Quotes

What was so great about Cannes, you ask? The victory and meeting great people - like when Jean-Pierre Dardenne and I were walking in the rain for an interview for French TV and spoke to each other as equals. We were laughing, chatting about different stuff. He turned out to be a nice and open-minded man.

Concerning the "Road To" (The Road To (2011)), it's better to quote the words of the festival's organizers: "Thank you for the excellent film, full of humor, wit and with great direction and acting."

It's mostly that there are so few good films. The problem in Russia is that people try to copy the American production system. But we need to make our own film industry.

My greatest inspiration comes from reality, people, situations. Films are just images that run.

Let's just say that in life, I have a hard time expressing my emotions. Film is a way for me to communicate feelings.

I sent my film to the festival by chance. Every year a committee from VGIK sends out a package of approved films, but mine wasn't in it. I can only imagine the surprise of the jury, who received "The Road To" (The Road To (2011)) a month late. I honestly didn't expect it to be actually accepted anywhere when I was sending it, so I sent out the applications for festivals all together: to France, Russia, Germany. In a month I got a callback. What I liked the most was the voice of the person who called. It seemed like they couldn't decide what to do with me; whether to take me into the contest or not. The program was already settled by then. There were 14 films in it, and only later in the evening I received a final decision - an invitation to participate in the Cinéfondation contest program.