Grimmfest Interview with Mara writer/director Aleksey Kazakov

Grimmfest’s first Easter Edition kicks off on the evening of Thur April 1st, 2021 with our preview night, and then continues across the evenings of 2-5 April, with a series of feature film premiere double bills with supporting shorts and Q&As with the cast & crew of each feature. In addition, there’ll be an exclusive pass holder double bill and an ARROW double bill both of which can be accessed any time across the weekend.

There’s so much to watch you won’t have time to get bored this Easter!

After a traumatic experience leads to the break-up of his marriage, Andrey seeks help from Mara, a psychic, to help his wife Olga forget what has happened, in the desperate hope of salvaging their relationship. But Mara is not quite what she seems, and has a terrifying agenda of her own…

How did this idea begin, how did the project develop?

Aleksey Kazakov: So it wasn’t quite the same as in my movie, but the real fact is that an ex-prisoner came to our house and he tried to defeat my wife . She wasn’t pregnant. But it was a serious experience for me. We were really afraid.

Everything went well in the end. But it gave me the idea.

How did you get into directing?

Aleksey Kazakov: I’ve written several scripts for feature films in Russia, and they are pretty famous and pretty successful, and after I’ve become a successful writer, I decided to become a director.

How would you sell MARA in one sentence?

Aleksey Kazakov: Wow, that’s the most difficult question, because one of my teachers, he’s not my direct teacher because I don’t know how to say it like a mentor. I think he’s a scriptwriter. His name is David Mamet. If you remember him, he’s one of the most famous scriptwriters in America. He’s a master. He’s like a master scriptwriter in America.

He once said that all my life, what I do is I write or try to write loglines. I try to find this one sentence, this essence of the plot, or this essence of the story.

So this story is about how to overcome your fear, to know what is your sickness?

What are your limitations?

What is your secret as far as what your limits are trying to deal with something?

Were there any influences in how you approached MARA?

Aleksey Kazakov: If you ask some rookie director, someone who just made his debut, what his main influence is, the answer will be the same, I think because it’s always like Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick maybe was one of them.

I love and I adore Italian Giallo, or Argento films.

One we named in the beginning is DON’T LOOK NOW, this is a great movie and a main influence on me.

How did you intend to set your witch apart from other witches in modern day horror films? And do you feel you achieved this?

Aleksey Kazakov: I hope so, because, first of all, I have met several witches.

Well, I’ve met several women who think of themselves as witches and who call themselves witches. One of them was and still is working for Russian government. That’s why we have the scene with the Kremlin.

The second thing is, you know, I’m pretty interested in how Russian religion, how Russian Orthodox Church, Christian church, how it is integrated in paganism.

How is it integrated in Russian language? I think that it’s not the same way as it is in Europe. Of course, it has the roots of paganism, but you went far away from paganism in this church and the Russian church is still based on a lot of folklore and a lot of stuff from paganism.

That is why we don’t have this Gothic horror genre in Russia because we just don’t have Gothic.

All these movies like EXORCIST and THE OMEN and such things, it’s about Christian Church dealing with some demons not from the church. This folklore is pretty much solid, and it is Gothic. I think they call it Gothic.

But in Russia we don’t have such things, all our Russian horror movies are based on Western culture – your culture and american culture. In our movie we were searching for unique and authentic ways to present paganism and orthodox church, and our witch I hope combines all of these directions and religions.

We can’t wait for cinemas to be open again, what film would you love to see the guys at Grimmfest screen to a packed audience?

Aleksey Kazakov: If I can choose from all the years? SUSPIRIA by Dario Argento, DON’T LOOK NOW and my third choice is LOVELY MOLLY. I don’t understand why it’s not reached a larger audience.

What’s the best horror film you’ve seen for the first time recently?

Aleksey Kazakov: MIDSOMMAR.

What have you got lined up next?

Aleksey Kazakov: A romantic comedy, no horror.

Interview by Sean Luby. Translated by Daria Halzova. Find out more and book your tickets HERE and check out the trailer below: