers, Gleb Panfilov, Woody Allen, Louis Malle, Francois Truffaut ... But it is not so easy to learn from such wonderful directors.

Then you get to the site and it turns out that everything is somehow different there.

So I guess I write and shoot more intuitively.

- You have already managed to try yourself as a screenwriter, producer and director.

Which of these areas is closest to you? 

- This is a very different job.

And I am interested in the first, and the second, and the third.

It's hard to compare.

Your life is very different depending on whether you are a screenwriter, director or producer.

Therefore, it seems to me that we are talking not only about professions, but about the way of life in general.

- How do you manage to combine all this?

- First you write, then you shoot.

If there is an opportunity to produce something, this also happens separately.

So I see no problem in combining it.

But, of course, it's wildly interesting to do everything at once.

Because it feels like you are living three different lives.

- In the future, would you like to focus on one thing or do you prefer to control the production of paintings in different aspects?

- I don't think about what will happen next.

Seriously, I say this completely sincerely.

Every film that I was lucky enough to make, I perceive so ... I just work, like the last time.

It's not because I'm so selfless.

But simply because cinema requires an incredible amount of strength from you, physical and psychological.

And it seems to me that if you are working on a film and at the same time wondering what to do next, you can get confused.

- And it happens that there is no strength?

- Of course.

I shot two pictures, and after filming every time I swore that this was the last one.

Because it’s very hard.

But some time passed, and again I wanted to go to the site.

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Publication from Lovestory💕 romantic comedy (@movielovestory)

- Earlier you were interested in journalism, graduated from the journalism faculty and started your way in this profession.

Remember how she attracted you?

- In those days, that old NTV still existed, we all dragged along from Leonid Parfyonov.

And then I really wanted to be a journalist, regardless of whether there are any abilities for this and how deep this desire is.

I felt some kind of romance in this profession and courage.

And, no matter how ridiculous it may sound now, then I wanted to go to the journalism faculty to become something like Leonid Parfyonov.

I remember that already, in my opinion, when I was in the first, in the second year, everyone was dispersed.

But the main thing, of course, is not that, but that I quickly realized that I am not a journalist.

- Did journalism not live up to your expectations?

In terms of the same romance.

- Of course not.

I invented something for myself, but everything turned out to be completely different.

But this often happens in different professions.

I would say that journalism has become a school of life for me.

The work was serious, and quite high demands were made on me when I worked in the same Vesti.

I grew up there very much, turned from a child into a more or less adult person who imagines how much work needs to be done and what responsibility must be borne in order to receive a normal salary.

Therefore, yes, I cannot say that I was in love with journalism, but I am very grateful to this profession and to all the editorial offices in which I was lucky enough to work.

- How did you come to the decision to change the field of activity?

At what point did you realize that you have to go to the cinema?

- I think I realized this in my last year at university.

By this time, I was already actively working, in my opinion, at Vesti.

I just honestly told myself that I was not ready to devote my life to this.

I really wanted to do something that would completely fill it and never bother me.

And I finally plucked up the courage and admitted to myself that cinema is interesting to me, but journalism is not.

But then I worked in journalism for quite a long time, because I had to earn money, and I still couldn’t do anything in cinema.

- When you already decided to go to the cinema, did this turn seem radical to you, or was it just the next stage, the transition from editor on television to film editor?

- There was a big break.

I decided to make films, roughly speaking, at the age of 21, but I went to 27 or 28. So no, it was just one of the options to work in the cinema, to learn something.

- There is an opinion that there are few good film editors in our country.

Do you think there is such a problem?

- There are, indeed, very few of them.

- What is it connected with?

- With the fact that this is a very specific profession, which, on the one hand, requires intelligence, observation, reading, and the ability to analyze.

And, at the same time, some lack of ambition.

This very rarely matches.

- Do you think it is possible to study to be a film editor?

Or does he need some special personal qualities?

- It seems to me that you cannot learn.

Either you can do it or not.

And, of course, it is advisable, before starting, to look a couple of times how serious professional editors work.

But it seems to me that if you have the ability, it is enough to read a few textbooks on screenwriting, to love cinema and people.

Or rather, unfortunate scriptwriters who are trying to give birth to something.

If this is all with you, then you have a chance.

- Do you have your own editor?

- Yes.

This is Anna Gudkova, creative producer of 1-2-3 Production studio.

She is one of the best editors in our cinema.

One way or another, it has to do with absolutely all the tapes that I worked on and that came out on the screen.

- Do you always follow her advice?

- Not always.

But I trust her very much.

Her help is invaluable.

  • © Shot from the series "Flight"

- What is more important for you - to follow the editor's advice and make the picture dramatically and visually verified or leave it, maybe not so “ideal”, but keep the author's style and statement?

- This dilemma is artificially invented.

In fact, it does not exist in nature.

High-quality drama cannot interfere with the author's intention.

This is invented by authors who are not able to build high-quality drama. 

- When you first entered the profession, was there anything that surprised you?

For example, how the filmmaking works, how things are in the industry, how to reach the modern viewer ... Or did you already have a comprehensive understanding of everything and easily got involved in the work?

- Well no.

In general, I don’t know yet whether I got through to the viewer.

It's hard for me to speak.

This is the first thing.

And secondly, it seems to me that the question of how to reach the viewer is not worth it in modern Russian cinema.

If in your profession you can do something sensible, even a little talented, then most likely you will be in demand.

Because no one is missing: screenwriters, directors, actors, artists ... 

- But every year universities graduate a lot of specialists in various fields.

What is the problem?

- It's hard for me to judge.

I studied at the higher courses for a year, then I had to leave.

It seemed to me that we are taught very professionally, and there is every opportunity to open up.

So I don't want to scold our film education, I know too little about it.

But the fact remains: there is not enough everyone.

Why is difficult to say.

If we talk about screenwriters, then film education has nothing to do with it.

Some environment just has to ripen, and it gradually matures, in which these writers appear.

The vast majority of talented successful screenwriters I know did not graduate from VGIK.

- They did not receive higher cinematographic education at all?

- No, but mostly they just have higher education.

People were getting some other professions for a long time, and then suddenly they thought: why shouldn't I be a screenwriter?

A man sat down, wrote a script, once - and it worked.

This is how it goes.

Of course, there is a lot to learn there, this is a certain craft.

But five years at VGIK on the screenwriting ... I have no idea what you can do there for so long. 

- Apparently, it is not academic knowledge that is more important, but outlook and personal qualities?

- Yes, the inner fulfillment of a person, life experience is important.

The abilities of a playwright, no matter how pathetic it may sound.

Someone can collect, construct stories, and some cannot.

- Tell us about your immediate professional plans.

The Healthy Man project has already been announced ...

- I'm just doing it now, we are in the launch.

This is the story of a man who in a certain way is looking for the meaning of life, fulfillment.

At some point, he realized that he wanted to help people.

And this film is about how his desire is reflected in life, his own and the whole family.

- And finally, what do you do in your free time from work?

Is there anything besides cinema that interests you a lot?

- To be honest, I have no hobbies.

There is a job and there is a family for which there is so little time left.

When I have free time, I try to spend it with my family.

And so ... Books of some kind, films ... I root for Moscow "Spartak", I try not to miss their matches.

- Don't you go in for sports yourself?

- Unfortunately, I haven't studied for a long time.

I used to study, but now I have given up.

This is just a life drama.