Yakut director Davydov told how he makes movies in frost -60

Dmitry Davydov – until recently, a village teacher, director of the school, shoots a movie in Amga – his native ulus, where his fellow villagers, residents of neighboring settlements, become her actors. He made his debut with the film “Bonfire in the Wind”, which participated in many foreign festivals, became a nominee for the Asia-Pacific Film Academy in Australia. “Scarecrow”, which lasted ten years, received the main prize of “Kinotavr” in 2020. “There is no god but me” and “Songs of Summer” participated in the Vyborg Film Festival “Window to Europe”, and the premiere of the comedy “Yt”, filmed together with Stepan Burnashev, took place at the Warsaw International Film Festival. We recently met in Moscow, where Dmitry does not visit every month.

– You shot one of your recent films “Youth” in 60-degree frost. How could you work in such conditions?

– We planned to shoot in late October – early November, when it was relatively warm – minus 25. I shot “Bonfire in the Wind” and “Scarecrow” just at that time. But this time, something with the actor did not work out in time, everything had to be postponed to January. It was difficult to shoot. The conditions were extreme. The camera was freezing, it was necessary to take it out at the last moment. While the scenes were set up, rehearsed, they were filmed on the phone. When everything was ready, a car drove up, took out the camera from a special bag.

– What about people? Are you accustomed to such cold weather?

– The team was small – 11 people. Usually – 35. They worked quickly. It was cold. Frozen. Our main character is wearing a leather jacket, jeans, a jacket, autumn boots. He was freezing. But the guys gathered are those who are on fire. They endured because the task was to make a good movie.

– Do you like to shoot in winter?

– Summer is better. Amga is very nice in summer. We want to hold an international film festival there and will announce it in a few years. When “Songs of Summer” was filmed, it was plus 30. And we have hypertension in the group, and this created difficulties. It was hard. The best time for me is October, when it is relatively not cold, but there is already snow.

– There is a scene with burning torches in the movie about the movie. Did you use them to keep warm, or for the lighting effect?

– They were needed for the scene where the villagers stand and watch the house burn behind the scenes. It was necessary to work out the fire on their faces and clothes.

– How was the story of a man who returned to his native place after a twenty-year absence born?

– In 2020, I arrived in Moscow, stayed with our director Volodya Munkuev. He showed me the documentary Hannibal. I first learned that in Yakutia there is a rock group “Hardy”. I began to listen to her songs, came up with a scene for one of them, then for another. The plot was formed, the character appeared. The Hardyy group performed in the 1990s. Only Hannibal survived. (someone was beaten and the person froze, someone was stabbed with a knife, someone’s heart stopped, someone had a stroke – S.Kh.) This is a nickname. And his name is Gavril Kolesov. He lives in Yakutia in the village, he no longer performs.

– The music is beautiful, it sounds like the Finnish classic Aki Kaurismäki in “A Man Without a Past”.

– When I first heard it, I immediately realized that it is suitable for cinema, for passages, it fits well.

– In “Illegal” and “Youth” the main characters are strangers. It is difficult for them to fit into the existing world, the Yakut way of life.

– It was born on a subconscious level. The heroes of “Bonfire in the Wind”, “There is no god but me”, “Scarecrow” are like white crows. I don’t even know, for some reason I got fixated on such characters, people whom society does not accept. It became interesting to investigate this phenomenon. I didn’t find anything like this in literature or cinema, so I decided to tell about it. The main character is a 40 year old man. Perhaps he is somewhat similar to me, because I am also staggering. I want to do this and that, I start one, it doesn’t work – I take on another. There are such types among friends. Such people need a feeling of fun and youth. What is their problem? What is missing? I still don’t understand. Movie tagline: “You’re late.”

– Did you shoot “Youth” before “Songs of Summer”?

– Yes. 2021 was a fighting year for me. I shot three films – “Youth”, “Illegal”, then “Songs of Summer”. I quit school, completely went to the cinema, so I decided to shoot a lot.

– Such efficiency is due to the fact that ideas and scenarios appeared a long time ago.

– The script for “Illegal” was written in 2015, and all this time I tried to launch it. According to the “Songs of Summer” there were also developments. When the opportunity arose, I quickly wrote the script. And “Youth” spontaneously arose, as I have already told you. The script was written in four months, we prepared and filmed. I don’t usually do that. As a rule, I go to the shooting for years, I work out the plot in my head for a long time.

– Previously, you did everything in Yakutia, and now in Moscow?

– I have to come once a month. In Yakutia, we do not have the conditions to make a good sound. In Moscow, we rent a studio, we bring our own sound engineer. He has been working for a month. We spend the final shifts at Mosfilm.

– What is the ratio of professional actors and local residents in your films?

– In “Youth” the main role was played by Albert Alekseev and three more professional actors who played a saleswoman, a classmate and a friend. All of them are actors of the Oyunsky Sakha Theatre, acting in films. And the rest are my countrymen and friends. Even the fly was voiced by a professional actor. Beekeepers brought us bees, gave them to the sound engineer in a jar. He had two days to work. But nothing happened, and we decided to invite a professional actor. He told us everything.

– How do you call before? How do people know that a movie is being made?

– People themselves come up, ask to be filmed. And then it happens that they refuse. Maybe not very confident in their abilities. Now I have a joint company with the director and friend Stepan Burnashev, although this is probably a loud statement. We united our studios, we release films together. Stepan edits all my films, and I shoot with him. “Youth” was filmed in parallel with his film “Our Winter”, and her group came to our site for lenses. Stepan and I will shoot the second part of Yt. On New Year’s days, we wrote the script and now we are preparing for filming. But I want to move away from Yakutia. I’m interested in working with the Moscow team. I wrote the script two or three years ago. Filming will begin in November-December. It will be a film about an abandoned Russian village in the Novgorod or Vologda regions. There are many of those. I myself am from the village and I fight for her to live. The subject is sick. We traveled to many places in the Kostroma and Tver regions. There are many such villages in the Novgorod region, on the border with the Tver and Vologda regions. But the one we need was not found, so we decided to build it by the summer. Until that time, you need to decide on a place. We’ll set up the house the way we want it. Shooting will most likely take place in November. We need snow. We are gathering a team. I still do not understand the principle of work of Moscow specialists. There is no concept of “recycling” in Yakutia. Everyone works as much as they need to. I was told a lot about how Muscovites work, how slowly they do everything.

– Will you work with famous actors in the Moscow team?

– We have selected the actors, but we continue the search. The most important thing is that there are no recognizable faces, that these are unique characters from the villages.

– Are you a city dweller or a village dweller by mentality?

– Rustic. I live in the village. Cows walk past my house. And in the morning you have to chop wood. We had a farm, haymaking, cows, horses, but for five years we have not been doing this. I have three children. The elders go to school, so in the morning I take them to the school where I myself recently worked. There are many household chores, but I try to write. I have been passionate about literature since childhood, wrote poems, stories. Apparently, from there he came to the cinema. I would like to return to literature again.

– Did you quit school in 2020? And what kind of life began?

– Now you can fully immerse yourself in the movie. And before, when I was both there and here, there were great difficulties. You have to wake up in the morning and be a teacher, and in the evening turn into a director. Now it seems to be possible to earn a living, thanks to the movie. The money is small, but there is an opportunity to somehow feed the family. But the financial question remains. Because of this, I take on a lot of projects.

– It is in the Yakut school that creative personnel are forged, people like you appear, as an actor, director, local historian Prokopiy Nogovitsyn. In Lyubov Borisova’s film Don’t Bury Me Without Ivan, Alexander Chichakhov, his fellow villager, teacher and actor of the folk theater from the village of Nemyugyuntsy, played the main role. It’s phenomenal.

– I had a task to work with teenagers so that they would not hang out on the street in the evening. We shot videos with them, edited them. Creative people are everywhere. Our rural teachers are engaged in needlework. We traveled through Russian villages. There are also unique people living there. We went to their house. What are they not doing! Real masters. We need to make a documentary about them.

– Vladimir Bitokov, Anton Bilzho, directors of your generation were at your show. Are you friends?

– Alexander Khant came, with whom we are friends. I specifically found the phones and called Vladimir Bitokov and Anton Bilzho. I was not familiar with them. We in the Yakut cinema do not have a sense of competition, on the contrary, a desire to support others. I’m glad if someone has a movie coming out. Maybe it’s different in Moscow.

– What do Moscow producers offer you?

– With them I shot the film “Illegal”, but I’m not very pleased with the result. I will also do a project about abandoned villages “Transparent Lands” with Moscow producers who are trying to make sure that I make a good movie. So far this is my main project. We’ll probably do it for two years. And then maybe you should stop.

– To save energy?

– From film to film you have to get better. If you shoot very quickly and a lot, then there is no development. I’m already dissatisfied with the films I made two years ago. The mass Russian audience will probably not go to the Yakut cinema. It still looks like a curiosity. For us, too, the big question is what to do next. Stay within the region, work only for yourself or move on? But how to develop if the borders are closed? Festival promotion was very important for us. And now we will not go anywhere further than Russia. We do not go to international festivals, because Yakut cinema is part of Russian cinema. Over time, probably, something will change, and we must prepare for this.

– Young guys are still torn in the cinema?

– There are enough people who want to work in the cinema, but they mostly want to shoot something cheap, for the audience. And I’m interested in finding young people with an interesting look, capable of doing something of their own. I’m trying to be a producer. We shot a short film with an aspiring director.

– Are young people leaving Yakutia?

– Many go to study in St. Petersburg and stay. There is a large Yakut diaspora. Those who live in Moscow, in my opinion, communicate less. Apparently, everything is at work. There is also a large Yakut diaspora in Novosibirsk, and people go there to study. There are those who say that they left the hole and now I live like people. I filmed, and when mobilization was announced on September 24, the next day half of our team went abroad. Of the guys who worked in the cinema, many left for Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, sold their apartments and decided not to return. Now there is an acute shortage of specialists.