Interview with Leonid Shmelkov, director of Ogurtsy [Cucumbers]

Why were you interested in portraying a photographer from the world of fashion and luxury?
For me it wasn’t important if it is specifically a photographer, or a film director, or a concept artist. I needed just someone from popular world, who works and depends on this world. I have several friends who are professionally involved in photography. I talked with them. It seemed to me that a popular photographer is what I need for my film.

How did you get into the idea of the haunting cucumbers?
This was the initial idea, and then I thought of everything else to it. This is such an expression of a person’s crisis, when everything that he had done before suddenly began to look different for him. And it is not completely clear what is true. Perhaps all he did was stupid cucumbers; he just didn’t notice it before. Actually in the very beginning of development, they weren’t cucumbers, but penises. But then it seemed that drawing penises for many months would not be as pleasant for me as cucumbers.

How much were you interested in questioning models of masculinity?
Yes, I am very interested in this topic. This is relevant in the modern world. And we can talk about this for a long time in a different format. I just tried a little to observe my character in the film, and inevitably the question arose about what model of masculinity is generally in demand and is comfortable for a person. To my mind the problem is that these patterns are not permanent. There is a super model in the information field. And in our heads, there is the model that we have from our parents. And the conflict is obvious. Often these patterns collide in our heads.

As an artist, did you already feel there was a choice to make between forging a career and settling in a long-term relationship?
Yes, I myself feel it and see it, watching my friends. It’s complicated. It is even difficult to make any generalization. Everyone is different. Sometimes it seems that there should be no problems, these are different parts of our life. But in life it constantly intersects. And often you have to choose between one and the other. But the problem is that one way or another it will be bad, you will be unhappy. And every time you try to make it so that there is both. You need both, but one contradicts the other. Sad story. I know people who suffer all their lives because of this, choosing either a job or a relationship in different years. And it happens that life is not long enough to find the right balance. My film was originally conceived about work, career and crisis. And to some extent by accident, perhaps intuitively, during the development process, a part about the hero’s personal life was added. And suddenly I realized the obvious thing that it makes no sense for me to talk about one thing. They are so tightly mixed.

Is there any particular short film that made a special impression on you?
There have been no such short films in recent years. I currently watch films more than animation. Now I am passionate about my own animated feature film, which I started two years ago and received funding for it, and I hope to finish it in 2023.

What’s your definition of a good film?
I love films that act on my brain and my senses at the same time. It’s good for me when aesthetics and content are together, and when the visual part becomes part of the content, and vice versa, ideas and meanings acquire their own individual image and rhythm. I love films, which I then want to talk about, think about. And talk not about the craft, but about the topics that are touched upon there. For me, art is the study of people’s lives. A bit like science, but in a different way. And if there is no research in the film, or this research is stupid, primitive, false, dictated by the desire to do something that everyone will like, then such a film is not interesting for me to watch. I like complex and sincere films.

Ogurtsy[Cucumbers] is being shown as part of Lab Competition L4.