Nikita Lavretski: “I don’t discriminate between images. They’re all good”
“You can probably ask them to give you the security camera footage if you need some images for the interview”, points out Nikita Lavretski as I’m meeting him, very fittingly, in a conference room in the basement of a hotel. Quite a telling joke – Nikita’s filmography never discards footage, in what he explains to me is his “zero-waste” approach to filmmaking. Mixing and matching popular culture, politics, and autofiction, Nikita’s films are a melting pot of images often coming from the internet, personal archives, and other visual realms sometimes deemed “uncinematic”. The young filmmaker – and one of the three visionary voices we picked last year – has been particularly prolific, releasing sometimes several no-budget films a year, and always seems to be pushing boundaries in terms of fastness, creativity and dare I say, digital, DIY punkness.
Graduated with a BA in film directing and a MA in film studies from UNATC; she's also studied history of art. Also collaborates with the Acoperisul de Sticla film magazine and is a former coordinator of FILM MENU. She's dedicated herself to '60-'70s Japanese cinema and Irish post-punk music bands. Still keeps a picture of Leslie Cheung in her wallet.
