Natasha Pavlovskaya
Portrait
NISIMAZINE *1 September 07
By Jude Lister
© "Galina" from the serie "Beauty Union" by Natasha Pavlovskaya
T
he first thing that you notice when meeting Natasha, one of the key members of the Russian association Moviement, is her straight-talking and inquisitive nature. Never one to dance around a subject, she prefers the direct approach, and will always give an honest opinion, whether you like it or not. Independent and ambitious, she is an individual who really knows her own mind, and seemingly always has a new project on the go.
* Born in Moscow in October 1982, Miss Pavlovskaya entered the creative world early on in her life, enrolling in the Moscow International Film School at the age of 14. The only alternative educational establishment of its kind at that time, the MIFS offered (and still offers today) workshops in cinema, theatre and television alongside normal high school subject areas such as maths and science. International travel was an integral part of the curriculum; whether it be visiting camps for homeless children in Bangkok, creating street performances
in Paris and Vienna, or filmmaking in Siberia and Germany… Pupils were thus able to experience many different creative projects, learning how to adapt to new challenges along the way. Fortunately, it seems that the taste for experimentation instilled during her school days is something that has stayed with her ever since.
* At 18 Natasha entered the State Institute of Cinema (VGIK), the known prestige of which is partly owed to the lessons given there by Sergei Eisenstein in the 1930s. She would spend the next 5 years there studying and working as a cinematographer and director of photography. Today, whilst she enjoys her ‘official’ paid work, she is pragmatic about her professional life. On being a cinematographer: “…you depend on a lot of people; the film director, the producer… you have to play their game, and that is how it should be. Film-production is very hierarchical. If you want to create something from the starting idea, you have to change your position.” Dynamic and restless by
nature, she divides her time between regular paid cinematography and photography work and more personal artistic projects. She is currently working on the post-production phase of two documentaries for television, as well as her own short film. Admitting to having a somewhat irregular schedule, Natasha prefers to work at night when not on a shoot, which can be anything up to 60 percent of the time, meaning that she is often away from home.
* Moviement, the Russian branch and latest association to join the NISI MASA network, was created out of a mutual love of documentary film shared between friends. Natasha met fellow founder members Nikita and Shura in film school, where she collaborated with them on various projects. Later, as their interest grew, they became more and more frustrated by the lack of activity in the documentary field in their home country, and decided to form an association. Natasha explains: “There is almost no market for
documentaries in Russia. The television companies often treat people like idiots, they don’t commission the kind of films we want to make. There is no cinema release for documentary films... I think that it is very important to have a viewpoint on ourselves, and that there should be a place for this to develop...” The hope then is that one day Moviement will become a fully-functioning independent production structure. For now though, the team are happy to concentrate on developing projects in their free time in order to affirm their commitment to working together and to build up a network of contacts. In this respect, they are particularly optimistic that Cine-train (see «Preview» p. 4) will provide a stepping stone for future collaborations.Natasha likens her involvement in NISI MASA to her teenage school days: “ developing a project not from what you already know how to do, but from what you really want to do but don’t know how yet!”.
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Visit Natasha’s photographies website at www.pavlovskaya.com
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