{"id":9100,"date":"2021-04-26T09:30:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T09:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=9100"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:05:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:05:39","slug":"mikhail-saburov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=9100","title":{"rendered":"“I\u2019m a true believer that you\u2019re only as good as the people you work with…” – Mikhail Saburov"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exclusive interview with Mikhail Saburov – Film Director & Writer<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Born and raised in Russia, Mikhail started\nperforming at a local theater at a young age, later on becoming director\u2019s\nassistant and eventually directing short plays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determined to transition into film, Mikhail\nmoved to NYC and graduated from School of Visual Arts. His second-year\naward-winning short film, \u201cRemember Us\u201d, was picked up by an international\nsales agent and sold at Cannes Marche du Film, acquiring international\ndistribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then Mikhail has written and directed\nseveral award-winning short films in both Russia and the US as well as\ndeveloping multiple feature films. One of the features he co-wrote called\n\u201cPressed\u201d participated in the 2nd round of Sundance Labs 2020. Most recently, a\nTV pilot Mikhail co-wrote made it to the Quarterfinals of Screencraft\nFellowship competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aiming to continue his education, Mikhail\nrelocated to Los Angeles and graduated from the American Film Institute\nConservatory MFA directing program. His recent short film \u201cBound\u201d had premiered\nat the Oscar-Qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikhail currently works as a writer\/director in LA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Like Us”<\/em> – film still<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow long have you been making films and videos?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            I\u2019ve\nstarted playing around with my dad\u2019s camcorder since I was a kid. I remember\nafter school I\u2019d come home with a couple of friends and we would shoot an\n\u201caction\u201d film – basically replicating something we\u2019ve seen in the movies or in\nvideo games. Besides that, when I was about 5 my parents brought me to a local\ntheater where I\u2019d acted for over 13 years. I guess, my transition to a\nprofession in film was only a matter of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat film was your directorial debut? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Not counting the after-school films,\nmy first \u201creal\u201d debut was a 30-minute short called \u201cReflection\u201d that I made as\na part of my education at Sverdlovsk Film Studios \u201cSTRANA\u201d in my hometown in\nRussia. They had a year-long program for teenagers interested in film and by\nthe end of it the students were expected to shoot a thesis film. \u201cReflection\u201d\nwas a mystery-drama about a drug addict who one day finds himself locked in his\nown apartment and has to face not only his addiction but also himself. As I\nlater came to realize almost every director who starts out young makes a movie\nabout drug addicts. It\u2019s like a rite of passage, haha.    <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat is your recent film about? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201c<\/strong>Discovery\u201d\ntells a story about a father and a daughter who discover the unexpected during\ntheir fishing trip. As we grow older we often lose the sense of wonder in the\nworld that was so obvious when we were kids. Yet, the world of wonder is still\nout there, we just forgot how to see it. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow did you go about casting for the film?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cDiscovery\u201d is a truly no-budget\nfilm, so my plan was always to cast local. When looking for someone to play the\ndaughter, I had no doubt, I should go back to my theater – I know first-hand\nhow great they are with child-actors. Galina Boyarskikh, was one of children in\nthe youngest group. Right away that little girl blew me away. There\u2019s just\nsomething so authentic and charismatic about her \u2014 I didn\u2019t think twice about\ngiving her the part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            It\u2019s very important to build a\nrelationship between the adult actor and the child actor prior to shooting\nespecially if they\u2019re going to play a family. \nThat\u2019s why I brought in, Anton Shlyamer, who plays the role of the\nfather. Anton used to be my director in the theater when I was performing, so I\nknew him very well. Moreover, he already knew Galina, so she could feel much\nmore relaxed working alongside someone she knew as opposed to a complete\nstranger.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat was the most important lesson you had to\nlearn that has had a positive effect on your film? How did that lesson happen?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Big budgets, large crews, new\ntechnology – everything is secondary to the story. As long as the script is\nclear and emotional, you have a chance at a good film. \u201cDiscovery\u201d is probably\nthe smallest (in terms of budget and crew) film I\u2019ve ever made, yet it\u2019s one of\nmy favorites. It just felt very liberating to shoot something guerilla-style\nwith just a couple of friends and relatives. I think this more free-flow\napproach helped to capture the spirit of wonder and definitely made it easier\nfor Galina, who had her acting debut. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nTell<\/strong> us a bit about the other films\nyou\u2019ve made and your other projects.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/strong>My\nnew short film \u201cBound\u201d had premiered at Oscar-Qualifying Rhode Island Film\nFestival last fall and still continues its festival circle. It\u2019s a story of a\nLithuanian man, Mantas. who has to confront his childhood trauma to cope with\nhis own mortality. Much as \u201cDiscovery\u201d \u201cBound\u201d also stars a child-actor,\nGerrison Machado, who plays Mantas in his childhood, while, the adult part is\nbrilliantly portrayed by Mantas Valantiejus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            I have also recently finished a new sci-fi drama short called \u201cLike Us\u201d – a story of a woman who saves an alien that cannot experience emotions. As she tries to teach it what love is, she discovers that you can\u2019t teach what you don\u2019t know yourself. The film is just starting the festival circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Discovery” – film still.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat role have film festivals played in your\nlife so far?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/strong>There\u2019s\nnothing more exciting in a filmmaker\u2019s professional life than film festivals.\nI\u2019ve been lucky to be a part of a few throughout the years – and every time\nit\u2019s a true celebration of film and people behind it. In broader sense, film\nfestivals – is often the audience you\u2019re making your films for; and a chance to\nsit in the back row of a theater seeing how people react to what\u2019s happening on\nscreen is worth months of hard work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Having my film selected for the\nIFFNY is a real honor and I would like to thank the programmers and the\nfestival staff for an opportunity to show \u201cDiscovery\u201d to a wide audience. Especially\nin New York – a city very dear to me. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nIs it harder to get started or to keep going?\nWhat was the particular thing that you had to conquer to do either?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/strong>With technology becoming more and more affordable, we see unprecedented\namount of content pouring into film festivals and online. It\u2019s an old quote,\nbut it\u2019s true that today anyone can make a film. It\u2019s a much different case\nwhen making storytelling into a profession. I\u2019m a true believer that everyone\nhas one personal story that they can make into an amazing film, but what do you\ndo for your second project? That\u2019s where the profession becomes about skill,\nworking ethics, perseverance and flexibility rather than pure talent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Sustaining professional career as a writer\/director is by far the greatest challenge I\u2019ve faced that\u2019s why I\u2019m constantly trying to breakdown films and continue my education while creating as much content as I possibly can. <\/strong>My approach is to make writing & directing into a 9 to 5 job and run is as a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Bound” – film still<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow has your style evolved?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/strong>I think a director\u2019s style is strongly intervened with one\u2019s personal\nlife and self-assessment. For years I\u2019ve been drawn to a more mass-market\nentertainment as a viewer, yet tried to work in a more auteur style in my own\nwork. That\u2019s what brought me to the American Film Institute Conservatory where\nI\u2019ve recently graduated from. AFI is structured around classical, auteur\napproach to filmmaking – that\u2019s why the program is so strong. However, quite\nrecently I came to a realization that I\u2019m far more suited for entertainment\nrather than arthouse filmmaking. To create a truly auteur cinema – the\nstoryteller needs to have a profoundly unique view on the world and strong\nmessage they\u2019re eager to share with the world. I don\u2019t have that.  As soon as I understood that, my work made a\nhuge jump in quality and I found much more peace of mind than before. This is\nmy philosophy now – making films that a wide-audience can enjoy yet utilizing\nall the technics of auteur cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat has been your personal key to success? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/strong>Determination,\nstrategizing and collaboration. I structure my days very thoroughly – as one\nwould a business: 9 to 5, 5 days a week. Besides that, I have a 5-year plan\nthat I constantly updated – this way I have a clear strategy of where I wanna\nbe and how to get there. Of course, life intervenes, but having some kind of\nplan shows me very clearly what areas of my personal and professional life to\nfocus on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            As far as collaboration goes – I\nalways try to create the best environment for my team to express themselves. I\u2019m\na true believer that \u201cyou\u2019re only as good as the people you work with\u201d, that\u2019s\nwhy when I find someone I really like working with – I try to bring them on\nevery project I do.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat are you thinking about doing next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/strong>I\u2019m\nworking on another short film that I\u2019m hoping to shoot sometime in 2021.\nBesides that I\u2019ve been developing two feature films and a TV show.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhere does your studio want to go from\nhere?  <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            I have been doing short forms for some time now, and, of course, would love to work on longer forms. Let\u2019s see what happens!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mikhail Saburov by Saulius Lukosevicius<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exclusive interview with Mikhail Saburov – Film Director & Writer Born and raised in Russia, Mikhail started performing at a local theater at a young age, later on becoming director\u2019s assistant and eventually directing short plays. Determined to transition into film, Mikhail moved to NYC and graduated from School of Visual Arts. His second-year award-winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19185,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9100\/revisions\/19185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}