What are your impressions of the last year festival?

A very good choice of films and variety. There are various film genres, and themes as well, and that is why there were a few films that stood out and left a very strong impression on me. Even now some scenes from the film seem as if they are in front of me. The only disadvantage was one organizational moment when the films were screening: the Serbian translation was blocking the English translation and for that reason numerous films were, unfortunately, unavailable for me. Also, there was a lack of communication between the viewers and the filmmakers (I myself had questions for my colleagues), although it always increases the interest in the festival.  

How did you like Belgrade?

Belgrade is one of my favorite cities. It is full of life, friendliness, kindness and is extremely hospitable. 

Describe the position of the people with disabilities in Russia. How does Russia  work on including those people into the society?

I apologize in advance for being a little too rough, but it seems to me that Russia works on the inclusion only on paper (they don’t even talk about it). On one hand by proposing inclusive education, e.g. special schools are being closed. Thereby, in these schools, no-one employs pedagogues, real experts, and their experience goes in vain. In inclusive schools, children with disabilities are in most cases accompanied by their parents, and I won’t even mention children with developmental difficulties. That can barely be called inclusion.

There are no ramps, neither in buildings, nor in the streets. In Moscow, although it is the capital, people with disabilities are rarely seen, because it is almost impossible for them to move around the city.

And the worst thing is the way people think. I hope that the perspective of young people towards disability is starting to change. I truly want to believe in that.

Why did you choose to make a film precisely about a boy in a wheelchair?

That is my first film. I had been preparing myself for a long time to start shooting and at one point I just decided to begin. It was some kind of an experiment for me - making a film without any money. I didn’t have any additional funding and everything came down to the fact that I found two operators among my acquaintances  whom I managed to convince to work with me on shooting and editing for a small sum of money. For me, that project was not only a financial experiment, but a social one as well. When I started shooting, I realized that I wanted to make a film about inclusive education. I was making the decisions on what kind of a film would it be and what would it be about during the process of filming itself, while I was recording the interviews with the potential film characters. Ljesha’s case has left a strong impression on me. A case like this is very rare, in a good way, and I couldn`t let it slip away.

At what point and why did you start making films?

This film has a very long history. I have been working as a journalist for many years and sometimes (unfortunately, not as often as I would like to) I write about social issues. At one point, I realized that there was one question that I not only wanted to write about, but to show it on the silver screen as well. It is much more effective when you see a picture on a screen than when you read something on a piece of paper, or on the computer. A lot of time had passed before I decided to start shooting films. I was trying to make a film, not about a first-grade student named Ljesha who goes to school in a wheelchair, but about the people who surround him, primarily his classmates. Taking the chaos that is inside people’s heads into account, it was very important to me to show that, in fact, for most children accepting their classmate as an ordinary child comes completely naturally to them, or considering him a friend for any sorts of games and escapades as well, even if he moves around in a wheelchair. I also want to show that children will mock or look askance at their friend in a wheelchair only if they hear their parents talking about how people with disabilities aren’t welcome among them. It seemed very important to me to show that to adults as well.

Why a documentary film?

Because, primarily, I am a journalist. And to me it was important to find a character for my film in real life.

How can films about people with disabilities serve as means to break stereotypes?

From my point of view, in every possible way. That is because in Russia, it is common to pretend that people like that don’t exist at all. They don’t exist, both officially and in everyday life.

Who is your favorite documentary film director and why?

Jon Alpert. That man impressed me. Before I got familiar with his work, I couldn’t have imagined that such documentary approach, when characters and events speak for themselves, and there is no author’s text, existed between journalists.

Are you working on a new film at this moment?

Yes, I am. And this time, ballet is my topic.