True Experience Eventually Talks: Workshop With Yuri Bykov
The Major, a feature film by an all-round Russian author Yuri Bykov, was screened this afternoon after which Bykov, held a workshop. Asked to explain the motives of his main character, Bykov said the following:
I don’t want to shoot movies about heroes. I want to shoot movies about real people… I wanted to tell a story about Russia. If you want to tell a story about Russia, you have to tell a story about guys in power. But they you realize that they often have no choice.
In a laconic speech full of gesticulations worthy of a good actor, Yuri Bykov spoke about the importance of experience, summarizing his approach as follows:
If you want to shoot movies, you have to have some experience. It’s a must… If you have the experience, you have something to say… These days, most movies are all about making money. If you spend your life revolving around money, if you don’t love your mother, your children or do something good, then what’s the point? In Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago, the main character asks his friend: “Why do you feel so good in communism now, and you felt so good in the past regime?” The answer was: “Because I don’t believe in the afterlife”… Well, I am no prophet and I don’t really believe in religion.
Asked to comment on his goals as a director, Bykov said the following:
The aim of the director is not to inspire. And I am serious about this. Our obligation is to cut and shape the time and characters. I am not a prophet. I don’t want to start a religion. But you must look in the mirror. My goal is to make people look in the mirror.