Serhii LOZNYTSIA on his profession and life

Serhii LOZNYTSIA is a cult Ukrainian and European film director, an author of today’s most famous film about the Maidan revolution, is not a frequent guest in Kyiv. The Day has published several interviews with him, but mostly they linked to concrete premieres. Recently The Day had an opportunity to ask Loznytsia more generally about the choice of profession, the peculiarities and difficulties of his craft, his view on the situation in the sphere of filmmaking in Ukraine. The readers will find this indisputably interesting conversation bellow.

 “YOUNG MAN, YOU HAVE A MASTER’S DISEASE”

When and how did you understand you would be a director?

“In 1990, after graduation from the KPI I was working in a special design office with the Cybernetics Institute and I felt that I wanted to do something different. This desire was growing in me gradually. Maybe my body gave me a hint. I     felt that something was aching in my chest, so I went to see a very good doctor. The doctor examined me and said, ‘Young man, you have a master’s disease. You need to do something, because you have a lot of energy, but there is no outlet.’ That was probably the impetus. I recall when I found myself at the VDIK for the first time. Everything I saw impressed me, and I understood that it was my environment. But 10 more years passed, and after making three films I understood that making films is my thing. I have tried to enter the VDIK twice and I failed twice at the second exam – that was a writing task, when you had to write a script in a five-hour time. After the second attempt I understood that I couldn’t wait for one more year, so I came up to the master who was taking people for her course, Nana Dzhordzhadze, and asked her to allow me to be a free listener at her classes. ‘Of course, darling. Come,’ Nana said. That was crucial for my destiny, and I am extremely thankful to Nana for that.

“And besides that I of course had the will power. For me it was unthinkable, after choosing my path, to leave it because of some difficulties. Then my talent showed itself. But all of the students from my course were talented. However, this is a profession that also demands numerous other qualities.”

I have already asked you this question, but I would like you to answer in more detail: was the transition from documentary to live action cinema easy for you, especially after you achieved serious success namely in documentary cinema?

“It is always hard to shoot your first live-action film [My Joy. – Author]. Moreover, you learn how to direct through practice. But, actually, there was no transition for me. They only say it is like there are two rooms, a documentary and a live action one, and there is a door between them – this is a passage, please. This was not true in my experience. Of course, I do distinguish between the genres, but the difference that disturbs and restricts me, is mostly connected with ethical questions. In a documentary you can suddenly, if you get lucky, shoot something you cannot even imagine. Live action cinema in this sense works vice versa. I would even say that documentary cinema is much more intricate, because it assumes the possibility to pretend a reality or claim to be truthful. Many people make use of this, which in my opinion is a colossal mystification. Otherwise these genres are absolutely alike.”

“HELLO, FEAR. I’M NOT AFRAID WHEN I’M WITH YOU”

Your films are hard. They can scare off some viewers. What are you personally afraid of? In your opinion, what should one be afraid of?

“I would put it in such a way: we are living in a terrible world, and many people can be scared by this world. Aren’t you afraid to live? And cinema is fantasizing about this charming darkness that surrounds us. Why be afraid of fantasies? Fear is an emotional process. You are asking me what phenomena should be marked with this process. As if I could order to my body: be afraid of that, don’t be afraid of that – and advise some other person to do the same after that. This is an interesting question. And I have no advice for anyone about this. This is a personal feeling, which is connected with the psychophysics of every person. I like the phrase, which I think belongs to Mandelstam, ‘Hello, fear, I’m not afraid when I’m with you.’”

What do you say to people who blame you for shooting grim and Russophobic films? I have heard such opinions many times, in particular, from other film critics.

“Sometimes I think that some smart guys are working on creation of such terms and their implementation in the language. The terms that hide and reject undesirable or unpleasant contemplations. Suffice it to use the term ‘grim film,’ and everything gets clear. What is to say? It’s clear, this is a dark film. The term noir sounds different. There is a way to continue conversation. This is a film noir, and then you can see some romantic fleur in this, ‘Night, street, broken lantern, drugstore…’ But the phrase ‘dark film’ kills the conversation as soon as it is pronounced. The same is with Russophobia. These words are mouthed not to continue the conversation.”

What is truth in art? Is this a correct notion?

“I would suggest the following strange definition. The truth in art is creating with the help of certain means used in this art a statement that corresponds to our understanding of verity. Now we must define what verity is. Verity is what exists objectively. Now let’s recall Democritus: ‘In things that exist beyond us there is nothing sweet, bitter, warm, cold, white, black, nothing that everyone imagines. All these are only names for our sensations.’ It turns out that the truth is connected with the names for our sensations. But can we trust our sensations? Do they describe the real state of things? And the book by physicist Martin Rees [an outstanding English cosmologist, astrophysicist, who is known for his research of relict radiation and research of quasars. – Author] is entitled Just Six Numbers. These numbers, one can say, objectively exist and define the structure of existence of all other things.”

By the way, as far as I know, you are fond of theoretical physics. What does it give to you as an artist?

“E = mc2. But there are other, no less interesting formulas.”

 “I THINK WE SHOULD ACT RATHER THAN HOPE”

Coming back to cinema: it is known that you would like to shoot films about Holodomor and Babyn Yar in Ukraine. Why namely these topics?

“I don’t know how it works. How and why the author chooses some or other topic. What influences this choice? We think we are all free in our choices. But probably it is the topic that chooses the authors. Why namely these topics – this is the subject of the author’s research on himself while creating the films, clearly, except for the film itself, and its topic. And the answer to your question is quite predictable – these are the topics that haven’t been interpreted. Three generations have been fighting them back. They thought it would melt away. But it does not, and, moreover, it won’t disappear anywhere till we live it through and understand it. There is another thing that surprises me. It would seem that in the 1990s we could afford this, talks about this were endorsed, or at least there was such an illusion, and how many films about the GULAG have been made? One, two, and that’s all. There is a good question, why?”

On the whole, what prospects can Ukrainian cinema have after the revolution, according to your observations?

“Prospects? A lot of things must coincide for this. Besides the creative part, cinema is a complicated technological process. For such process to exist there must be a sufficient number of well-qualified professionals in this branch. I will repeat myself, people get skilled in this industry only through practice. So, there must be a production line of films, either Ukrainian, or foreign ones, that are shot in Ukraine. I mean there must be either a system of financing the industry, or the conditions when it will be possible to finance cinema, meaning that the money will be paid back at least partially. I don’t see any production line of this kind right now. Five or ten live action films a year is not an industry.

“Another important aspect is cinema education. It is practically absent. I mean in this case the directors, cameramen, script writers, production artists, costume designers, editors, sound editors, producers – all this creative class. Who is going to shoot films? Is someone thinks that without knowing the history of painting, literature, theater, cinema, music, and history as such one can shoot films, he is wrong. You can shoot one brilliant film thanks to intuition and talent. Then the education has its effect. Unfortunately, we lack this education. And since we don’t have a decent filmmaking school, we should find an opportunity to receive education in filmmaking schools of Poland or Germany, for example. I don’t deny the fact that there can be people of natural gifts, but we are speaking about the prospects of the branch. So, this is a long history.”

What is the hope for Ukraine?

“I don’t like this emotion connected with expecting something. I think you must act, not hope. The country is getting out from a terrible hole, in every meaning of this word, and it is so painful and hard.”

“DON’T ASK FOR THIS PERFECT HAPPINESS, POISON FOR ALL OUR WORLDS”

Are you a Ukrainian, German author or a citizen of the world?

“I have never thought about this, at least before I was asked this strange question. I grew up, studied and worked in Kyiv, then I studied in Moscow, now I’m living in Berlin, but what connection does it have to the land I belong as an author? Probably, being part of certain culture and tradition, which influences my work, and here I think everything is evident. It is enough to see my films.”

I have one more, very direct question, and I don’t know whether you will want to answer it. What is cinema for you now, when you have such an experience?

[Quoting Nikolai Gumilev’s “Magic violin” poem. – Author.]

“Darling boy, You are so merry, your smile is bright and clean,

Don’t ask for this perfect happiness, poison for all our worlds...

You don’t know, You don’t know what defines this polish violin,

What secret horror hides in these initial accords.”