Interview with SAS Graduate | Alisa Sergeyeva

Why did you choose the direction of “Media Communications”?

In my hometown of Talitsa, when I was a teenager, a journalism studio called Art Media was opened for school-age children. For four years in this studio I tried myself in many roles: we interviewed for local newspapers and television, took photos, sat in the editing room, recorded our own TV show, organized and led events. Everywhere we went and everything we did. It was an impressive experience, but what I wanted to do next was to try my hand at filmmaking. I didn't decide to go to film school. When I learned that you can study film without going to film school and study media without going into journalism, the choice became obvious. I enrolled in Media Communications, major in Film and Media.

How did you prepare for enrollment?

In eleventh grade, I wanted to find something that would be fun and enjoyable, something I would study for four years with no regrets. My search was not successful, so I decided to take a year off. For the environment in which I was raised and grew up, this decision was extravagant. Everyone thought I had some kind of drama in my life. But I made this decision consciously, because I wanted to put my thoughts in order, and also to be close to my grandmother, who was very ill at the time. To be honest, when I first graduated fr om high school, SAS seemed like a utopia to me. I didn't understand how all this could exist, and even in Tyumen. I didn't plan to move to Tyumen, because the city isn't very big and is quite close to Talitsa, I wanted to go somewhere far away. But when I started to study what courses, opportunities and teachers were available here, I set my sights on enrolling in SAS. When I enrolled, a story happened that I laugh about now, but at the time it made me very worried. Literally up until the last day of the application process, I was ranked as a budget student for “Film and Media”, but suddenly my now friend came with her 300 points and pushed me out. I had to urgently apply for another direction — “Cultural Studies.” I knew I could change my major, especially since I still had doubts about whether it was what I wanted to do. Towards the end of my second year, I started choosing film and media electives. They assured me that I wanted to go further in this direction. So after the Profiles Fair, I chose the major “Film and Media” and “Cultural Studies” became my minor.

What is the peculiarity of the “Film and Media” major?

It trains film “theorists” rather than “practitioners,” which is not a bad thing in itself. If you take the Cahiers du cinéma community, which gave birth to the French New Wave in cinema, most of these great directors started out as film critics. I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to understand, watch, analyze and interpret cinema before making anything myself. Even though the training is based on analysis, I think anyone who wanted to get in touch with filmmaking was able to do so through elective courses in media production, script writing, storyboarding and others.

What can you say about your studies at SAS?

Fr om the first days at university, I tried to get rid of the excellent girl syndrome. If at school I had a poser attitude that grades were not important, but at the same time I studied for A's, here it was important for me to get experience. I didn't come to sit around, but to get something for myself. It was important for me to be intellectually active, to be able to listen and listen to what you are told and offered. I don't know how much I got rid of this syndrome, because I graduated with a red diploma, but I really tried to study for my own pleasure.

What courses can you highlight that played a big role for you?

The first courses that knocked me out a lot were those of Evgeny Grishin, who taught history and philosophy. I remember the feeling of internal struggle when the teaching started on the principle of “forget everything you studied at school.” I thought I knew a little more about the world, since I was a year older than the others. And they started to offer me some information, theories and perhaps facts that I did not agree with. However, at the end of the course, Evgeny uttered words about not being petrified in mind and soul. I realized that this was exactly the process I had been struggling with. Then I decided that it was time to become more open to the world and started trying new things. My first elective, “Narrative and Personality: Narrative of Self-Identity and Self-Presentation in Art,” was a real cultural discovery. As a person from a small provincial town, concepts such as performance and identity construction opened up a whole new world for me. This elective was also my first foray into film and video art, which we looked at through the lens of, for example, gender performativity theory. It was only later, in the courses of the major leader of the “Film and Media” major Peter Lešnik, I learned to analyze the image itself, to read film language, and to understand the formal elements of the image, such as light, mise-en-scène, editing techniques, and so on. Peter likes to say that you don't have to superimpose pre-existing theories on what you see, but that what you see can tell you something immediately. The film courses are remarkable in that they have told me much more about history than any other history course, because we analyze each film in a historical context. I would hardly have learned about the history, politics, and economy of Iran, Thailand, or Brazil on my own if I hadn't watched and analyzed movies.

How did you choose the topic of your diploma?

At the initial stage, we had to provide two topics. I vacillated between analyzing accentuated cinema and the work of women directors. Accentuated cinema is produced by people who are taken out of their native contexts and seem to be stuck between two cultures. I came across the cinema of Iranian-American women directors and combined the two intended themes of my thesis into one. The protagonists of the films I chose to analyze are teenagers. The filmmakers attempted to reflect on their own journey of growing up and maturing in the context of living between Iran and America. In essence, they have two homes and yet none; they cannot feel a sense of belonging to either of them, just as adolescents are no longer children but not yet adults. This liminal position can reveal a lot of interesting things, both cinematically and in terms of social aspects and historical context. Reflecting on what makes it interesting to me specifically, I came to the conclusion that it is an attempt to make sense of my attachment to home. Even my movie, made during my media production course, is about my hometown. I realized that studying this topic gave me a rational understanding of what it is like to be detached from home. I guess now I'm ready to go somewhere else to study, including outside Russia. Also, accented movies have taught me not to be shy about my accent. Everyone tries to achieve such mastery of English that no one realizes that you are not a native speaker. Why do that if it's part of your identity? If echoes of my mother tongue can be heard in my English speech, there's nothing wrong with that, it's who I am.

Will your further study also be related to film production or analysis?

Actually, no. I studied film, shot a bit of it, and I realized that I'm not ready to do only that yet. I get a lot of burnout after filming. Another incident played a role - I got on the set of a feature film as an outside observer. When repeating the same take, or the same scene for three hours in a row, I realized that I was starting to go crazy. Then I just started walking around and filming on my phone. I felt a kind of freedom because I could create in the here and now. The process of photography can be completely built up, but you catch the moment. So I thought about why not fully dedicate myself to photography. At school age, it was my hobby. After studying in a place related to visual arts, I realize that photography is not a “side” art, but a full-fledged creative endeavor. I decided to continue to develop further in this direction, so I am enrolling in a master's program in photography.

How do your parents feel about your decisions: taking a year off, joining SAS, moving?

My parents support me and always help me. When I decided to retake the USE, my dad got up at three in the morning for a week and drove me to the regional center. Recently, I had to record a video for my master's program, and my dad, like in the good old days, drove me to the places I needed to capture. My parents are very open-minded; they had no preconceived notions about foreign professors, for example, or my activities. They always say, “We don't know what you do, but you're doing something, you're good at it. As long as you have the opportunity, keep doing what you like.” I've always been given freedom in that regard. I think the reason is that they themselves didn't have so many opportunities to realize what they wanted to do, and there was a need to stand firmly on their feet. I was given full carte blanche.

Have you been involved in any extracurricular activities?

I participated in the second edition of Sonder Mag magazine as a photographer, and in the organization of the exhibition that preceded it. This magazine and exhibitions are done by the Sonder Art association, which started with an exhibition at SAS. Then these works were placed in the multicenter “Kontora Parokhodstva” and the exhibition became a city exhibition. SAS students still actively participate in the activities of the association. They not only provide creative works, but also perform administrative functions and write texts. The peculiarity of Sonder Art is that it is not only about artists, but also about some academic work. It gives interesting experience in curatorial work, that is, organizing exhibitions, not very large-scale yet, and printing a magazine, from editorial work to layout.

Name your points of growth.

SAS teaches you to ask questions, and I still have problems with that — I mostly rely on intuition. I often work in tandem with a friend who is also a SAS student. At the initial stages of work I love her and hate her because she asks so many questions: why, why, how, have I thought about why I do this and not that, why I like or dislike it... I would like to reach a stage wh ere you understand what you are doing, why and how, and then return to the ease of working intuitively, but with reason.

What is SAS to you?

For me, SAS is all about people. I have never formed such strong bonds with anyone or anywhere as I have here. All my friends are my classmates. Also, SAS is about connections, because I know people fr om Italy or Germany, and if I end up in New Zealand, I'll have a couple acquaintances there too! I think SAS is about experiences that force you to go beyond some boundaries and overcome your fears.

Can you give any advice for SAS students and applicants?

To say “don't be afraid” would be silly. I can wish to go wh ere it is scary, because wh ere there is fear, there is growth and development.