Housing issue / Квартирный вопрос

Credits

Director	Maria Belova
Scriptwriter	Maria Belova
Producer	Maria Levkovskaya
Cinematographer / DP	Andrey Uchusov
Art director	Sergey Novoyavchev
Art director	Mila Bryun
Editor	Maria Belova
Sound Designer	Dmitry Zemskiy
Sound Designer	Mikhail Alenin

cast

	Vladimir Logvinov
	Ksenia Nepotrebnaya
	Olga Hohlova
	Olga Kavalay-Asyonova
	Ilya Lovkiy
	Kirill Kaganovich
	Anna Litkens
	Maria Shumakova
	Elvira Bolgova

Biography

Born in Moscow, I decided to become a director at the age of 13 after my parents gifted me a video camera. To better understand working with actors, I chose to pursue an acting degree. In 2003, I was accepted into the Shchepkin Higher Theatre School, studying under Y.M. and O.N. Solomin. While at the institute, I made short films with my classmates. One of these films was recognized by Vladimir Fenchenko at the A-Film Festival in the House of Cinema in 2006. I graduated with honors in 2007 and joined the "Modern" Theatre, where I later became Vladimir Ageyev's assistant on the production of *Salome*. In 2009, I enrolled in the Higher Courses for Film and Television Directing, under the mentorship of A.M. Dobrovolsky and A.N. Gerasimov. Since then, I have directed numerous short films and staged 15 productions in various theaters across Russia, Kazakhstan, and Montenegro.

Filmography

2009: The Fool Looks in the Mirror 2009: Music Lessons 2009: All About My Grandmother 2010 "I Love You..." 2010: A Bunch of Splinters in Tights 2013: March 2024: The Housing Issue

Directors Statement

This film was born in agony, delivered through a metaphorical C-section, painfully, and with a very small budget. Initially, everything was planned on a mere 50,000 rubles, but the budget kept growing and growing as time went on. Our "child" grew and matured. Everything seemed to be against us: retrograde Mars during filming, criminals in the provincial town who attacked the main actor with a knife (fortunately, the film's cameraman saved him just in time), and the lack of support from those close to me, especially my ex-husband. He developed wild fantasies that we weren’t making a film but hosting orgies—otherwise, why would I be away for 12 hours at a time? Then there was defective footage, which forced us to cut huge scenes, as there was no way to reshoot them. Still, the film was created with the help of friends and with love. All the actors took the project seriously, and the entire creative team worked cohesively. However, the defective footage meant I had to piece together a new story, one that was entirely different from the original script. I needed time to come to terms with the fact that my project had become something else, something I hadn’t envisioned. I had to accept it with its own rules. Post-production was a long and grueling process, and nothing felt right until I removed color from the film. This film wanted to be black and white—so be it! A new vision emerged, and a new story was told.