Read below to see the full Q&A with Writer-Director Alexander Shuryepov, where he explores the inspiration behind the film, the collaboration with cast and crew, the unique challenges of the project, and the visual influences that inspired the look of the film.
WHAT FIRST COMPELLED YOU TO WRITE THE FILM AND THE CHARACTER OF MASHA?
The class we produced this film through had one requirement, which was the film had to relate to the environment in some way. At first, I approached this at a surface level and found myself stuck, wanting to write a story that I felt like only I could tell. Then I began to think about about my family’s background in Ukraine, and my mother being 12 when the Chernobyl disaster happened. Everything began to fall into place after that, and I started crafting the story in my head of a woman running away through a forest with her baby: who was this woman? Why was she running? The more I talked about it, the more this woman turned into Masha. She was a character that allowed me to reflect certain qualities that left an impression on me from my Ukrainian family. I developed an entire life around her that strengthened her motives and explained her downfalls, showing an aggressive side that inevitably causes her downfall, but countering it with a vulnerable side that allows audiences to root for her.
WHAT WERE SOME OF THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF MAKING THIS FILM?
The complexity of this film for a course like GreenScreen wasn’t just extremely challenging, it was unheard of. I was the first freshman to be admitted into the class, and I remember pitching it to my classmates and professor: writing and directing a film entirely in Russian, set in the 1980s Soviet Union, in the span of 10 weeks. It was a battle from that point onward to get the film made, with people consistently telling us it couldn’t be done and we needed to make compromises. One of the unique challenges was still writing the script (two scripts, one in Russian and one in English for everyone else working on the production) while having to start auditioning actors because of the limited time we had. You don’t think about all the tacked on challenges of doing a film in a language that the entire crew doesn’t understand. How does the script supervisor do their job? I quickly realized I would have to be the lead editor for the film as well, since it would be impossible for a non-Russian speaking editor to work with the dialogue scenes. As far as production design, we had to ship in my family’s belongings from Ukraine to create convincing sets. Our art team worked tirelessly the first few weeks to collect authentic Soviet props, using my family albums as reference photos for costumes and decor. I remember the actors and I walking into Masha’s room for the first time after it was dressed, and we immediately felt a sense of nostalgia. The atmosphere of a Soviet apartment is very distinct and they captured it perfectly.
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE VISUAL LOOK OF THE FILM?
From that first visual that came to me of Masha running away from a man in a forest, I imagined it in black and white. I never saw this film in color. I thought it would take away from the actual story I was trying to tell. I was inspired by Ivan’s Childhood (1962) which takes place during World War II in the Soviet Union, and was also shot in black and white with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio also just seemed like a natural choice. I wanted the audience to focus on Masha more than her surroundings, and help them focus on the grace of the performance rather than the world we had set her in (which was not conventionally beautiful). For lighting and the look of the image, I turned towards more modern films that shot in black and white like Cold War (2018).
HOW MUCH DID THE ACTORS PLAY A PART IN CREATING A CONVINCING PORTRAIT OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE?
I am pleased that all the women we casted for the film are Ukrainian and the majority of the actors were in the Soviet Union during the meltdown. They all brought such a unique perspective to the characters I had written. It’s almost as if they knew the person I had created in the script on a personal level. In terms of the character of Masha, it’s only after watching the finished film that I realized how intune Alyona (who played Masha) and I were on who this woman was. The two of us would meet to rehearse before production, but we never actually read through lines. Instead, we talked about Masha and her relationship to the people around her. Alyona was just a girl after the meltdown occurred, and she grew up with people just like Masha all around her. It was clear from her first audition tape that she understood this woman and her story on a deeper level.
WHAT DO YOU WANT AUDIENCES TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS FILM?
Inevitably, the story is a tragedy. It didn’t matter how strong a family or a single person was during Chernobyl. It destroyed lives, but more than anything it destroyed peoples’ spirits. And while the film is fictional in the events it depicts, the end of the film is really shocking and emotionally devastating for audiences. I originally made this film with my family in mind as the audience, and my grandmother, who was a doctor in Kiev during the meltdown, was horrified that I would depict people doing such horrendous things, and begged me to change the end of Masha’s story. I told her that I couldn’t, and eventually she came to understand my reasoning. Even if stories like Masha’s may be painful to accept, I knew I had to honestly depict the pain and tragedy experienced by those who were affected by Chernobyl, and in order to do that I couldn’t hold back. While I don’t get satisfaction in making an audience feel helpless, I’m proud that my team and I could make this film feel as unnerving and impactful as it is.