THE WHEAT AND THE CHAFF: NEW DOC AIRED ON TV RUSSIA

Our one hour long documentary about genetic engineering in agriculture has just been successfully broadcasted by the Russian State TV. You are very welcome to watch it, albeit with no English subtitles yet. Throughout these last six months we’ve changed our workflow completely. I hope I will have more time to talk about it in a more detailed way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFbg2HCu5K8

3 HRS AT MAUTHAUSEN DEATH CAMP

Shooting for the new documentary brought us here today. One of the most horrific places I’ve ever been to. The camp now is so… empty, but one doesn’t need to have outstanding imagination to get a freezing feeling of what had been happening here. Mauthausen was used by the Nazis solely for extermination. What strikes you the most is that the territory of the camp is relatively small meaning the inflow of inmates and the pace of executions were absolutely staggering.

TESTING BLACMAGIC POCKET CINEMA CAMERA

The most exciting news of course is that we miraculously grabbed the BMPCC from Adorama. Many people are still on the wait list and the camera (along with batteries and even SD cards) is nowhere to be found. We just walked in and were lucky to sneak out with it.
There are definitely many ways this camera may be improved, and the battery’s life is indeed very short, but the overall impression so far is absolutely positive. Below I’m attaching a few screenshots from the 1st shoot. One very inspiring addition is that the RAW update to BMCC is said to be released by Blackmagic very soon. Another interesting acquisition for us is the new Sony FS700 super35mm video camera. We’ve been shooting with it for the last two weeks, and I can’t describe how happy I am with the results. Actually at this point I think we reached the perfect production condition gear wise: GH3/GH2/BMPCC (which share the same line of M4/3 lenses) and Nikon D800/FS700 (which also share the same Nikon lenses via the Metabones adaptor). On the final note I need to mention that we are in the 2nd month of work on the new documentary project for TV RUSSIA. It’s topic is too sensitive to be exposed until we’re in the editing stage.

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. 

 

MY FIRST FULL LENGTH DOCUMENTARY

Just finished working on it. Was first screened at NYUNEWSDOC2011 in February 2012.
Enjoy.