The director of the film, which made a revolution in the movie

Miroslav Slaboshpytsky and Yana Novikova (actress who played the main character in the film “Tribe”). Photo: Pavel Terekhov

In New York, the rental of the Ukrainian film “Tribe” started, which took the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rolling Stone magazine called this picture of the love of deaf-and-dumb teenagers the most exciting 2015 film of the year. Another Magazine included it in the list of the main revolutionary films in the entire history of cinema.

The Forum met with director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky after one of the screenings at the Film Forum cinema in New York, where viewers gave him a warm welcome and began to ask questions. The creator of the Ukrainian masterpiece told about the struggle of the film for the Oscar, a new film about Chernobyl, and explained why it will never take up the cinema for the mass audience.

In Europe, you were welcomed: the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the nomination "Discovery of the Year" from the European Film Academy. What do you expect from an American viewer and how is car rental different in the USA?

The rental has just begun, but the American press has quite complimented it, the leading publications have stirred interest in the film. We did not look for a company that would roll us abroad. It all came together by itself. Even before the Cannes festival, companies appeared that bought rental rights in different countries.

How much film has it collected in Europe and what are the expectations from the rental in America?

There is a minimum amount that is paid in any case, and then the profits are somehow distributed. I don't think much about it. All my thoughts are about the next film I'm working on. I can say that about nine thousand people watched it in Ukraine, and another one and a half million watched it on TV. Regarding the world, “Tribe” can easily be called the most successful film in the history of modern Ukrainian cinema. We are shown in 44 countries, it’s easier to list where it was not shown.

Shot from the movie "Tribe"

How is the rental of Ukrainian cinema in Russia in the light of the current relations between the countries?

Ukraine has lost a whole market, which was associated with the production of Russian film product on its territory. But this does not concern me at all. Our film was released in Russia; it was an art-house rental that was very quiet. There were cinemas that refused to take it for obvious reasons. At the same time, we received the Russian film award "Nika" [in the nomination "The Best Film of the CIS and Baltic States"], which we still cannot reach due to some customs problems.

You have been working in Russia for about seven years; now you live and work in Ukraine again. How do your Russian colleagues relate to events occurring between countries, have you personally had conflicts on this basis?
I have never been to a party.

I did not know the freaks, but normal people were what they were, and remained so.

Therefore, it was not necessary to convince anyone of anything.

Miroslav Slaboshpitsky. Photo: Pavel Terekhov

You filmed when the revolution began, and finished when Putin occupied the Crimea. How did this affect the picture?

When everything happened [the occupation of the Crimea], the tanks were not only near Donetsk or Lugansk, the troops were also from Chernigov. From where to my apartment on the tank ride for about two hours. And I have a movie in post-production. Therefore, we had an anxious briefcase, a backup copy of the materials, and a plan was developed for how we will evacuate the film in case of a five-minute readiness, if something happens.

“Tribe” is a silent film in which deaf and unprofessional actors play. Will this give rise to some kind of trend?

In the "art-house" films generally speak little. If you look at the average film from the Berlinale, they say quite a bit of it. In my film, this trend is brought to the limit, to the reception, so to speak.

Is the topic exhausted?

The success of the film is inspired by the fact that it was possible to do something very new, very fresh, and in the movies it is almost unreal.

For more than a hundred years, everything is already known in it. And then suddenly such an unexpected turn. The film is unusual and that is why, one way or another, all people react to it. Therefore, the second time this trick is unlikely to be repeated.

Work on the film lasted more than a year, have you managed to learn sign language at any level during this time?

No, not at all, and there was no such goal, it is incredibly difficult, especially our sign language, because it differs from the American one. In American there is a certain alphabet, for example, to spell a name or a name. For everything else, there are separate gestures, these are like hieroglyphs.

I know swear words in sign language - and I had enough of them. For the rest we had translators.

Miroslav Slaboshpitsky during the filming of the film "Tribe"

At what stage of readiness is your new film “Luxembourg”, when can it be seen?

I have a script and I am in the active phase of working on the details: what, how and where will we be shooting. But since in 90 I spent a lot of time in Pripyat and I know everything and everyone there, the work progresses faster. In general, the film is not only and not so much about Chernobyl, as about people, love and life there now.

What movie is waiting for the mass audience?
I have no idea, I'm not shooting for them. I always did not care.

I shoot what I like and do not believe in commercial cinema. Scoring space between advertising pads is not mine.

Profitable rental in cinemas in Ukraine - this is nonsense.

Is the conflict with the Oscar Committee from Ukraine exhausted, which nominated Oles Sanin's film The Guide for the award, but not yours?
The story has not ended and will not end. Now we, with my colleagues from the Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, a trade union uniting thousands of filmmakers from different professions, have developed new regulations, applied to the Oscar Academy and want to register a new committee. To this story does not happen again.

And although it will not help the film "Tribe", there will be some joy that we crushed this bug.

In New York, the film was shown here.