PLANET OF BABEL

PLANET OF BABEL from GOOD EMPIRE on Vimeo.

Here’s my last film. Shot entirely with Nikon D800 and Lumix GH2.

PLANET OF BABEL TO BE AIRED ON JAN 30. TUNE IN

I’m proud to announce that the international filmmaking effort called “PLANET OF BABEL” which I was lucky to initiate has come to a successful ending. The documentary will be aired by RUSSIA-1 on Wednesday, January 31. It exposes the ethical roots of the Global Economic Depression and provides an inside look at the current crisis through the eyes of the ordinary people from all over the globe.

DON’T CRY FOR YOUR HAIR GOT AN HONORABLE MENTION AT IIFF

I just realized I completely forgot to mention that in September when I was so busy working on PLANET OF BABEL. Meanwhile my previous documentary “DON’T CRY FOR YOUR HAIR” deserved a special honorary mention at Ionian International Digital Film Festival. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be at the awards ceremony in person, but I greatly appreciate the attention and recognition it enjoyed. I was so impressed by the gratitude of the Greek people when we had been shooting there. One more time — here’s the link where you can watch Don’t Cry For Your Hair

 

NEW DOC 90% READY

It might be a little premature to announce that but my new film called “PLANET OF BABEL” is in the final stage of production. I’ve just showed the final cut to our channel’s executives and hopefully after some minor revisions it will be aired by RUSSIA-1. We keep our fingers crossed. The film (as it was mentioned in earlier posts) is telling the story of the Great Recession through the eyes of ordinary people all across the globe. It is raising questions of moral and ethical degradation caused by our today’s obsession with material wealth and institutionalized individualism.

We’ve been shooting this doc in collaboration with talented people from Europe, US and Asia. Everywhere we were met with open arms and people’s willingness to contribute. It would’ve been impossible to accomplish such a task traveling as a fully equipped tv-crew (given all the associated expenses), so this was the time when our DSLR techniques paid off well. I switched to Nikon D800 completely while my assistant Oleg Segeev was mostly operating the beautiful tiny (hacked) GH2. In my further posts I hope to share some experience as of how to produce a film comprising over 10 countries (from Greece and US to China and Syria) with only a lightweight bagpack and a tripod. 

 

OUR FILM FINALLY AVAILABLE ON PBS’ POV WEB SITE

Watch Sound of Vision on PBS. See more from POV.

SOUND OF VISION WON AUDIENCE AWARD AT DOCCHALLENGE

This wasn’t totally unexpected but our documentary produced by our team 20Coop has just one the last remaining award at the International Documentary Challenge Film Festival.
All in all we have 6 awards now. And here is the link to the film’s web site designed by Joe Vele

A TRAILER FOR THE NEW DOCUMENTARY PROJECT

PLANET OF BABEL. TRAILER from GOOD EMPIRE on Vimeo.

AND THE WINNER IS …

I just learned that me and my peers from Team “20Coop” have won this year’s International Documentary Challenge in Toronto. Overwhelmingly! We were competing against over 80 teams from 10 countries and took the following prizes:

— Best Film
— PBS’ POV award
— Best cinematography (I’m proud of that one in particular as the camera guy)
— Best editing
— Best use of Genre

It was amazing to hear that the jury from PBS said in their speech that it was Oscar worthy and were all unanimous in their picks. There’s a chance the doc will be screened on PBS one day
If you guys have a spare 7 minutes please check the film here http://www.docchallenge.org/2012-Finalists/sound-of-vision.html where you can actually vote to help us get away with one more award (although this would be a bit inhumane in my opinion).

DOCCHALLENGE 2012: WE ARE AMONG THE FINALISTS

Me and my friends have just made it to the finals of the prestigious filmmaking contest DOCCHALLENGE 2012. 12 teams were picked by the jury out of 75 contenders. We (team 20 Coop) had only 5 days to shoot a documentary and those turned out to be sleepless days (or rather nights) for us. The winners are going to be announced on May 1 in Toronto. As soon as it becomes possible I’ll make our piece available to the public. I shot it entirely with Lumix GH2. It was also one of the first times when I was using my HDGlidecam 1000 — a steadycam solution for dslrs. Kudos to the team and my amazingly creative friends: Loretta Van Der Horst, Joe Vele, Chen Dongnan and Julia Doran!

REEL #2

A brief compilation of my career as a correspondent for TV RUSSIA.