Ukraine will be represented by film Firecrosser at the Oscar Academy Award competition

The film directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Mykhailo Illienko Firecrosser (production of Insight Media producer center with the support of the Ukrainian State Film Agency) was suggested from Ukraine for the American Film Academy Award in the nomination “Foreign Language Film.” Members of the Ukrainian Oscar Committee made the decision to nominate Illienko’s Firecrosser and not Eva Neiman’s film The House with a Turret on September 5. The committee explains this decision by the fact that the film Firecrosser is more industrial and designed for mass audience.

The film Firecrosser stayed in top 10 most viewed movies for 46 weeks of screenings. Over 60,000 people watched this film in 40 Urkainian cities.

By October 1 Firecrosser will be considered and accepted by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Los Angeles, US) for further selection among the films from other countries. The best films nominated for the award will be announced on January 15, 2013 and the 85th anniversary ceremony of awarding the winners will take place on February 24 in Los Angeles.

The Day had a blitz interview with Oleksandr KRYSHTALOVYCH, film’s director of photography about peculiarities of filming Firecrosser and the Ukrainian school of film photography in general.

“We have had many disappointments and certain victories in nearly five years of working on the film Firecrosser. Sometimes I felt lucky to be working on this film and then there were times when I felt completely hopeless. Every time we had to begin work almost from scratch, often had to reshoot episodes. However, I am very pleased with the final result of our work.”

What is special about the film Firecrosser from the point of view of the director of photography?

“Although, the story that we filmed was based on certain real events, in general it is fictional. Therefore, when I began working on this film I set a goal for myself to make it look as real as possible. I wanted the audience not to have any doubts that what they see is real. According to how I saw it all, there had to be the effect of presence. I hope I managed to do it right. Of course, there were certain problematic challenges during the work on the film and we had to solve them in the course of filming process. For example, we had to shoot footage on board of a light two-seater aircraft. We thought for a long time about how to fix camera to the body of the aircraft firm enough so that it would not fall from there. The camera was fixed but it almost blocked the view for the pilot. I was afraid that he wouldn’t see anything but as it turned out the pilot does not necessarily need to look forward. The footage with wolves was also a great challenge. When you see real predators without a leash and not in a cage it is scary. And here we had to shoot, give them commands about where to go and what to do.”

Can we speak of a truly Ukrainian film photography school?

“In the history of Ukrainian cinematography we see a pleiad of talented directors of photography. For example, Vilen Kaliuta, who received Oscar Award together with Nikita Mikhalkov. He deserves to be called a representative of Ukrainian film photography because he was not only born in Ukraine, but also worked at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio. Ukrainian land has had many talented cameramen, including Serhii Mykhalchuk. Another thing is that Ukraine is producing very few films, thus, our best cameramen are forced to work in Russia. World School of Cinema is developing very dynamically: there appears new equipment, methods of production, vision of filming, and requirements to shooting. The things that were a dogma back in the 1980s and 1990s are now not used at all. It would be nice if Ukraine could keep up with world’s trends.

“We are very pleased that the film Firecrosser was recognized to be worthy to represent Ukraine at the Oscar Award competition. It is an opportunity for the film to get to the international level and get professional assessment. This nomination is kind of a test for the creative team that worked on the film. We took it and now, like students during their finals, are anticipating the evaluation.”