The Lightest Darkness
When a neurotic private eye who struggles to finish the case takes a train voyage, his own dark secrets begin to reveal themselves.
Watch The Lightest Darkness on Vimeo on demand and Plex
Length: 65-70 min
Director: Diana Galimzyanova
About the director: Diana Galimzyanova is a writer and director based in Moscow, Russia. Her four award-winning short films were accepted to more than thirty five festivals in thirteen countries. Her latest short script “A Fangirl” is a finalist in several competitions.
Key cast: tba
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): journalists
Why are you making this film?
I’ve been doing shorts for a while; they had a modest success on the festival circuit, and I realized that I’m ready for the next step. I’m also hitting the big 30 this October so I though it’s a right time to make a debut feature.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because it's the first ever female-directed Russian film noir with reverse chronology, so you're basically making a history while watching it. There’s no other film that fits the same template.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
With this film, I tried to keep those themes in balance as much as I can. Film noir is a style that tells the universal stories, the characters are archetypal. And my own personal themes are of the kind only a few people could really understand and relate to. I’ve explored a lot of my personal stuff in my short films and now I’m trying to be more open-minded and embrace the different points of view to make a richer narrative.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
I started it as the short script and was developing it for a while. At one point I got totally stuck. I felt like the story was too dense for a short and it's turning into a treatment instead of a real story. Then I realized that I could turn the short script into a feature script and my inspiration returned immediately.
I rewrote most of the original story, though, basically left just a beginning and an ending and couple of the main characters from the initial short script. And that short script was way more surreal; it had a plot line about a man in a bear suit that I got rid of. It wasn't an easy decision since I liked that bizarre stuff, but it was better for the script.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People are curious about the whole reverse chronology thing, i also hear a lot of good words about the teaser, although the teaser itself is like an additional story that includes a lot of the clues from the main story but also really meta.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Not at all, I've got a precise vision, and I'm happy to learn that people see the same things in that script. I am especially happy to hear that some people see the glimpse of dark humor I've put there. But I'm always ready to embrace the constructive feedback that could improve the story because at the end of the day story, is the king and not my ego.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on We Are Moving Stories?
I want more people to know about my campaign and eventually the film, because the viewers are important to me, I was creating that script with the viewers in mind. Which is a new approach for me since my shorts are not really people friendly, although they were screened at quite a lot of festivals.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
It's too early for that, but I already a core team of wonderful people that believe in our film. Getting to know some distributors and journalists would be nice, though.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would like the viewers to be captured by the mystery and be surprised to know the truth. It's a reverse chronology so the viewer will only understand the whole thing after watching the last scene that was the first in the story. I want the viewer to be like so that's what that line at the beginning of the film meant.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
The main theme of this film is whether a person could get away with doing unethical and immoral deeds and what is moral and amoral. I'm basically exploring that from the different angels. But I'd be happy to hear that people saw something totally different theme wise. Like for me it’s the best compliment when people look at my works and see the stuff I didn’t put there consciously.
Would you like to add anything else?
I want to make a real film noir that would surprise people, keep them in suspense and make them think, just like the classic film noirs did.
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