00;00;00;00 - 00;00;12;25 Unknown today on you're watching a movie with Silas Lindenstein. I am interviewing writer director Xenia LeBlanc, and we're talking about her new short film, The Exposed.

00;00;12;25 - 00;00;34;00 Unknown I've got another filmmaker who coincidentally, is also married to my last guest. My last guest. I guess it depends on the order you're doing this. But Nicholas Acosta, they're both married and they're both filmmakers. And I ask I ask about that, how that is. So listen to the answers there in case you are.

00;00;34;03 - 00;01;04;28 Unknown Are you two are you a couple of artist together pursuing the same thing? Does it work for you? I don't know. My first wife, she she she she liked to dabble in the arts as well as me. And notice I said first wife. So, you know how that worked out. My current wife. Wife number two. My last wife, I will say as well, she she's not really into the into into the performing arts.

00;01;04;28 - 00;01;39;22 Unknown So it's it's been smooth. So we'll see. We'll see if it does if it works for you. Congratulations. Anyway, Xenia is a wonderful, interesting woman. She's been she's lived all over. She's studied acting all over. And I think she came up with a great little premise for this short film. It's a you'll hear me talk about it. It's a it's a little nerve wracking of a little, little horror film.

00;01;39;24 - 00;02;16;12 Unknown So but but but it's not like a grotesque horror. So I think you can handle it even if you don't normally like horror. I'm going to have a link for that for that movie on both. You're watching a movie dot com for under the show notes and also in on black in the house on the show out. So check that out so you can watch the movie and then it's it's like a five minute horror so really well done you know I do if you follow this program you know I participate in the 48 hour film project which which is always 3 to 7 minutes.

00;02;16;12 - 00;02;50;10 Unknown I believe it's three is the minimum, maybe four and 7 minutes in length. So I'm really into that kind of short film. And she did this for a particular festival, but now it's released everywhere. So check it out. I think you'll enjoy it and I think you'll really enjoy this interview. I got a feeling so right now, sit back, relax, open your heart and open your ear holes and listen to to this episode.

00;02;50;12 - 00;02;54;18 Unknown Seven Questions with Xenia LeBlanc.

00;02;54;18 - 00;02;56;24

00;02;56;24 - 00;03;11;09 Unknown Thank you. Yes.

00;03;11;11 - 00;03;25;06 Unknown Oh, yes. Yeah. Nick? Yeah.

00;03;25;09 - 00;03;56;07 Unknown It's. It's very interesting. And it's definitely really cool to have a partner that, you know, does the same thing as you. Because we understand each other. We help each other creatively. So I think it's really amazing that we're both in the same field. It can get a little bit competitive and but in a good way. I feel we have been working on many different projects together, so we kind of figured out how to navigate it.

00;03;56;07 - 00;04;13;25 Unknown So like we have, it's not really a rule, but it's something that we do where we we make one film when one of us directs and then the other film is the other person will direct. So we'll be like, okay, right now this is you directing your film and we're for you and we're helping you to achieve your vision.

00;04;13;25 - 00;04;27;07 Unknown And then the next one is mine. So I get to direct and I get to choose. And do you know what I want to do with it? So. So that worked so far?

00;04;27;10 - 00;05;05;23 Unknown Mm hmm. Yeah. Yes, he actually he is. So he is. Well, you can see a little bit of his contour. It's that video went to Z. Mike to Z is showing like that. There has there have been break ins in the area. He we went our blink cameras so he like he plays like the breaking guy so he's wearing like you know something dark and like yeah you kind of see his silk that but you can't see his face.

00;05;05;23 - 00;05;55;09 Unknown Yeah he does. And he's also the voice that says, what do we got at the end? To which the character responds, Yeah. So, so he is a little bit, his spirit is in there. It, it so honestly, I think what I'm more excited about and what I'm more into in the past have been comedy more so. So I've been very much focused on comedy, especially female based comedy and female driven comedy, I would say.

00;05;55;09 - 00;06;18;02 Unknown So I was part of Dances with Films in the past, unfortunately was a 2020, so my series, female driven comedy series, they they got in, but we had to do the zoom red carpet and all that stuff. Really sad. So yes, I think comedy as well as documentary is something that I'm really like I've got I edited a documentary film recently.

00;06;18;02 - 00;06;44;29 Unknown A feature documentary is going to be released in October through streaming platforms, which is really cool. So I think I have been kind of trying out different things and horror for me as a genre is very interesting because it's something that you can do literally in one location with, you know, actor And if you're good at figuring out what, what, how to create tension and how to create fear, you can do something really cool with very little.

00;06;44;29 - 00;07;05;11 Unknown So, you know, you don't need a lot of dialog, you don't really need to do much. You can just visually create an atmosphere with using sound and light and the location and one actor and then there you go. So I think this for me was kind of a challenge. So as it is, as it is, it's funny. So the exposure was made for a short contest.

00;07;05;14 - 00;07;28;13 Unknown There's a short contest happening every year. It's made by Jacob Owens. So Jacob Owens is a filmmaker. He does like a bunch of different things. He's very much in love with horror. He does a lot of really cool horror shorts himself. And then, you know, he makes this contest every year. So this past year, this contest included making.

00;07;28;15 - 00;07;58;19 Unknown So you had to make like they're like building something downstairs. So of course, when I'm doing the interview, there's like a construction going on. So they basically said that the the the rules this year where you cannot use any CGI or visual effects, which is great because I'm not really into visual effects or CGI. So then you can not use like anything beyond like a tripod and a handheld camera.

00;07;58;19 - 00;08;17;12 Unknown So everything had to go back to basics and that. Yeah, So that was a cool challenge for me because I was excited to kind of see what we can create within such little time and like just this limited availability of things. So that made us very, very creative. And then you had to involve a mask in a creative way.

00;08;17;15 - 00;08;45;19 Unknown Which mask in the. Yeah, I want, I don't want to reveal like the reveal at the end. And then you basically had to use a frame from a famous horror feature film, like a classic horror film. So I used one from Psycho, so it's the psych. So yeah, so that's why that was. Yeah. Frame Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actual like frames.

00;08;45;19 - 00;09;08;08 Unknown So we analyzed the frame from Psycho when he's, you know, in the shower, including the light and how he's holding it and everything. So we like created exactly this frame when he comes in. So yeah, so that's that, that was a challenge for me. So that's why I made this horror film from the beginning, but also because I have an amazing actress and I wanted to work with her and I was like, okay, let's make this happen.

00;09;08;08 - 00;09;43;06 Unknown So oh, so honestly, I wrote it in like three days, and then we just went back and forth in a couple of moments just to see, you know, how the tension works, how those moments head like and everything. So, so for me, so I think it was a couple of weeks, maybe a month, but I had to go on a trip, so I had to film it literally as soon as I found out, pretty much borrowed it the next in the next couple of days.

00;09;43;06 - 00;09;58;28 Unknown And then we shot it like the following week. And then I went on a trip because I went back to Europe. So in Europe I went and edited it on on my laptop. I was editing on the plane as an accessory, so I don't recommend editing on the plane.

00;09;59;00 - 00;10;18;05 Unknown Yeah, I actually recorded a couple of my family, so my brother, he records, he does sound design for video games, so he's really good at like he has a little station. So recording my mom. So there's like a little muffled scream in there. So I recorded my mom because I needed something. I was like, Man, do you want to be in the movie?

00;10;18;05 - 00;11;18;23 Unknown She's like, Yeah, I'm going to do it. So it's no, I definitely I love horror. I think for me, I'm very much into like highbrow horror. So, you know, like The Conjuring movies, Oh my God, they're like my favorite movies ever. So I think I am very much into war, but it's not something that I'm like pursuing as a genre.

00;11;18;23 - 00;11;47;18 Unknown I think it was something like for me, if there is a good story, which this was the case, I'll develop it. And whichever way. So for me, this was exciting just because the story was coming together and I was like, Oh my God, I really want to do this and I want to try out something that would scare me and somebody actually asked me at the film festival in the premiere to dance with films, but they asked me like, okay, but they asked me, Why did you like what made you think of this whole scenario?

00;11;47;20 - 00;12;20;24 Unknown And I said, Well, as a kid growing up in Russia, oh my gosh, seen so you can't hear it. Oh, maybe it's like, you know, not like there's like, okay, okay, perfect. And I want Oh, wait, hold on. I need to talk right now. Okay, great. That is perfect. So, yeah, So as a kid, I used to watch this show.

00;12;20;24 - 00;12;40;04 Unknown I don't know if you remember. It's like an American show. We got it in Russia when I was growing up called 911 or whatever. 9119 11. Right. A real realistic show. They show like these things where there's a call and they go rescue 911. So we it was just called like they just translated it as like call 911 or something like that.

00;12;40;07 - 00;13;00;12 Unknown So the thing that freaked me out the most, I was like maybe seven years old and I watched this episode about like a house fire, you know, and they kind of talked about how that happened. And like the people I think one person died and then they got it. And I freaked out because I thought, okay, there's all these things out there that could scare me ghosts.

00;13;00;12 - 00;13;21;23 Unknown Or there's like, I don't know, things that I could imagine, like different forces or evil forces. But the scary thing is something that is real and this is real. Like the the fire that actually killed someone in the house was. So I thought about that and I thought like, Oh my God, what scares me? And that scares me more than, say, ghosts or supernatural elements.

00;13;21;28 - 00;14;43;20 Unknown So I thought like, this is what I want to incorporate and explore in this film. Yet and yeah, because if something happens and you do you have like an isolated studio or. Yeah. Oh for sure. I'm scared. They're much scarier. And to me this is something that I was thinking about when I was creating this. Is there is so much that can frighten someone, but but everyone can experience something like this.

00;14;43;20 - 00;15;03;25 Unknown It can happen to you without you noticing. Like you can literally get affected by something and not notice because you weren't careful with something or you weren't, you know, I just don't want to reveal the ending. But but that to me is so realistic. And and I thought, Oh my God, this is And when they asked me at the film festival, So why did you want to make this?

00;15;03;25 - 00;15;50;18 Unknown I said, Oh, my God. I think I realized because I watched those nine, I'll call 911 911 call series. And I just it's freak me out. And I remember my mom was so mad. She's like, Oh, let you watch this. And after that, I was always like, checking everything that everything is okay. I still do that. So when I laid out, yeah, that's me.

00;15;50;20 - 00;16;36;24 Unknown Oh, my, my mom did she watched it and she was like, Oh, God, Why? This is terrifying. Like, that's nice. Me Mm.

00;16;36;27 - 00;16;56;22 Unknown I agree with that wholeheartedly. I think some of my best work, you know, following some rules or do you give me like, specifics? The scene writing a scene. I remember when I started that New York Film Academy Award, like writing scenes at the screenwriting course, and they would say to us, it needs to end with this, and it also needs to involve this line.

00;16;56;22 - 00;17;23;00 Unknown And I was like, Oh my God, this is so cool because I know exactly where I'm going to go with this or what kind of ideas I have with this. And it's also it kind of forces you to be more creative. So I'm totally with you on that. Yes. Yeah, I said film. They're film studies, but I studied film also.

00;17;23;03 - 00;18;48;21 Unknown The first time I came to the U.S. was for the New York Film Academy here in L.A. So I came to for a to do a filmmaking course, I think. And then I went on to doing a screenwriting for now, I'm from Russia, St Petersburg. Absolutely, yes. No way. Wow. No, I was going to say, this is still in Yeltsin, but Leningrad, that's where I was.

00;18;48;23 - 00;20;44;08 Unknown As well. It's beautiful, actually. That's really impressive to me because most people have never been to Russia. So when I hear this, I'm like, Wow, it's oh, I bet Moscow. Yeah. So normal would ask. And then here we went to Russia, I think. Yeah, before the pandemic it was like 2019. So we went there and he was like trying to adjust certain things.

00;20;44;08 - 00;21;03;27 Unknown For example, we have these breakfast sausages and he's like, This is not a sausage, it's just boiled like sausage that we just boil. And then he goes like, This is, I don't know what the hot dogs and hot dogs. And he goes, This is not a dog. This is like weird, whatever. But there are a lot of things like that.

00;21;03;27 - 00;21;30;18 Unknown Like, you know, he was trying to find like cold drinks. We're not that big on cold drinks. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it also we don't it's like an American habit here. I've I've learned to be like, Oh, I want some ice with my water. Not too bad. So he was so pissed because we'd go somewhere and they'd give him a Coke or something.

00;21;30;19 - 00;22;04;26 Unknown They're like, It's not cool. They go, Yes, it is. It's like, No. So yeah, so I get you. It's it's quite it's a cultural shock. It's completely, you know, like it's nobody's You're lucky there was a McDonald's at the time you went sort of not Yeah it opened like I forget which here it was and then it opened but it was yeah, I would have been new and then we had Carol's.

00;22;04;26 - 00;22;22;11 Unknown Did you have to have Carol's here. It was like the same thing as McDonald's Meals had Happy Meals, but they were called. Carol's is supposed to meet. They were open just for a little bit, and then they like clothes. And that's what I remember. And Nick is like, I don't know what you're talking about. And I was like, That was a chain.

00;22;22;11 - 00;23;45;01 Unknown It was like a chain. And I looked at our boots. It didn't last too long, got bought up somebody. Yep. Great. Yeah. Okay. Oh, so. So I think there's two. Besides, film is reading for sure. Like I'm a nerd. Like, I love to read, especially, like, sci fi and I absolutely love, like, good, a good thriller. So that's like, that's I'm super excited about.

00;23;45;02 - 00;24;07;13 Unknown So I can recommend like really good stuff. And I would say second would be, mm, cooking. Cooking is something I'm super nerdy about, so I love to cook and I love finding new flavors, combining them like creating cool recipes and then like trying something out that has not been in the recipe book and just experiment with that and then let people try it and like see how they react to that.

00;24;07;13 - 00;24;36;08 Unknown So I think besides film, so if you said, like not film, well, I was like, I think all of them have like there's a lot of. So I love French cuisine. It's like the staples of, like good food that involves a lot of butter. But I absolutely love Italian food, Asian food, like I love fusion as well. So if you can like combine a bunch of different recipes from different cuisines, that's something that I'm super passionate about.

00;24;36;08 - 00;25;50;08 Unknown I love that stuff, but oh, really? Absolutely. I have I have an issue with goat's cheese because I had so it's like a long story. But in short, when I was a kid growing up in Russia, I used to play with a goat. It was a goat that belonged to our neighbors and it was like my best friend.

00;25;50;08 - 00;26;11;25 Unknown I was so happy and then one day I came to pick up my friend from her house because she wasn't coming out. And I entered the, you know, Russian houses. They have this little area that's in front of the house where you leave your shoes. It's kind of like a step up kind of thing. So her grandmother was slaughtering them, that goat, because they're they're farmers.

00;26;11;25 - 00;26;33;22 Unknown They were you know, this was its time and the smell of that. And also I saw the buckets with like, you know, the insides and everything. So after that, I can't eat goat's cheese. And it's like on a psychological level because that was it was my stuff. But then the smell, I know, but it's it was the smell, though.

00;26;33;22 - 00;26;55;04 Unknown It was like something psychologically. And it's funny because I would eat and try different stuff and Nick's making fun of me because I'll eat like that was in Ice Cream in New York and they made it out of goat's cheese and I was eating it fine. And then my friend goes, she's like, You know, this goat's cheese? And of course, automatically, yeah, but it's really good and like, amazing.

00;26;55;04 - 00;27;43;11 Unknown And the pairing I've tried this pairing before I did. I would still like, take the effort to try it and at least like, you know, go for it because I don't want to miss out on the flavor. But yeah, those cheese. I was like, Oh, guys. Yeah, I love to eat. I would say a couple of things. So I so recently I started trying vegetarian food more because I just, I was really excited by different pairings and I found this whole new world of flavor said didn't exist to me before because, you know, we always go for meat and then you have a little like potato or something with it.

00;27;43;13 - 00;28;14;00 Unknown But in vegetarian cuisine, there are so many interesting things that people have come up with. So first of all, first of all, pasta soup for Zuber, passionate about pasta of all kinds. But the pairings of like, you know, I'm super excited about different interesting pairings of like sweet potato with, you know, different baked vegetables. That's very boring. But there are so many ways to cook a sweet potato that can be like just super exciting.

00;28;14;00 - 00;28;40;00 Unknown You can you can make like dumplings with it, you can fried, you can like boil it there. So you can actually make like when I used to I lived in Montreal for a little bit for one year, but going back, it's really cold over there. But in Montreal, they're very passionate about their food. So I took like one class with the Cordon Bleu, like there was one one class that they opened for the public and I took it and they made like mashed potatoes with sweet potato.

00;28;40;00 - 00;29;01;07 Unknown And that was my first time trying it. And I was like, Oh my God, the sweet potato is like this new flavor. So I think like a sweet potato nerd, because I was like, Oh my God, it's such a completely different flavor, But it's so tasty and like, unique as opposed to just regular mashed potatoes. So I would say, yeah, that and also Asian feel like I absolutely love sushi.

00;29;01;07 - 00;29;36;15 Unknown Sushi is like our treat. We always go to Larchmont. There's like a really great sushi place there. So yeah, sushi and pass those. Oh, you did. Yeah. Compared to like the other day, we're like haven't been there in a while, so. Yeah, let's go get some sushi. So yeah, fish. Yeah, absolutely. That's really cool.

00;29;36;18 - 00;29;57;14 Unknown Kombucha. I love kombucha. So when I first tried it, I was like, Is this really something? It's like, I think it's an acquired taste. And the fact that especially in America, because it's not a very European drink like to drink kombucha, but the fact that you can make it yourself and also there's so many different flavors that came out in the past couple of years.

00;29;57;14 - 00;30;30;09 Unknown So you go and there's like we have a store nearby and it has like this whole selection of different kombucha. So that is, Oh, really an acquired taste. It's something that, you know, over time just gets better and better. And like, Nick hates it. He, I, I tried to make him like, try something. And every time a different flavor, he's like, I don't know how you can drink it, but it's something that just always refreshes me.

00;30;30;09 - 00;30;52;21 Unknown And it's just there's so many different things you can do with it and it's good for you. So for me, it's like, Oh gosh, it has all these three things in it that I'm super excited about. So that as well as wine, I'm like a super I'm a wine nerd. So that's another thing because I'm I guess because I'm European, but it's something that my family has always been drinking at dinner and like there's so many different flavors.

00;30;52;21 - 00;31;32;12 Unknown And I love that California has so, you know, so much access to all these places. So that's something that I'm super excited about as well. Oh, really? Oh, man. Every great. I love electronic music. I'm I love jazz. I listen to all kinds of different music. Sometimes it's going to be like soundtracks. We have a huge collection of soundtracks that we have saved on, like mine is on Apple Music, on iTunes.

00;31;32;15 - 00;31;55;11 Unknown So yeah, I think all kinds. But my favorite go to is jazz and electronic. Like, you know, I used to call it lounge music and in like early 2000s but, well, lounge music to me sounds more like something that plays in the elevator. I'm talking more about like very interesting artists, like, you know, Moby, for example, who is actually our neighbor.

00;31;55;18 - 00;32;26;02 Unknown I met him a couple of times, so I grew up listening to his music like Fatboy Slim, you know? So I think I can say, like I listen to only one particular kinds of music. I think it depends on, you know, the artists or like if it's a cool song from like we again, some so many soundtracks that we have saved and that we listen to over and over again, like, you know, even John Williams, like we listen to him sometimes, like it's a Saturday, I'll just put on John Williams albums and just listen to it.

00;32;26;05 - 00;33;05;04 Unknown But yeah, it's like it's, it depends on my mood, but I think, yeah, just I love I love finding new music too. So I'll listen to like iTunes radio and then just kind of pick up on some stuff that I haven't heard before. So yeah, my gosh, it's like transforms your space. Your mom's like, Yeah, absolutely. Oh, movies.

00;33;05;07 - 00;33;30;21 Unknown I love visual arts and I love telling stories. So I think that's why I chose filmmaking because it combines a bunch of different art forms. I don't know any other you know, I don't know any other art form that combines that many things into under one umbrella. So if you're making a film, you can literally be a good visual storyteller.

00;33;30;21 - 00;33;54;28 Unknown You can, you know, be actually cinematography and be into that. You can also be a you have to be a good storyteller. She could be a good writer. You need to write and learn how to tell good stories. You can perform, you can, you know, create the character with your behavior and different moods and emotions. So I think there's so many things, but for me, I'm also very much into photography, so I take a lot of photos.

00;33;54;28 - 00;34;18;01 Unknown It's it's something that is just my passion and something that I do with friends of mine. I've done a bunch of photo shoots in the past, so photography video, I I'm not a good painter, but I'm actually working on a little short. I've been working forever. I started, like way before the pandemic where I'm like dabbling into animation.

00;34;18;01 - 00;34;38;21 Unknown It's like a story that happened to me in San Francisco, and then I just found out there's this app that you can download on the the iPad that allows you to draw like, you know, audience can draw. Like, it's basically like helps you to create your animation and then save them in different layers so you can animate them later is super complicated for my brain.

00;34;38;21 - 00;35;14;15 Unknown But I was like, okay, I want to give it a try. So I've been working on that and it's going on, so we'll see. Maybe I'll finish it in the next five years. So yeah, a game. Cool. So we we love like board games and like we, we love the game night so we play a bunch of those like guess the movie or like somebody gave us those cards recently where it like says you know you have to describe what the film is or what what's it's kind of like the Ellen It's kind of like that, but it it's more complicated.

00;35;14;15 - 00;35;43;07 Unknown You're limited by time and you can only use it. So yeah, so it's like it's a level up from that, but it's a similar kind of thing. So I love those. We love those competitive like super fast games, but also I come from a little bit of a gaming background. So my father opened the first gaming company in Russia back in the nineties, so, you know, the now he it's a great film actually.

00;35;43;07 - 00;36;01;14 Unknown I haven't seen it yet, but I want to check it out now. He opened a first gaming company that was working with like you know the American companies. They were creating different things for them. For example, they worked with doom and they created like the the gun like elements for them. So they were working with many different companies at the time.

00;36;01;17 - 00;36;22;19 Unknown They created their own game. That was like, it's a racing game, but it's the little cars, like the radio controlled cars. So they created a whole game which was actually sold in America at the time. And my dad came here to present it and all this. That was really cool. So I, because of my horror, excitement and all this stuff, I love spooky games.

00;36;22;22 - 00;36;41;03 Unknown So this phenomenal game called Fatal Frame, it's a Japanese game is basically like every new episode has its own story, but the first one begins, you're just in the middle of the woods and your sister ran away and you are just there's not there is no clues. There's nothing. You just deer in the middle of the woods and it's dark.

00;36;41;05 - 00;37;02;13 Unknown And so you have to, like, go through and, like, figure things out and then you find a camera. And so now you figure out that you're in a haunted village and your sister has been, you know, possessed by these ghosts. So your only weapon against them is your camera with a flash. So it's called fatal frame. So depending on how you frame it, like the more flash will hit them and like, kill them.

00;37;02;16 - 00;37;40;01 Unknown So I think that is such I think they actually made a movie based on I guess I'm not sure, but it's just visually stunning. So I love like video games that are visually stunning and have like a good story. So in that, yeah, it's really exciting, you know? But I really want to but I'm kind of scared just so how so you're just like you.

00;37;40;03 - 00;38;45;15 Unknown What My thought couldn't, you know it wasn't that that game that I was telling you about. I remember those, like, places. They still do it. I think the PlayStation controller just shakes, you know, when things are coming up. That was enough. Like, if you're talking about the VR and like playing that game in VR again, let's see. That's cool.

00;38;45;17 - 00;39;38;05 Unknown Now, the Hmm, Honestly. And it's going to sound very deep and philosophical. I've always been passionate about trying to help people or introducing people to a new perspective, to something they have not thought of before or considered or looked at like I would want to. I would want to leave behind stories, you know, be it through film or even writing stories that change people's perspective.

00;39;38;05 - 00;40;03;05 Unknown And I'm not talking about just politics or, you know, the way of their lives. I'm saying things that leave a mark and in the minds of people that things can be different. And there is there's so many we are so used to living in the same pattern every single day, depending on where we are culturally or what's where we live in the city or the surrounding, where our friends.

00;40;03;05 - 00;40;41;05 Unknown And even if we travel, we still have like those, you know, paths that we're kind of used to. I would want my I want to be remembered as an artist who introduced different perspectives and not just something that you can oh, you watch this like, oh, cool. They lived this way and in I don't know, in Iceland or here's like a story about someone's life that he went through that, but actually leave behind something that people can just be like, oh, she, she, she tried to show different perspectives and get people outside of their box, outside of their set mindset.

00;40;41;05 - 00;40;58;17 Unknown But I don't know if that makes sense, but like what the people level, That's what I really want to do because me, myself, being a person comes from a different culture. Coming here, I kind of already do that. There's a lot of things that I do that people are like, What are you doing as a This is how we live over there.

00;40;58;17 - 00;41;22;21 Unknown This is how we communicate over there. This is, you know, we're not going to go into politics and all that stuff. But that's another big aspect of it, because a lot of people don't know what's going on over there. They only assume based on films that especially in the nineties, a lot of American films introduced Russians as these evil guys, you know, Russian, you know, So it's it's understandable why.

00;41;22;23 - 00;41;55;11 Unknown But I feel there's so much being left out. And when people say like, oh, there's not much to talk about or, you know, maybe discover about the Russian culture, I'm always like, wait, let me just there's so much you know, especially like, for example, our stories are we have to telling Nick the other day I was like we had this these animations based sorry animation animated films created by the Russian animations Studio during the Soviet times that if you watch them, they're so deep and philosophical and weird.

00;41;55;11 - 00;42;21;27 Unknown And Nick's like, no wonder you like to, you know, talk about philosophy and all this weird stuff because we have like this animation called the Hedgehog. Hedgehog in the Fog. It's the weirdest, creepiest thing ever. But everyone in Russia has watched it. Who grew up, you know, And even today, like, we still show it to our kids because it is so full of like the like it's like kind of like the, you know, the little prince do you know the little 70 seconds?

00;42;21;27 - 00;42;52;02 Unknown Yes. So it's like, you know, it's it's a fairy tale. It's a story, you know, but it has so much wisdom in it. So we have similar stories that have never been talked about or shown or experienced. So I think, yeah, just just introducing something that that makes people feel like, oh, there's a lot that I don't know and maybe this is also okay and this is also interesting would be something that I want to be remembered for.

00;42;52;05 - 00;43;23;00 Unknown Yes, Yes. So it's going to be available on YouTube starting tonight, actually. Yeah. Just like. Yeah, absolutely. So. So yeah, we had a great festival run that was people we got people freaked out. So much. It was like screened at the midnight series. People watched it and they there is some really cool, you know, it's like for a filmmaker or storyteller to hear these reactions.

00;43;23;00 - 00;43;44;07 Unknown There's somebody who is screened and just like, okay, this is great. So I'm excited for people to be able to watch it as well at home. And then what you did at night gets a little scary. Yeah? Yes. Yeah,

00;43;44;07 - 00;44;03;08 Unknown And that was the interview. Yeah, that was great, right? I told you, you can count on me when I tell you that we got a good interview. We do? Here it is. So I think you should check out the films. And if you have not checked out the film yet, please do let me know in the comments what you thought.

00;44;03;10 - 00;44;23;18 Unknown And if you like this episode, please make sure you hit like go subscribe and and follow the podcast so you'll know right away the next time of fun interviews dropped. I got a lot of exciting ones coming up for you, so I want you to be notified and listen to it. So until next time, I want to thank you for keeping a block and a half.

00;44;23;21 - 00;44;29;25 Unknown And thank you for watching a movie with Silas Lindenstein.

00;44;29;25 - 00;45;24;16