Anna Alexandrova about children’s complexes, space family and daughter Sasha

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Anna, there are only women in your On Set team – director-screenwriter Nika Yakovleva and producer Lera Tyazhkun. Is this a principled position or is it just the way it is?

I would like to answer that this is a principled position, but, to tell the truth, it happened by chance. For ten years I was in a creative search and thought about where my place in life is. Finally I realized that this is a movie. Then I began to think about my place in the cinema: at first it seemed to me that I wanted to be in front of the camera, then I realized that it was more interesting for me – yes, and then I realized: I will be a producer! It was at this stage that we met Nika and Leroy and shot the first short film “They Say”. Then they made Themis with the same composition. We realized that it is comfortable for us to work this way, we are suitable for each other. In the end, we became friends. So we had a joint project of the series Late Night School. We filmed the pilot ourselves. For a whole year, three girls went and offered it to everyone. We were not taken seriously, we were not trusted. Only after the producer Katya Kononenko (known for the films “Hardcore”, “I’m losing weight”) helped us, we got serious customers. It was already indecent to work with them through individual entrepreneurs, it was time to create your own company. So in February 2021, I became the CEO, and the girls became co-founders.

Do you think you were not taken seriously because you are girls?

No, because there was no experience. In the arsenal at that time we had only a short film. You need to understand that the budget for the series is huge, you need to be able to manage it.

Tell us more about your new series Late Night School.

Filming will begin in May, and in November-December it should be released in the Okko online cinema. According to the plot, teenagers at school make a program where they discuss issues of their age: bullying, problems with parents, first loves. The title soundtrack is the song “Petarda” by Lida, the daughter of Glucose, maybe she herself will be removed from us.

Producing activity for you now the main thing?

Yes. I would really like to develop myself as an actress. But I started late. And I already had a child, and it’s more difficult to work with him on the set, because the actor must be constantly in the filming process, go on expeditions. Besides, I don’t have my own agent. For some reason, an actress does not work out of me. Not called for roles.

What kind of roles would you like?

Something alien…

Thinking in the direction of space projects? After all, you are from a family of a space engineer – your great-grandfather designed the rocket on which Gagarin flew.

The irony of fate is that I was born in a family of physicists, all my childhood I looked at sky maps, atlases and rocket drawings, but at the same time I myself cannot even draw a straight line. You know, you usually go into the house, there are pictures on the wall, and we have black-and-white photos of satellites. Until the age of ten, I thought that all people study space. And it’s something common. When I grew up, it became a discovery for me that this is a rarity. My family was very surprised when I told them that I wanted to go to the movies. For them, cinema is like space for me.

It’s strange to me that you are not invited to act, because you have such an unusual appearance: blond hair and brown eyes. I thought it might draw attention. Are you painting?

No, this is my real hair color. As a child, I had complexes that I had light eyebrows and eyelashes. In the 90s, I seemed strange. Even the boys didn’t like it. Only at the age of 14 my eyelashes darkened.

At the age of three and a half, your daughter made her debut in a short film directed by Nadya Mikhalkova. Does she continue acting?

It seems to me that this is an inevitable story when your parents work in the film industry. (Sasha’s father is Roman Prygunov. – Ed.) In our short film “Inside Me” she is also there. I think that cinema will always be with her.

Does she want to be an actress when she grows up?

No, she doesn’t like cinema, she doesn’t see herself there, she doesn’t want to go there. She is more physical. She likes something closed and calm. But at the same time, she cannot be called an introvert, she is sociable and friendly. Easily makes contact, easily meets new people.

And this does not prevent her from posing for cameras at secular premieres next to you.

Oh yeah! She feels very confident on the red carpet.

What are her hobbies?

There are many of them: gymnastics, skating, chess, drawing, 3D modeling… She speaks perfect English, is learning French, recently wanted to learn Chinese.

You recently went on vacation to Dubai. How do you like the city?

I heard so much from my friends about Dubai. And so we arrived there and everyone was waiting: well, when will we finally see something that delights everyone? But they didn’t see it. To be honest, Dubai disappointed Sasha and me. I never even swam in the sea there, because it seemed dirty to me. The beach was full. Perhaps after the Maldives there was a strong contrast. We went to the local oceanarium, but after our Moskvarium it is somehow frail. The only thing that impressed us was the desert. We had a safari tour. We drove for two hours in jeeps, but even then we were terribly seasick. But then we were brought to a small town, where we rode camels and where a traditional Arabic dinner was waiting for us in a tent, and after it they had a fire show and belly dances against the backdrop of a starry sky and a crescent moon.

What did your daughter like most in Dubai?

Mutton! (Laughs.)

Smart child! Soon Sasha will go to school. Have you already decided which one you will give?

Sasha is very smart. Likes to solve complex problems. So I’ll give her to a school where you have to think. Normally she will be bored. Perhaps, in the “New Look” at MGIMO, it is still under construction, it will open next year. Imagine, there will be only eight people in the class! I would like that by the age of 20 she already had a base that could be developed, and not like mine – she only appeared at 30. But don’t think, I don’t educate Sasha at all. I let her do whatever she wants. (Smiling.) I was different as a child. Then it seemed to me: the simpler the better. My daughter and I are, of course, very different. And I’m glad that at the age of five she already knows what she wants.