A FILM MADE FROM A WORD

Pure insanity, you may say. Nobody makes films that way.

At least, nobody has ever made films that way before.

The history of cinematography has never seen a feature made out of a single viewer's word. The project was launched as “Cinema and People” (“Kino i Ljudi”) and in 2019 got a new name –  “A film from a word”.

The term “A word for a film” means that a member of the public can suggest any word or word combination as the title for a future film and as the basis for its plotline.
Anyone can suggest any word.

Making a movie is a way for a director to speak to the audience. The “A film from a word” project establishes a strong dialogue between the two.

A word is a question. To which the film gives an answer. How important is it to implement projects like these? Nobody knows. Нowever, true art steals your peaceful slumber. It calls you to experiment more. It poses risks to you. And it challenges you. It makes you share your thoughts with the world, and draws your attention to other people's visions.

We invite you to read the condensed story of our Project below. Its roots date back to early 2014 when a simple but original idea inspired and gave birth to an entire project: 

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30/11/2014

That day our first short film premiered online. The film was made out of the words “Hug me”. “The words for a film” belong to Anastasiya Hedrovych who commented on our Youtube special video. It took only two days for us to write, make all the preparations and shoot the film. Our friend Eduard Prystupa (Dilya) shared his hit single with us which was a perfect match for the film. Oleksandr Makhach played the lead. The film won awards at a number of Ukrainian festivals and got an impressive amount of views online without any promotional campaign. The filming process was heartwarming and fun. The day we shot the film, flaky snow was falling and it was cold. Could we expect any better weather late November?

 2014 was drawing to a close, 2015 was hovering on the threshold.  One unspoken rule filmmakers stick to is never make a movie using only your own funds. It didn't bother us at all since we had no funds. We didn't count on any money from other sources since we had zero experience in film industry at that time, not to mention absolutely zero contacts or recognition in the film industry. Furthermore, we are not fond of filmmaking education offered by state and private institutions. At least, the way it is nowadays. Since its debut, “CINEMA AND PEOPLE” has released in total 15 short films. And we were not opposing anyone but rather following ourselves.  Who are we? Orest Smylanets, Natalia Malyi, Oleksandr Makhach, Maryna Smylanets, Serhiy Brukhanov, Timur Razin, Serhiy Kryvets, Olena Luhovs'ka, Maria Dolia, Anastasia Kiveliova and other cinematic ethusiasts in love with the art. This is how our knowledge was gained from experience 
(see video above: a scene from our short movie “An Insistant Woman” (2015) starring Natasha Malyi as the lead)  

Soon 2019 is over and a gentle flow of 2020 will be on the threshold.  Our short film project evolved into a feature one. We had “CINEMA AND PEOPLE” before. And we have “A film from a word” now. A no-budget project will have a budget now. The project was launched as an amateur one. And it will be a professional. And we may need to invest as much time and as many resources as needed. But we will make a top-quality auteur film with its unique value to be released in Ukraine and abroad. In the beginning was the Word. And the Words were  “Crumbs of Common Sense”. 

23/04/2018

This day we've got our “CINEMA AND PEOPLE” winner. His name is Yuriy Proniuk from glorious city of Lviv. His most-liked “Crumbs of Common Sense” won in the open voting. 604 By making him a winner, 604 people have sealed both Yuriy and film's fate. Yuriy's words got him a very welcoming prize – a pink-coloured MacBook. A short video about our meeting with the winner in Kyiv is available now on Instagram. We are getting ready to shoot our first feature made out of the viewer's words “Crumbs of Common Sense” as the basis to unfold a story screenwritten by Orest Smylanets whom also the original project idea belongs to. Once the script supervising stage is over we bring together a very cool crew to work on filmmaking &distribution. So, if you are involved into the film industry, you may join us.

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To be continued

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Masters of the Word submitted their entries for film title via YouTube and Facebook

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Finalists qualified to public voting at  #orestfilm Facebook page

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Winner carved his name in the history of cinematography and won his prize – MacBook