The director, screenwriter and poet was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1995. She studied directing at the city’s School of New Cinema and screenwriting at its State University of Film and Television. Her short film Syndrome IO won two awards at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and went on to screen at numerous international festivals. She currently works as an assistant director and screenwriter in Moscow.
What was your starting point for “Trap”?
Trap is my graduation short film. In the cinema school my main mission was to find locations and people which consist with “cinematic” energy. And I found some amazing young guys from the district where I lived in Saint Petersburg. They had a brutal street lifestyle and lived through amazing stories everyday. Locations and mood of the film were also inspired by the district of my childhood . I felt my heroes, locations and their vibes as a unique cinematic “world” with its own rules. It was a strong and pure energy similar to my childhood memories.
Do you have a favourite moment in the film? Which one and why this one?
The X moment in the film for me is the final episode of “performance on the hill”. After a yearlong shooting break I decided to continue the project work and to film the most complicated mission first. I asked the photographer Dmitry Pryakhin for help. He works with the plasticity of the body in his own photo project called Furious. And I had the same choreography mission in this episode because I wanted the boys‘ fight to turn into something else. That was one of the most complicated shoots for me. No budget, unprofessional actors who went out of control, weather and a hard goal of the scene… When we had made it I understood that now I can make movies.
What do you like about the short form?
I made four shorts and every time it was sort of an experiment for me . The narrative has a value but I had never felt a purpose in it. The most interesting things for me have always been to find new cinematic forms of, discover surprising editing correlations and also to explore what other tools can work in the cinema. Short films are the fastest way to test these assumptions. Besides, indie shorts are also about freedom. This is the point when the author’s vision could be born.
Photo © Anastasia Veber
Berlinale Shorts 