Yana Esipovich will play Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya

Yana is the laureate of the Oleg Tabakov Prize for the play “When I was dying” in the “Snuffbox” and the youth “Triumph”. She played in the performances “Not about the spoken” staged by Mikhail Pokrass at the Center for Drama and Directing under the direction of Alexei Kazantsev and Mikhail Roshchin, “Roberto Zucco” directed by Vasily Senin at the Center. Meyerhold. And her filmography is excellent. However, Yana entered the HSE School of Design, began illustrating books, made her debut as a director with the short film Pavlov’s Dog, for which she received an award at the Gorky Fest festival. At the same time, she continues to work as an actress, acting in serials.

The most surprising thing is that Yana was seriously interested in animation. As part of 20 animators, she participated in the project “The sky has no edge” of the art residence “Tarusa” and the Animation Workshop. And last spring, her author’s animation project “I was there. Well, in that yard…” based on a poem by Mikhail Pokrass won pitching at the Suzdal Animation Festival. It remains only to shoot the cartoon. In November, Yana was a member of the jury of the Pushkin and … Festival of Animation and Literature, held at the Mikhailovskoye Pushkin Museum-Reserve.

– You worked on the jury in the company of experienced animators, watched forty competitive films. What are the impressions?

— It seemed to me that the animators are very kind people. Members of our jury generously wanted to recognize everyone. I was interested in how they professionally parse films, what nuances they pay attention to. I hope that these meetings are not accidental and that our creative community will continue. Watching cartoons is a special pleasure. There are many talented people in this field.

– You, at first glance, an outsider, an actress, participated in the pitching of the Suzdal Animation Festival. How did it happen?

– I sent an application, like many other participants. The finalists were invited to Suzdal. I presented a project of author’s animation based on a poem by my husband Mikhail Pokrass. For this, it was necessary to write a director’s explication, to talk about his plan. I have experience of performing on stage, but it turned out that defending your project is not so easy. I was very worried, but everything went well.

– Experts were not interested, why do you need all this?

– Not. The conversation concerned only my project. We talked about this topic with a colleague on the jury in Mikhailovsky Svetlana Filippova. Being an excellent director-animator, she is now making her debut feature film. And she loves it there so far. She told me: “You don’t need to go into animation with your temperament.” But for now, that’s what I’m interested in. I have not done anything yet, I am at the beginning of the journey. I understand what an incredible job it is, that you have to learn to be painstaking, and I am not the most assiduous person. I am easily fascinated. I can quickly compose something in a burst of inspiration, but it is difficult for me to sit and work carefully.

– Is there anyone behind you – a studio, a producer? How will you shoot your first animated film?

– There is a producer who is interested in making everything happen. She, too, is just starting, a very young, but ambitious young lady. Almost a year has passed since the pitching, under the terms of which we were supposed to receive support. It will be a five-minute cartoon based on the poem “Wind. Thunderstorm”. The girl is walking in the yard. A storm is coming. Clouds are running. Dad calls her, but the girl is in no hurry to go home, she says to herself that she was in another yard and might not have heard.

So he’s trying to cheat?

She is trying to deceive herself. Dad turns into an element, there is a dialogue with rain, thunder, hurricane. The girl’s lies are like a conversation with conscience.

– Why did you decide that you can do this?

– Only in animation miracles are possible – and you become a magician, you can lower your hand from the sky and take the hero by the scruff of the neck. I ended up in the Tarusa art residence, where there was a big competition for young animators. More than 100 applications were received, of which 20 were selected. There were people who had already done something in the profession, despite their young age. And I was a miracle. We made an animation out of the mosaic in two weeks. Didn’t sleep at all last night. We left the workshop when it was dawn, there was fog. If I had slept at that moment, I would not have felt all the beauty of nature. This film brought together a wide variety of people who feel animation in their own way. For me it was very timely and helpful.

– You already have directing experience in feature films. Why was there no sequel after “Pavlov’s Dog”?

“I hope to write a full-length film script, but you have to dare to do it. Whenever I think about it, my inner critic comes up and starts to overwhelm me. “Pavlov’s Dog” appeared in a year when all festivals were canceled or held online. “Bitter Fest” was the first live festival where my film was shown. He participated in a festival in France. I didn’t have time to apply myself. Yes, and did not count on the fate of the festival. I shot the film as an actor’s business card, and the fact that the movie turned out was rather a surprise. With four suitcases filled with props, costumes, and even a kettle, I left for the shoot at 6:30 am. The children asked: “Mom, are you leaving us?”

Did the business card help? Was invited to act after her? You are so different, quivering and alive…

Surprisingly, it doesn’t work yet. I don’t understand how this mechanism works at all. Demand is impossible to predict. Much here is accidental.

– Directing arose from a lack of roles or from an excess inside, a desire to expand horizons?

– I would be in demand as an artist, probably in the direction of directing and would not look. I can’t say that I generally had great works, mostly episodes. I miss the time span.

– Maybe the role of Sophia Andreevna Tolstoy will fill the gap?

“I would like that very much. We’ve only filmed a teaser so far. The future film “Tolstoy is gone” is based on the play by Olga Pogodina-Kuzmina, based on the memoirs, letters and diaries of relatives, contemporaries of Leo Tolstoy. Viktor Alferov previously filmed “Sea Buckthorn Summer” about the life of playwright Alexander Vampilov. I have an episode. I recently walked away from a terrible audition where, for the first time in my life, I said, “Sorry. I cant”. What the director offered to play was beyond good and evil. I was in a strange state, tormenting myself for daring to leave, and at the same time convincing me that I had done the right thing. At that moment I met Victor. We talked for fifteen minutes. Soon he offered me to play Sofia Andreevna. If I had stayed on the tests, then none of this would have happened.

– It is incredible that Victor saw Sophia Tolstaya in you, despite the age difference with your heroine. The teaser is amazing.

“The difference is about twenty-seven years. I had make-up done. You have already seen in the teaser that the old chronicle will be used, and the film itself will resemble old photographs. Age is easier to hide if there is a black and white image. Victor has an unusual idea. This is an experiment.

– There will be no Tolstoy?

“It won’t be, just as it’s not in the play either. When I read it, I thought: finally, serious material. I hope that in the summer we will start filming in Yasnaya Polyana.

– You successfully started in the theater. Is it finished with him?

“It’s not that I abandoned him, it’s just the way things are. I still believe in the possibility of interesting theatrical projects. A few years ago we rehearsed the English play “Oil” for a month. I had the lead role. We thought we were on to something interesting. But the pandemic began again, and everything was postponed indefinitely.

– Since childhood, you dreamed of becoming an actress. Why did you go to Design School?

— I studied at an art school in Tallinn. I always had two dreams – to become an actress or an artist. But I had no intention of illustrating, although I attended master classes by foreign experts in Moscow. One day, the Spanish illustrator Javier Zabala arrived. I also had a very young younger son. I jumped out of the house to master classes, not at all understanding why I needed it, I had a great time without having a super task. Sabala is a categorical, imperious, charismatic person. He strictly assessed what we did. When it was my turn, I no longer wanted to show anything. I was afraid that everything would seem like nonsense to Javier, but he said: “Oh! These are my works. They have a lot of passion. Why are you doing this? I didn’t know what to answer. And he said, “That’s wrong. You need to know why you are doing this, and not just to strengthen your hand. Then I thought about it for the first time, was inspired and entered the School of Design at the Higher School of Economics. I studied there for a year and a half with excellent teachers, got a lot of knowledge and a great creative charge.

– Did you continue to act in films at that time?

– If there were any shootings, they did not interfere with studies. After we were taught how to storyboard every day, I realized that I could make a video business card. I liked the style and composition of the work of photographer Lena Litvinova. She then lived in Spain, wrote that there would be one day in Moscow and she would be able to film me, but she had never filmed me before.

— Did you illustrate books after graduating from the School of Design?

– Both before and after. Everything happened by accident. By that time I had attended so many courses! There were works that could be presented as a portfolio. At some event in Tallinn, a publisher asked my mother what I do. She showed him my work, and he offered to illustrate a book by Aino Pervik, a well-known children’s writer in Estonia. The book was printed in Tallinn. I have another almost finished but unpublished book of illustrations.

Is your mother also an artist?

“She’s a fabric artist, she worked at Cale’s factory, she made wonderful school uniforms. I wore a pleated plaid skirt and was proud that my mother was involved in this. Now she works in her second education – a child psychologist.

Do your loved ones support you in your endeavors?

– Yes. My husband helped with the set when I was filming Pavlov’s Dog, and we got the opportunity to shoot in beautiful interiors. I have a feeling of guilt before my acting activities. At first, I actively held on to the profession, but now I feel that this is not the only way. You can do other kinds of creativity and be happy.