Interview with the winner of the youth short documentary film competition “Eurasia.DOC:4 minutes”.
The launch of the VIII Documentary Film Festival of the CIS countries “Eurasia.DOC” will take place very soon. One of the most interesting components of its program is the youth competition of short documentary films “Eurasia.DOC:4 minutes”. Over the six years it has been held, the youth program has become a popular platform for young and courageous documentarians. Anyone who is not afraid to shoot on a smartphone and fit the story into a short time frame – 4 minutes. Every year the jury receives a lot of such works. This means that the interest of young authors in the short genre, supported by modern trends in the media, is only growing.
On the eve of the seventh youth film competition, we interviewed the first place winner of “Eurasia.DOC:4 minutes” in 2022, Oksana Kanashits. Now she is the editor-in-chief of multimedia projects of the Minsk-Novosti news agency and is responsible for the production of video content for social networks of a large Belarusian holding.
– Oksana, you are the winner of the youth competition “Eurasia.DOC:4 minutes” 2022. How did this event affect your professional and creative life? Have you continued to develop in the documentary genre?
– “Eurasia.DOC:4 minutes” is an excellent platform for understanding that you can speak succinctly and at the same time briefly. It used to be a problem for me to film a whole story and fit it into a short time frame. I tried it, submitted my work to the competition and was sincerely surprised when I found out that I had won. Now I know for sure that in 4 minutes you can convey the most important thing to the viewer. Considering that now is the time for short videos, you need to use it skillfully and professionally. The competition taught me this skill. It’s one thing to tell a story in 30 minutes, but quite another to fit everything important into 4 minutes. This is real art: hearing what your hero wanted to say and telling it quickly, interestingly, and instructively.
Now, as the head of the editorial department of multimedia projects, I am guided by the principle: “Write, shoot and cut!”, and my employees are creating documentary projects “30 days before Victory” and “MEMORY THROUGH CENTURIES”, dedicated to the International Day of Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Camps. The experience and knowledge gained at the festival helps a lot in my work.
I also started filming my videos about interesting people, about Minsk as a city of young people. These are also short videos.
Now I’m studying at the “New Media Workshop” in Moscow, where I even manage to share my experience and knowledge with Russian colleagues, how you can tell a lot about a person in a short period of time, touching on not only his professional qualities, but also his personal story.
– “New Media Workshop” has become an interesting project for you? Was it difficult to qualify?
– This is a real course in extreme journalism. Every day is very difficult, interesting and rich in emotions. This year’s competition had 42 people per place, so everyone tries to express themselves as much as possible, but also take 100% from the knowledge and skills of teachers and experts!
– What, in your opinion, is the main component of a good short film?
– The main component of a good documentary film is a clearly developed technical task for each member of the creative team. The more points you talk about, the faster and better quality you will get at the end. From the author’s side, I will say that you must be creatively in love with your character or theme in order to reflect it as best as possible in the video.
– What advice could you give to aspiring authors who want to try themselves in the documentary genre?
– Just love the work you do. Be able to notice what is happening around you and what interests people, both in the real and virtual world. After all, what could be more interesting than to engage in this type of cinematography, the material of which is the filming of real events?! Look. Feel it. Create.
– We wish you to conquer new creative heights! And we remind all young and creative authors who want to try themselves in the short documentary genre that a new competition will start soon.
Photo: from the personal archive of Oksana Kanashits
Interviewed by: Dina Grishina
