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Sing ‘Mindenki’ – 5 Questions for Film Director Kristóf Deák

Dean White·
Filmmaker Interviews

 

Winner of the Best Live-Action Short for the 2017 Academy Awards. 

 
Who or what motivated you to pursue filmmaking? 
Two of my friends got accepted to the National Film Academy in Budapest and they started inviting me in for film shoots, to work as an assistant. I think that’s when I made the decision.
 
 
How does your film primarily differentiate or distinguish itself from other work?
Some filmmakers tend to focus on visuals, I like to focus on rhythm and story/emotional beats. I think you can tell - there are virtually no iconic images in my film but each shot is devoted to the story and the emotions we want to get across. This is to praise the work of cinematographer Robert Maly  - we have a very similar view of what’s cinematic and what’s superfluous.
 
 
What's some of the best advice you've received?
I think perhaps my tutor Malcolm Mowbray's advice at film school about receiving feedback. He urged us not to pay too much attention to the feedback itself, and instead focus on which parts of the film the feedback refers to - don’t expect the person giving you feedback to give you an instant fix, use their feedback to identify the problematic parts.
 
What is the purpose of Mindenki for you, in terms of the message and themes behind it?
I wanted it to be an ode to standing up, united. I wanted to show how the universal issue of 'divide and conquer' works on a small scale, and how it could be defeated in an ideal world. The question on my mind was, can we keep our compassion and empathy alive in a very competitive world, one that only awards results and tries to turn us into slaves of success?
 
 
Do you have any ambition to adapt Mindenki into a feature film?
No, I think this particular story works best as a short film - any longer and it would lose its focus.
 
 

Sing ('Mindenki') was nominated and won the Oscar in the Best Live Action Short
 category for this years 89th Academy Awards. 

 

Watch Sing on iTunes

 

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