Russians do not give up: how they open new Russian stars for the European audience

As an agent, she represents Alena Mikhailova, the star of Kirill Serebrennikov’s film “Tchaikovsky’s Wife”, and as a producer, the short film “The Return of Zoya”, which was included in the Cannes Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry catalog market as part of the festival and entered the short list of the competition .

“We filmed this project in 2021 with the famous Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov, who has already received many awards at European festivals,” says Natalya Gneusheva. — Our work was immediately selected in Cannes in two directions: Short Film Corner, and this is a film market, which sends thousands of films from all over the world, and a shortlist for the director’s biweekly. We didn’t reach the contest quite a bit, but, given the political situation, I perceive even entering the shortlist as a victory. I couldn’t sleep peacefully for two nights, and I was in such an excited state that I wanted to share this news with everyone.”

The main male role in The Return of Zoya was played by Yaglych, and the female role was played by Svetlana Stepankovskaya. Both of them are in Natalia’s agency, as are Daniyar Alshinov and director Adilkhan Yerzhanov. So the pride of Gneusheva for her production project is mixed with the joy of an acting agent. After all, this is a double victory when your artist has a chance to be noticed at one of the world’s major film festivals. HELLO! in hot pursuit asked a few questions to Svetlana Stepankovskaya, who, instead of walking along the Croisette, is filming in a new film project.

Svetlana, did you think that participation in the short film “Return of Zoe” will bring a “ticket” to Cannes?

Of course not. I was sure that something unusual would come out of our short film, but so much … I am grateful to Natasha for seeing me in an unusual role, pushing me to take a risky step – to change my image, and I was able to play such a Zoya. She is somewhat touching woman, when it comes to a child, she is ready to protect him at any cost. Actually, it was a crazy idea. “Are you sure you sent me that script? I asked Natasha after reading the material. “A drug addict, an alcoholic, a homeless woman with children in an orphanage – is that me?” “Yes, get ready,” Gneusheva replied. We are flying to Kazakhstan. Until the very shooting, I tore my hair out because I didn’t understand how these people live, how to play it !?

How did you prepare for the role?

I watched various videos about homeless people, drug addicts, reviewed “The Beast” with Charlize Theron. I have friends who have encountered people with such problems, and I asked them about the details – how drug addicts, homeless women, alcoholics live, how they behave, what their mindset is. It was important for me to try it on myself before entering the frame. Adilkhan and I talked on zoom for a long time, met several times, discussed the script, we rewrote it for a while, then he told me to just watch the movie and that’s it. And I didn’t bother myself with anything else. But still, the first rehearsal already in Kazakhstan turned out to be difficult for me. They brought in various actors who they wanted to take on minor roles, but I absolutely did not succeed. My partner Yaglych, Natalya, who flew in with us, looked at me and understood that something was going wrong. Tomorrow is a shooting day, but I can’t try on a walk, come up with a voice, change plastic … We arrived at the hotel, I took a salted fish for myself so that my face would acquire a certain alcoholic swelling in the morning, and we discussed our heroes for a long time with Yaglych. And when she came to the room, she realized that Zoya couldn’t sleep on such a comfortable bed. And she lay down on the floor, only taking a pillow with her. So I overslept until the start of the shift. Everything else we found already on the site with make-up artists, with the director.

Does work in international projects have its own specifics?

In Kazakhstan, the sun is scorching, and people are more relaxed, they do not tense up, like we do. I remember how in one of the scenes the policeman had the wrong shoulder straps. But no one noticed this, except for Yaglych. “Well, you should know what kind of military man he is, what rank he has,” he was indignant. To which the girls replied: “We just didn’t sleep today, so it’s like this…”. Everything was a little relaxed, a little careless. But the film crew was so organic, so well-coordinated that everyone could work 20 hours without sleep. And when we saw that people work so professionally, shoot so well, we stopped carping about the little things, because due to the light, due to the angles, they were completely invisible. Plus, this group knew how to perfectly improvise. On the last day of shooting, we got into a sandstorm, and the director instructed the cameraman to change the scene and go with me into the thick of it. I played among this element, getting out of the script, but not out of the general sense.

TEXT: Maxim Andriyanov.