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Hello Vasily, 

 

Your film, THE BOY BY THE SEA, is absolutely stunning in every way and we were thrilled to not only screen your short film on the back lot at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, but we were also very proud to announce that your film was chosen as the BEST OF FESTIVAL.

 

A few questions for you…

 

HIFA: The story of THE BOY BY THE SEA was quite touching and you were able to reach core emotions in a very short amount of time. Would you tell us your inspiration for the story?

 

VC: A friend of mine - Andreas Illmer - wrote a short story. I got immediately enthusiastic about it, its poetic mood, its characters, and began to think how this can be rendered in  a film. I thought a lot how to tell this story by visual means, where to shoot it, etc.

 

 

HIFA: Would love to know where you shot the film? And how did you choose your location?

 

VC: The film was shot in Marken, a small village in the Netherlands. It is said that the Netherlands is the land of sky and water, which is a perfect setting for this film.
 

 

HIFA: Where did you find your actors?  Did you find working with a child actor challenging?

 

VC: The actor playing the role of the old man is well known in Holland, he liked the script and immediately agreed to participate in the project. I spent quite a lot of time looking for the boy. Rom Elzakkers  is a very talented boy, he is fond of acting and dancing. Of course, not everything went smoothly, the boy didn't have a lot of experience, but at the end we managed.
 

 

HIFA:  What camera did you use?

 

VC: RED
 

 

HIFA:  How many days did you shoot?

 

VC: The weather in the Netherlands is very unreliable. Rain started on the first day of shooting and we had to stop. We shot the film in two days.
 

 

HIFA: How did you start your career as a filmmaker?

 

VC: There were a lot of twists and turns in my life. I am a physicist by education, I was involved in biophysical research work for many years. However I always had another inclination - towards art. My mother was an actress, and I grew up in the theater. Finally this need to express myself became so powerful that I decided to become a filmmaker.
 

 

HIFA: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?

 

VC: I would say that a person should never give up his dream.
 

 

HIFA: What are you working on now?

 

VC: I am in post-production of another short, and am thinking of a feature film.

 

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HIFA: Is there a link in which our readers can view THE BOY AND THE SEA?

 

VC: The short is still in festival circuits and probably an open link will be available by the end of this year.
 

 

HIFA: Thank you again for sharing your beautiful film with us Vasily! There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when we screened THE BOY BY THE SEA.

 

VC: Thank you very much for the kind words!