Mimmis Adventures Interview

https://intothewildfest.wixsite.com/home/mimmisadventure

First of all we would like you to introduce yourself so that we can introduce you to our audience. Who are you? How long have you been making films?

Over 15 years in film production, last 4 years filmmaking, scriptwriting and producing

And now we talk about your project Mimmis Adventures. What the audience will find?

I wanted to create a film through the eyes of a small clumsy dog. Exactly a comedy , becouse to show the world  how it seen  dog, animal perception of the surroundings of the city and nature.

Mimmi is 1.5 kg mini chihwahwa  and absolutely not trained for filming. I had to adapt to him. He is afraid of street filming and therefore trembling ears are often visible.
IBy shooting in different locations, the film turned out to be rich and  I have reached my goal to show the beauty of nature.

A special place is given to Mimmi in nature, where he smells flowers and grass, where bees fly and the sun shines.

Were you inspired by any other movie to make Mimmis Adventures?

Absolutely my idea.
If you see this little mischievous dog, the first thing you will do is smile.
That’s why when he appeared, I created the film with a smile.
And this is just the beginning. There is already a continuation. Not yet mounted ,videos already in the files. I would like to complicate the topic and add more adventures.

Mimmi -best actor

And now we would like to know about your cinematographic preferences:

I came to the cinema already as an artist, therefore the image is important for me. I constantly fill my eye by creating video filming.
I like editing shots to create the images you see onscreen,  creates shot lists, floor plans, and lighting diagrams

I study  techniques and try different cameras, study cinematic elements such as lenses, filters, lights, and other camera/lighting requirements.

I have my own three cameras and they are different. I continue to draw

What does cinema mean to you?

This is my life. I came to the cinema in love with work and gradually improved. Now a lot is behind me and I understand. It’s difficult to achieve everything at once.

Apparently I am one of the difficult creators. Shooting a couple of scenes, dialogues, saturating them with special effects is too easy for me. Creating a very vivid script and implementing it in a film is my goal before starting a film.

Therefore, science fiction  and horror remains one of the main  genres for me because it is necessary to realize the meaning of the script in the frame

Which movie is the best for you?

Metropolis by Fritz Lang  and now DUNE by Denis Villeneuve .

I think it’s the best movie in recent years.

What do you think a movie must have as an essential ingredient?

The main thing is an excellent SCRIPT.

Thoughtful, calculated and laid back a little to remove the excess.

Your favorite actor or actress?

The most difficult question of all.

I will try to answer. I am a technician. I approach the work technically.
It’s hard for me to name someone I love more than another.
When I watch films, and I do it almost regularly, I see the performance of actors and somewhere better, somewhere weaker. But there are no privileges and preferences.


After all, I am a small segment of a large machine. Success with us is not always possible to predict.
And you will agree that in some genre some actors are more successful, while in others they lose.


By the way, I run Instagram (@astra_production) where I share my opinion about the movie I watched and even try to determine  during past years who will win the Oscar. There is a Sunday contest for knowing the name of the movie. I share videos where I show bts of movies.

What qualities do you see in that actor/actress to have such consideration. What do you like most about them?

I am very picky about projects.
On the site, sometimes you have to adapt. I will give an example.
In one films, the main actress was a lthree-year-old girl. Her parents forbade her to use a mobile phone.
Her shooting lasted a long time, she kept the text, was calm and easily recorded, but there was no fire, no spark was felt. I came up with a scene that she was holding a mobile phone and photographing a drawing that she sent to her grandmother.
The girl immediately came to life, I told how to use a mobile phone. In the frame, she herself took a picture. How much joy she had and this is the first time in her life.
This happens.

A good movie has to…

Everything worked out perfectly – make-up, lighting, screenwriter, director, cameraman and producer with advertising.

What genre of cinema do you prefer?

Ski fi/triller/adventures/historical/horror/action

How do you define yourself professionally?

I love my job and am always learning and trying new things.

What movie have you seen most often?

Only one?  The last script I did was  a historical triller. At the end the producer decided that it was necessary to add a spy movie and I had to watch a lot of spy movies to put together an image.
I can’t remember any one that I look at more than others.

What topics are the most inspiring for you?

My last work is historical triller

What helps you to be more creative? Do you have a writing routine?

Yes, I like to stop myself and somewhere in the notes to write down some statements, thoughts, or if something has affected me in the news, then study it in detail.

When you write a script, are you clear about how it will end or are you building it?

Short films  are based on ideas and are easy to anticipate without construction.
But with the film 130 minutes +   you have to build. After all, there is a line of a hero or several, plus climaxes and denouement. And this must be built

Thank you for the interview. It is very full and interesting.Thank you very much for your attention and see you again.
I want to note that for me the theme of nature is very relevant and free time, time of relaxation and rest, I actively devote to going out into nature, traveling,hiking.

This interview was given for the Spanish festival Into the wild Film Festival Castelló d’empúries, Girona 17486
Spain
april 7,2022

When I write my Pysanka

Fasting has come in February and this time is special, because in fasting you often think about life and the eternal.
This is the time when you realize that I have been given a little time for life and this time between some year and some other. This time will remain on the stone with two dates engraved in memory about me and my life.
And realizing this, you humbly accept earthly life.
Even during fasting, you clean up a lot, get ready for spring, warmth and a new energy time. Therefore, you wash the house, sort out the rubble of things, hide New Year’s utensils. The snow this year was so long that at the end of March I pulled out Christmas attributes and courtyards from the still frozen ground, cleaned and folded until next year.
In fasting, you are preparing for Easter. And this is not only pies and Easter cakes. This is Easter eggs.

The symbols which decorated pysanky underwent a process of adaptation over time. In pre-Christian times these symbols imbued an egg with magical powers to ward off evil spirits, banish winter, guarantee a good harvest and bring a person good luck. After 988, when Christianity became the state religion of Ukraine, the interpretation of many of the symbols began to change, and the pagan motifs were reinterpreted in a Christian light.

A pysanka is a Polish-Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional folk designs using a wax-resist method.

Pysanky are so varied in style that it is difficult to list them all. They are divided by origin – there are Ukrainian, Polish, and Tripilsky. Pysanky are divided into regions – Hutsulsik, Podolsk, Lemkivsky.
They differ in patterns – there are patterns, there are images, there are flowers or geometric shapes.
But recently they even began to decorate them with decorative ornaments, pieces of fabric, beads and fabric.
They also differ in the methods of creation – drapanka, kraska, pysanka and krapanka.
I use a method known in ancient times – waxing.

Easter eggs in a basket close-up. Symbol of Christian holidays.

What do the colors of Easter eggs mean?

The red color symbolizes the color of the blood shed at one time by Jesus Christ.
Black color is compared with sadness, crying and death, followed by the birth of a new life.
Yellow symbolizes prosperity in the harvest and wealth, but also this color represents the sign of the sun and fate.
Blue conveys warm feelings for a neighbor, wishing him health and strength.
Green - symbolizes the rebirth of all living things and recovery after a serious illness.
White color implies a heavenly cleansing, symbolizing a new life that is emerging in heaven.
Brown represents the fertility and great power of the earth.
It is best to color them with food coloring: using onion peel, turmeric, spinach, red cabbage, and you can also use cherry juice. There are also ready-made food colorings in the form of powders or tablets.

I am use stylus input wax in.A piece of wax is placed in the stylus and melted over a fire. Wax cools very quickly, there is no time to think, you need to write with wax very quickly.

You apply a pre-selected drawing on the egg with a stylus in which the wax melts, wait a moment and then lower it into a jar of prepared paint.
So you repeat several times – if there are several colors. Then you put the egg over the fire and quickly wipe the vox from the egg – an ornament remains on it.

Pysanka, unlike krashenka, is by all means a raw egg. Easter eggs were intended only for donation.

Pysanka is a talisman

In the old days, it was believed that only the primordial eggs of young hens, laid in March, on the first spring new moon, are suitable for making Easter eggs. Also needed were pure beeswax, pure water, live fire, new wax brushes, new napkins, new clay pots, and a potion (herbs and trees) to extract the colors.

This is Bukovinian style Pysanka

WhenI write my Pysanka,each line is ,,I hope,, and ,,I wish,, and ,,I thought,, and ,,I pray,, my Pysanka for Peace

After February 24 2022

I had everything.

Everything is at my fingertips – my life, the future of my children, my plans and my dreams.

I made plans to move to live in the forest Bucha near Kyiv, where my friend invited me, my children often talked about the same plan, I sat quietly on Klovsky Spusk this summer on the balcony of a French cavern and drank expensive coffee and watched the passers-by, the rebuilt Kiev life.
Then it seemed to me that only the air had not changed – it was compressed and stuffy on a hot day. And the sparrows had not changed.

In general, all the birds are there, in Kiev. They are of the same sizes, always hungry, always watching us from above.
Cappuccino, different types of coffee, hot chocolate – you can choose four or five types. Paris probably does not know this.

Huge tables with food and large groups of friends talking animatedly. I still dual: how good it is for them.
There were so many posters, so many exhibitions and events that in the evening the eyes ran wide : where to go, what to do, what to see. Preferences were given to especially interesting events.

Returning to a rented apartment, trying as much as possible to walk on foot … taking off swollen, buzzing legs, stagnating in silence, absolute silence and the phrase – if only it didn’t disappear anywhere, didn’t change, preserved, remained intact…..

We underestimated these moments.
We did not hug our loved ones.
We didn’t meet especially dear people, we didn’t talk about the most painful with friends, we didn’t pet the dog, we didn’t put on the most beautiful dress, we didn’t open the door …

My life was often changed. Losing everything, I started from the beginning, confident in myself, in my abilities, in overcoming difficulties.

I often left, left … but then returned.

All this was before February 2022, until February 24, 2022

I always believed that life would torment a good person, but then leave him, let him live, end the test and let him go. This is definitely what happens.

It will test, torment, incinerate and weaken, but then leave. You just need to remain human. Difficult, difficult, but necessary.

All this was before February 2022, until February 24, 2022

My faith is also higher than the betrayals and betrayals that are and will be. But seeing this, I did not prove anything to anyone, did not correct or quarrel, I learned to silently go my own way.

We will have everything
So I began to think after February 2022, after February 24, 2022.


Yes, it will. We’ll just take everything away and return it and earn money and build it. For this we live, for this now young guys, men and old people in Ukraine have taken up arms to defend and protect us, our children.
How painful it is now to hear, watch and receive news about the death of one of the acquaintances, about the mutilated shot people of Kramatorsk, who died under the rubble in Borodyanka, and were tortured to death on Yabunevskaya Street in Bucha.
I want silence.
Everything will be different.
It will be. The main thing is to understand that only when it all turns into memories will everything be different.

No, not in February after 24….

I am writing this post as if I am talking to you. I know that the one who reads this post has already read my first posts, which are already more than 5 years old and were the very first steps into the world of meeting you.

I know how much you loved my ellipses – a special style and ellipses.

Today is my first day after February 24, 2022, when I calmly wear a computer and write a post.
behind a lot of work, tomorrow again a new week, volunteering, working with the editing of films and clips, maybe even a return to the pictures.
I remember one thing – when I collect boxes of humanitarian cargo for Ukraine, working with my hands, closing them, transferring them to my hand, I feel a special warmth. Where does so much strength come from?
Remember everything as clearly as possible

Very cold spring this year

Spring after February 24, 2022

February 2022

It was the end of February 2022. The month was coming to an end. I rustled several robots in a row: selection of films for my project on the topic of thriller, historical film, spy thriller.

I looked at the finalist films of the annual Oscar to analyze the best works, which films are now in privilege, what are the trends of recent years. Over the past few years, I have regularly done such analytical reviews. It helps me a lot and I recommend such trainings to directors and producers who want to understand the world of cinema and see the latest changes.

By the way, I post notes on my Instagram and those who are reading this post now will easily find me on Instagram @astra_production

The weather was getting better and I thought with pleasure about those days when all the barriers would be removed and I would go to a fitness club with my body that had become obese for two years.
The temptation pushed me, I planned the workouts ..

Finally, hands will reach the editing of two films to send to the festival.

I read the news, but did not pay attention to any details or changes.
Night of February 23. I open Facebook, as I browse for the night. One of the actresses from Kyiv writes: It has begun…started….
I didn’t understand what. I looked at the comments under her post, people began to unsubscribe to her that they heard explosions and the sound of sirens over Kiev.
Kyiv? The noise of sirens? Is it really … War?
This is the most incredible thing that could come to mind.
Can not be.
I quickly skimmed through the news bulletin. Yes, martial law.
The Russian army invaded the territory of Ukraine and immediately began to attack and launch rocket attacks on all territory, including Kyiv.
Life.Time.Fat point.No comments.

This is where the new vision,new life starts.
A new world. A new reality, which is difficult to believe in, in which one must live. Get used to? No, the brain refuses to get used to. It is taught to exist in the world, seeks balance, is not capable of destruction and perceives such changes hard

Trembling. The whole body was trembling.
I didn’t sleep that night.
I started writing to friends and acquaintances.
They answered me. I asked them again, hoping that this was a mistake.
No. It turned out to be a reality.
My beloved friends who have always supported me are now in great trouble and danger.
I did not fall asleep until the morning, texting with friends, following the news and watching videos that were published by news channels about the first strikes and destruction in the capital of Ukraine.

after a sleepless night with sleepy eyes, with trembling in my body, I went out into the city in the morning.
Like any person living in another hemisphere, in a completely different world, in a Canadian city of millions, reality cut me.
Two realities – the reality of hell, deaths and refugees, the destruction of cities and the danger of movement in Ukraine.
And children peacefully playing with their parents on the playground, young people hurrying to work, people sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus.

The world has collapsed and there is no past.
The world is divided into before and after.

February 24,2022

Working with acrylic. What’s new

There are always stops or braking in the artist’s work.
It is necessary for rethinking.
What did you do?
How much did you do?
What is successful?
What do customers like?
What failed and did not work?
Why?
After such a stop, all creativity looks anew.
Have you ever had this?

I experienced such silence.
During this time, several times I wanted to sit down and draw several paintings in a row. I was drawn to creativity.
But there were reasons that stopped me – this is a bad market in the last two years, this is the inability to actively sell paintings through galleries, these are sanitary standards that interfere with work.

On the wall

But I went back to creating a few paintings.
Let it be in the last month of the outgoing year, but I will create some work.


What has changed during my time of silence?


I met and started working with acrylic.

From the back


After work with oil paint, working with acrylic is both easier and more difficult.
Why, I’ll explain now.
The technique of painting with oil paints is layered. After the initial layer, a second layer is applied, then you wait for the paint to dry and correct the work.
Working with acrylic is easier and faster. The base of the drawing is immediately created and then the details emerge. The material dries quickly and you need to prepare before work in advance.

It’s harder, you need to quickly draw the details, highlight the background and shadows, create a graduation.
From the positivity, I will note the brilliance – this is not in the oil scale. Very bright colors and immediately my paintings revived.
I love the warm range of tones.
But I also love black and white colors.
And then I just relaxed.
Acrylic paints are very bright, rich, rich in shades.
By mixing them, very interesting drawings are obtained.
And it is very convenient to work, and most importantly, they are odorless, which makes it possible to work on large canvases and in closed rooms.

What happened with me? I created two paintings that were shown at the auction in October-November 2021 in Canada.
Now I finished work with two more paitings.


I publish one of them today.
This is a painting with a size of 8x10x0.6

Close to image

The painting was made on canvas.
The material used for the painting is acrylic,PLAKA paint silver,ink.PLAKA very nicely created the silver lines of contrast in the picture and I used them in the feathering.

I liked the red lines that came out when mixed. I shaded them and deepened them with contrasting paints. I got waves and indentations.

just look at how amazing it turned out
game of colors. Game of juicy bright colors.
Very impressive.
rich polytric, layered pattern structure, corrugation, heterogeneity.
It turned out very nicely.
I took several photos from different positions to show the depth of the picture.

I am finishing the second one.
They look together and separately.
Later I will publish the second work.

If you liked the work, write your impressions in the comments under this post.
Share your feedback with me and write, do you like modern painting and the work of artists using the acrylic technique?

HOT (2019) painting for sale

It’s time to go through all my paintings and put them up for sale

I have several works exhibited in a prestigious online gallery in France.
I ask you to watch it and rate it

https://helen-polishuk.artmajeur.com/


Today I am putting up for sale a painting called HOT

This is a painting of 2019.
How quickly time has flown by and the hour has come to create something new and travel around the world to present in galleries

This painting has been featured several times in art galleries in Toronto.

There are several days in the summer in Toronto when the color of the sky and cities merge into a bright red, when the temperature rises above 35 and when the air turns fiery.
Then the lake turns into stone bound water, resisting evaporation
And only under cover of night comes the long-awaited coolness

Materials used oil paint on canvas

Size of painting 14″ x 10″ x 0.8 ” ready for hang
Varnish is covered for painting protection


This painting is for sale.

Worldwide shipping by Canadian Post with trucking


You can buy it both through my website using PayPal or on the website

https://helen-polishuk.artmajeur.com/

This work also has a peculiarity, it is sent by the author to the buyer with a Certificate Authenticity

This purchase is a great gift for New Years, Christmas and just a home decoration.

And for collectors it is a good price and a new painting from artist.


The price is really hot and discounted.

Feel free to ask questions if you have any in comments under this post or by email or on Artmajeur website

And you should know – I always do everything for you so that you love art

Helen

November 20,2021

Toronto


Renewal

Is it possible today speak with you,my readers, without pictures and photos?

Talk to you directly.

First,I wish you health. It is very important .Hope you well.

I want to read your comments, it is important for me to hear you, my readers.

So that I could communicate with you.

Some from you ask why site was closed? I do not know so much about the problem of the Internet, but there was a failure . I can only say that I am very glad that that again my site, which I created brick by brick, by years, putting my desires and dreams, that this site is now working again. I just wish that there was some minimal consensus between the companies and sites and the failures were not so significant and thanks to them, my site is alive. I would like to rejoice together with you that you, my readers, are doing all right and well.
It is most important.

What’s my news?
For the first time in two years, we will have a major auction in August, in which I participate … The auction is anonymous and online.
If you are interested, please take a look at www.fb/Helenpolishukart -that my page on fb where I share paintings and info about future auction.

Another news: second part stories about small doggy Mimmi started postproduction time and I hope you will see them this fall.

Also I have great short film in production about our time,our reality .This movie take more time in production becouse its have graphics and special effects.

There are a few more projects that are too early to announce to you, but they are in the works.

I do not respond to advertisements and do not work for companies or private advertisements.
If you have any business proposals, write to me by email helen.polishuk@gmail.com
I will try to answer to every one.

Once again, I am very glad that my site is working again and I can communicate with you.

I am waiting for your letters

Have a great day.

Helen

July 14 ,2021 Toronto

ANGELS (behind the scenes)

 

 

I am sharing great news, friends for you.
,,Angels,, won its second award yesterday.

 

This is an award at the festival in Munich  New Wave Short Film Festival   and I am proud of it.
The film received an award in the category Religion & Faith .

inner 2 june 2021 angels

I thank the jury for evaluating the film and am very proud for this award.
When a film is recognized by the jury, it is the greatest joy for the producer, for the filmmaker.
This is a victory for perseverance and creativity, for the set and completed task, for efforts, for motivation, for overcoming difficulties, for the love of cinema.

WINNER

I would like to celebrate the victory with you and tell you how the shooting took place and show the frame-process of filming.Behind the scene

 

I already told you about this amazing film
By the way, you can watch it online

https://thinkshorts.com/6788/angels

 

 

The film starred a 3-year-old girl Maya, who received an award in the nomination TINY SUPERSTAR  at ROMA SHORT FILM FESTIVAL a month ago.

 

The girl is really very talented. She remembered text well, behaved perfectly and calmly in front of the camera.

In this video you can see how easy it is for her in front of the camera.This is final shot.Final scene.

https://youtu.be/6SmY2Y2_ups

 

There were many interesting moments in the film.
At least the one when the actress was supposed to draw an angel, but did not want to.
I had to give her a ready-made drawing and turn on the TV so that she was relaxed and played herself.

Well, and another interesting moment, for the first time in her life, during the filming , in front of the camera, she took a mobile phone in her hands.

https://youtu.be/1ZQImlznyMM
Before that, her parents did not allow her to play with  mobile phone.
During the filming , Maya picked  mobile and not only took, but she needed a mobile phone to photograph her drawing.
And the  did it !
From the first shot.
For her, it was innovation, discovery and pleasure.
In general, the film was shot easily for me.
Let me remind you, this was my first film.
I have been preparing for its creation for a long time, studied and tried a lot.
Therefore, I am pleased with every victories of this film ANGELS

 

There is a film screening ahead  at the festival and I hope that soon it will be free to go to the festival as a filmmaker after a year and a half.