A member of the jury of the Russian competition for the past “Spirit of Fire”, she repeatedly became a participant in film festivals - first as a debutante, demonstrating her first works “Portrait at Twilight” and “Welcome Home”, and then as an experienced author. Her film “Has Anyone Seen My Girl?”, based on the biographical book of Karina Dobrotvorskaya, was received ambiguously, but was discussed passionately - and it seems that the director was ready for this. We collected quotes from conversations with Angelina Nikonova.
I had no luck. I had no luck for a long time and stubbornly - not a single producer took me under his wing. Now I understand that I was actually very lucky. Because otherwise I would not have known about my abilities. That is, I knew that I had the abilities of a director, but I didn’t know that I also had the ability to be a producer.
IRL.by
[about the film "Has Anyone Seen My Girl"] This project was a big lesson in humility for me. Apparently, I needed it, and having completed it, I would recommend that all arthouse directors make at least one producer’s film. When you spend your whole life making original films, even if they are completely different, at some point stagnation will still happen, because in them you are both the customer and the performer - you walk through the forest and eat the forest. Absolute freedom! You stop hearing other opinions, it seems to you that you understand everything, understand everything and always make the right decisions. But this is a big misconception and a bad way. We must learn to hear others. And the later this happens, the more painful it will be for you. I realized that it is important to remain flexible. For some reason, everyone thinks that the author’s position must be tough, that the author is a dictator. Believe me, this path is very short, and those who hold this opinion quickly run out of steam.
"News"
Cinema as a genre is now dying out, because they have begun to demand from it the same thing as from a TV series - to entertain. But cinema is about something else altogether, it is an audiovisual work that invites the viewer to co-creation, makes you think, feel, go home after the show and make some decisions. The cinema that I love brings your imagination, your thought to a certain point where you turn on and begin to speculate. This is a dance between the filmmaker and the viewer.
"News"
For me, the main thing is that the artist wants to embody the hero on the screen. Because this desire will subsequently help him go through all the difficulties of production that are inevitable. It is important that the actor wants this role, feels it and trusts the director.
TV Mag
Making films is already a part of me. I can shoot with my eyes closed. And working in the opera genre became a way out of my comfort zone. The profession of a theater director has always terrified me, and, to be honest, I did not strive to stage plays. When working on a film, I am given full control over all processes, I can shoot as many takes as I need to achieve the result. I know that I can take part from the first, part from the tenth, and part from the seventh and in editing build a reliable story, dynamics and everything else. In the theater, the director, one might say, is “thrown out” of the process from the moment of the premiere, and no one knows how it will go. Therefore, I tried to stage the opera in such a way that even if twenty percent of my ideas were lost, eighty would be enough to emotionally tell the story.
"Music life"
Participation in festivals allows the film to be noticed. In the global film community there is a term “EXPOSURE” - this is the best thing that can happen to your film - so that a large number of people watch it. Festivals provide this opportunity. As a result, journalists/critics may be inspired by your film and write a good review, sales agents/distributors may want to buy your film for distribution. Festivals are a concentration of useful contacts that cannot be reached under other circumstances.
IRL.by
(about “Spirit of Fire”) The festival, which collects the works of novice filmmakers, essentially performs the function of a hero festival. Because we simply have to support aspiring filmmakers. It is very difficult to make films in different conditions, and especially now. And if the film festival does not support art as such, we will not have a culture.
TASS
