1- Arseniy, could you tell us a little about your journey as an independent filmmaker and what led you to work with low-budget productions?

 

My path is very complicated and winding, and my difficulties and tosses continue, I must say. When you are young and full of zeal to make films, you come to the film industry and think that you can do anything. And then you see that no one needs your ideas, there is a rigid format everywhere, producers are strictly tied to money, government agencies and funds that give money to films pursue their own interests. And there is no free cinema, no creativity, and often there is no cinema at all. And then you think, do I need such cinema at all? Do I want to participate in all this? In this sabbath of banality and commercial cinema. Well, ok, you can make films for the sake of money, because you are a professional. You feel the film fabric at your fingertips. But in the end, your gut takes over and you take a camera, find a tiny budget either from your small earnings or from friends and go shoot what you want, what is bursting out of you like an Alien from your chest! And you don’t give a damn about any restrictions, this is pure creativity. And you shoot and understand that it is worth living for. And you will never give it up. I am ready to shoot format films, but as long as I am alive, I will also shoot art-house films, be it a hard experimental horror or a lyrical film, it does not matter, but the very way of my existence as a director and the very way of existence of this type of cinema - absolutely independent of money and the industry - is needed like air. Otherwise, why live?

 

Well, initially, as a director, one day I simply got tired of standing under the windows of film studios with an outstretched hand, timidly pushing my ideas to producers. “Go to hell, guys, I am smarter and more talented than many of you are”, - I said, took the camera, and shouted - "Action!"

 

2- Your style blends social drama and experimentation. How would you define your approach to cinema?

 

You have very accurately defined the genre that is close to me. On the one hand, many hackneyed techniques in cinema, especially in horror, are often boring to me and seem artificial and plastic, and I want to invent my own techniques, my own cinematic language, my own form of emotional impact on the viewer. My own world - after all, this is the most tempting thing in cinema. On the other hand, the so-called "social issues", social themes for me are a conversation about the problems of real people in real life and their habitats. It is important for me to be tied to time and reality, because I believe not only in the artistic power of cinema, but in cinema as a message, a kind of understandable conversation with the viewer's soul and mind. Yes, as strange as it may seem. It is important for me to be assertive and quite understandable, meaningful in some things, although of course the form in cinema decides everything. However, these things are deeply interrelated, of course. And all this is contained in one concept - cinematic language. Inventing my own cinematic language is the main creative task in my life. This is the coolest and most powerful thing that any director should do. Inventing your own world and your own cinematic language.

 

3- What role do small and medium-sized festivals play in supporting and showcasing independent cinema?

 

A huge role. Much bigger than it might seem at first glance. There are many such festivals in the world and this is very good. This gives a variety of landscape, a variety, if I may say so, of acceptance of your cinematic language... The problem is that people can be limited in what they are shown. Even though there is the Internet, people watch the same things. Commercial cinema, conventional. But in reality, cinema is much broader, a very wide river, cinema can be very, very, what can I say - infinitely different, and people should know about it. Such festivals as yours, in Brazil, teach this and don’t let cinema collapse completely. So do hundreds of other festivals where my films have been shown. This is very important. People are different. Cinema is different. Films made not according to generally accepted rules should have their place. If we do not want cinema to turn into McDonald's. So, thank you for your festival. We are doing one big common thing.

 

4- Inside a Spider was highly awarded and stood out in our festival for its surrealism and intense narrative. What was the initial inspiration for this project?

 

The Covid-19 pandemic was the impetus for searching for such an unusual form. I remember the moment when the world changed dramatically, broke down, restrictions began, borders were closed, we were forced to wear masks, people were to be scared of a global catastrophe, started injecting vaccines from all manufacturers in a row... Here in Russia, we had been living a measured, very understandable and very calm life without upheavals for several decades, and suddenly everything broke. I started wearing gloves and was afraid to take hold of the door handle, I pressed the elevator button with a screwdriver... And I remember well this feeling of gloomy, oppressive, general stuffiness, as if we all ended up in the cocoon of a giant spider. This film grew out of a feeling of a nightmare.

And also... This is very personal, but I will still mention it - there was also something personal involved here... My mother was very ill and only much later after filming did I realize that in many ways I was driven by enormous external and internal fear. It was sublimation.

 

5- The idea of the apocalypse and the fusion of elements like absurdity and horror are prominent in the film. What was the process of constructing this universe?

 

It was a very intuitive process, very vital, unpredictable and spontaneous. Nothing was calculated in advance, well, except perhaps the scenery and props. And the general outline, the structure. A lot changed on the set. Although we had a rigid, solid script written. But it had been written in one breath, in a few days, I don’t know, in a week, a little more, then rewritten... But a lot was added and changed on the set. It flowed like a stream, fell on the film, poured, fell like lava, burning through reality... Like hellfire, the energy of this film carried us away!

 

6- In your opinion, what is the greatest sin a filmmaker must avoid at all costs?

 

This is a very good question. To which I can have several answers, but if we take one, the most important sin... Probably the most terrible thing is, when the director deceives the viewer, giving him stillborn tortured crap, coming from calculation and the head instead of his hot mind and living heart. No, of course, cinema can be rational, cerebral and intellectual, but even then it must be mixed with the human, like dough is mixed with hot water. Like beer is brewed with hops. It is a disaster, when the director with the help of cinema deceives the viewer, wasting film, but having nothing important and urgent, what he really wants to say. You can't be dishonest in cinema, you can't lie, art does not forgive this. And cinema will not let you hide it.

 

7- The claustrophobic atmosphere of Inside a Spider is striking. What challenges did you face in creating this feeling with limited resources?

Well, you understand the depth of the problem... Since you're asking such a question! You understand what powerful problems we faced, challenges... Indeed, it's extremely difficult to shoot experimental films, where everything is tied to sets and props, interiors. Because there's no money. Because you can't invest money in all your fantasies, fill everything with a budget... But you have to figure out how to do it all. You have to create. This is not a realistic film, where you take a camera and go out into the street, water it a bit and here you have a film. Okay, part of it. No. You'll sweat it out. There were a lot of difficulties. But let me say it frankly and simply - I was just lucky. With the fact that our film had as many as three very talented crazy production designers! Whose eyes were shining, who could do so much, and who love their work... And also makeup artists, young specialists in plastic makeup... And also their heroic assistants! They pulled it all out. I found them, and then they saved the film. Seriously. Our film was just lucky with the team that worked completely for free, as volunteers. We were making this film for almost a year. And the artists have created the film conceived by the director. This is their merit and their strength. It made the film.

And yes, we were also lucky to find such a crazy and large interior almost for free. Thanks to my subscribers on social networks for this. And we were also lucky to find such a cameraman who made the film's color, himself, with his own hands and talent.

 

8- Which directors and films have most influenced your artistic and narrative vision?

 

Of course, it is David Lynch and first of all his "Eraserhead". It is the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Lars von Trier. Among the Russians, of course, it is the universe of our great director Alexei Balabanov, his film "Cargo 200", and of course Sergei Parajanov, his aesthetics, his worlds, they left a mark on my heart and my film, of course. In addition, the film was influenced by my recent passion for contemporary art, which I value very much.

 

9- You work without government or major funding support. What advice would you give to filmmakers who want to follow this path?

 

Never give up. Don't listen to anyone. Trust yourself and your gift. Don't wait. Don't let fate and producers steal your time and energy. While you wait, your youth will end, your desire to create will wither, and you will miss the moment when you could have created a masterpiece. It's very simple to lose everything. Also... Don't rely on anyone except yourself. Believe in a miracle a little, because often money, friends and opportunities appear out of nowhere. But still don't rely on anyone. Because a miracle may not happen and money may not appear, but you will have to start and finish the picture. In short, you need to be flexible, cunning, be able to invent ways to survive, and at the same time you need to be open to the world, which can bring various unexpected opportunities to your feet, and at the same time you need to be iron and indestructible, tenacious like fucking Jason! That's the whole recipe.

 

10- In your view, how does Russian cinematic culture influence your narratives and aesthetics?

 

There is an influence, I think, from the point of view of folklore. Although the film is made in an urban aesthetic. But folklore is very important in Russian culture, I studied it at the institute, our Slavic mythology. Our ancestors in the pre-Christian era were pagans, we have many gods, a whole system... And I think a certain mythological thinking has been preserved in us. And it works. And there is this contribution to "Inside a Spider", in general, I think, still a fairly Western picture... We also have a rich tradition of trash cinema from the 90s, when a lot of very strange films were shot... This is Yuri Mamin, his "Fountain". These are such post-Soviet masterpieces as "La Grande Tambouriade". Then our Russian madness spilled out into cinema. In general, I think that even more than Russian cinema, my film "Inside a Spider" was influenced by our crazy crazy crazy Russian life... We are all crazy here. We are at war. We are waiting for a nuclear mushroom cloud over the roofs of houses. We are all crazy here, you understand? And sometimes we even make films about it!

 

11- With the proliferation of digital platforms and international festivals, what is the role of experimental cinema in the global landscape?

 

I don't know if this is true, but I would like to hope that with digitalization and the years of development of digital cinema, it will be easier for experimental cinema to come into the world, and it will be easier for its adherents and directors to create it... And those who are talented will have at least fewer technical problems on their way. It will be easier and cheaper to do this, good cool cinema. I believe in it. Perhaps it is so!

 

12- Finally, what message would you like to leave for young directors starting out in independent cinema?

Fear nothing. Wait for no one. Trust yourself. Go straight ahead. Know and remember very well - there is you and your art, and there is everything else. Dixi.