Rhode Island International Film Festival - The Quantified Self
When well-meaning parents turn the self-tracking into a family religion, the consequences fall outside the quantifiable
Interview with Director Gleb Osatinski
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Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you, this is a real honor to be at Rhode Island Film Festival with The Quantified Self short film. We are happy to be selected and presented in the festival dramatic competition this year.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you are interested in seeing a film with a dystopic scenario where every aspect of our lives is pushed to the extreme, this is perhaps the film you might want to see. It has an insight on our everyday lives where technology impacts us more and more taking its way to manage our lives without us controlling it. We might be manipulated by our knowledge and by our desire to become perfect, but we don’t really know how to do it and that makes us anxious and moves us away from who we really are as humans. The film has a message - perhaps - to look back and see if it all goes too far. Or not. It is all personal perception of things at the end, anyway.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I used to be a scientist in the past, and science is something that taught me to explore the world through the models that science offers. But the world of science is just a mechanism for humans to comprehend the world, an attempt to explain it for ourselves and perhaps replicate, copy its identity to work for us better. There is nothing wrong with the science, but it is also something that we need to be aware that we are exploring and nothing is ideal or absolute. In the film, I am exploring the theme.
I am trying to see that If we want to explain our own nature, we need not to forget what this human nature gives us. It is about us being human. With quantification, this can be substituted with mechanics of measurements. We might believe in numbers more than in our own senses or feelings, and this is what we tried to show in the film.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
I was fortunate to work with a co-writer Danielle Ellen who is an excellent writer. We have been working together on the longer version of the film, and then at some point, we decided to shorten it, and finally came up with a 20 something pages which at the end shrunk even more. We felt that being less is more in our process and at the end, we came up with a very strong version of our story that we both liked.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
It has been very successful so far. I had a few amazing screenings at the Atlanta Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival and now at Rhode Island. It was great to feel the feedback from the audience. There were various responses: one audience member declared that this film helped him to get rid of his Apple Watch. It was funny, and everyone laughed at the joke, but in reality, we rely too much on something external to dictate who we are. The Audience member said that his watched had beeped to him by mentioning that the Q&A was over, but in reality we were just in the middle of the discussion, and that is what made him react. It was interesting to see how this works in reality.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It didn’t surprise me. It was kind of what I was expecting from people to see in the film. I was happy to see people resonating with the story and the idea. We actually had a few publications on the technical sites about our film. The recent one that drew huge attention was published in the French on-line magazine:
( https://humanoides.fr/the-quantified-self-film-sante/) after which we had more than 1000 hits on the trailer and a few comments on our facebook from people who saw the trailer, asking to see the film. It really made me happy that this has an audience and people start to realize that the Quantification of their lives might have an effect on its quality.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I want to make more films in future. I guess every film is a test for a filmaker like myself. I want to test my ideas through the films I am making. If my films have an audience, the audience will be waiting for more of my work and will support my new projects. It is a two way traffic and I am totally open to it. More visibility - more opportunity to receive feedback - and face the audience.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
It is a short film, yet. However, if I were making a feature film, I would need to work with experienced Producers who would help me to make this film come true.
So yes, a Producer who would sail through the ocean with the idea on the ship that doesn’t go under is the goal.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would love to have an audience who asks more and more questions and after the screening wants to see the film again and again and share it with their friends.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
It is never a single question. I am always open to debates that come from unknown directions. Films sometimes are like a maze of things. It is good to discover more and new things in my own work. I find that a smart audience helps the director to look at the film from a different angle. It changes me all the time. This is what I love to hear and see: when the audience finds new directions and layers. If the film doesn’t have them, they will just leave the theater and never ever remember what they've just seen. I love to make a print in the memory, and this print really comes from understanding the story their way. That’s when these debates become priceless.
Would you like to add anything else?
I am fortunate to be here at RIIFF with my film. It is an amazing festival with so many incredible filmmakers. I am proud and happy to be among them. It helps me with my future projects. Thank you for having me.
What are you developing or working on now?
I am working on a few projects right now. One of them is to finish the feature script for The Quantified Self, but I also have other projects in mind and I am trying to see what will come first in terms of the execution. It is good to be busy with ideas and write them down into scripts. IT is magic to make film. But first, the magic has to start from the piece of paper and a pen. This is what I am doing now.
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
The Quantified Self
When well-meaning parents turn the self-tracking into a family religion, the consequences fall outside the quantifiable
Length: 15’ 30’
Director: Gleb Osatinski
Producer: Imoto Harvey, Kate Bolotnaya, Gleb Osatinski
Writer: Danielle Ellen, Gleb Osatinski
About the writer, director and producer:
Danielle Ellen – WRITER
Danielle began her entertainment career as an actress in regional theater (Flock Theatre) and in small roles in film and television (Saturday Night Live). At Columbia University she completed a double major in Neuroscience & Behavior and Creative Writing. After this she received a master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Winner of the Van Rensselaer Prize.
IMOTO HARNEY – PRODUCER/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Imoto has worked over the past decade in the medium of video and photography. Immersing herself in the ever-changing world of digital acquisition, she's mastered the art of capturing the moment. The knowledge she has acquired from holding several different titles in film and television including Director of Photography, Assistant Director, and Editor have helped shape Imoto’s life-long passion of creating meaningful content for this Universe.
Gleb Osatinski – DIRECTOR
Received a film degree from the Digital Film Academy in New York and has trained at directing work-shops with Adrienne Weiss – a teaching professor at Columbia University, Script Writing at Columbia University Professional Studies. Gleb's award winning short films screened at more than dozens of film festivals around the world including: Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia, Asiana International Film Festival, Krakow International Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival, New York and Los Angeles Shorts Film Festivals. His films are distributed by Fandor, Xfinity, Vessel, Pacific Voice in Japan and Shorts HD Inter- national. Gleb is included in the list of honorable FIX Filmmakers at Fandor. Prior to filmmaking Gleb recieved Masters degrees in Physics (Kharkov Polytechnic University, Ukraine) and Computer Science & Finance (New York University, USA).
Gleb is married and lives in Brooklyn with his wife Katya, daughter Eva and dog Brodski.
Key cast:
Lozinski NANDO DEL CASTILLO
Claire MAGGIE FINE
Daniela1 CHARLOTTE RULEY
Daniela2 MADELEINE RULEY
Made in association with:
Release date: 2016
Where can I watch it in the next month? Sidewalk Film Festival and Fandor.