Everyone sees the prospect of national cinema in their own way: the producers are guided by mercantile considerations, and the young talents who were specially prepared for feature films, unable to realize themselves, either go abroad or have to earn money by shooting commercials and music videos. Among them is Maxim Subbotin, whose photo regularly appears on the editorials of the media thanks to a solid creative portfolio.
Brief Biographical Facts
The representative of the young wave of Belarusian direction was born in the autumn of 1980. In his incomplete 37 he has ten years of fruitful work in the film industry. Maxim Subbotin came to a professional vocation consciously. After graduating from a specialized English school, he entered the Belarusian Academy of Arts with a degree in Television Directing. After completing the first year, the young man realized that he was more inclined towards feature films, so he transferred to directing a feature film. An undoubted influence on the formation of the visionary’s creative style was the practice of renowned Warsaw film director Krzysztof Zanussi. Soon Maxim Subbotin, whose biography is full of achievements from an early age, receives a diploma with honors in the specialty "Feature Filmmaker".
Successful directorial debut
In 2004, immediately after graduation, Maxim Subbotin was invited to create a series of episodes of the game program “HA, Little Comedies” on RTR television channel.
In 2005, the director returned to his native Minsk and worked for two years as a director in a private film company specializing in the production of commercials and videos. Further, the development of events in the life and work of Maxim Subbotin takes a rapid turn.
By order of the Moscow film company Amedia, he is taken for the production of the series “Kings of the Game”. After completion of the work, the project “Champion” is directed for the RWS film company. Without stopping in a creative search, she creates the picture “On Missing People”, which receives a silver prize from the Golden Knight International Forum of Cinematographers (RF).
Thanks to the diligence and continuous improvement of his professional qualities, Maxim becomes a member of the Council of Young Directors at the Union of Cinematographers of Russia. Having his own point of view on the surrounding reality and the anatomy of the national film industry of Belarus, Subbotin removes a documentary about Daria Domracheva entitled “Introducing Belarus”. By the way, whether the mutual sympathy that arose between the director and the outstanding biathlete contributed to the creation of the picture, and the love relationship is not known for certain. In any case, Maxim Subbotin does not advertise his personal life, but the couple did not bind themselves by marriage.
For the future
Currently, his younger brother Anton, who has been trained as a cameraman at St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television, is working with the director. According to Maxim, it is impossible to find the best ally and like-minded person. Now, the brothersfilm filed two applications for permission and financing two film projects at once to the Belarusfilm studio - the youth musical and the action-packed psychological melodrama. About ten more paintings by the creative tandem are under development. Maxim Subbotin describes them as complex tapes that may have to be translated into English and filmed where there are relevant technical capabilities and professional resources.
One film festival
Subbotin also plans to begin independent filming of international cinema. According to the author’s idea, the project will consist of ten movie short films in 10 minutes time, shot in 10 different corners of the world. The theme of the future film masterpiece is kept in strict confidence. The director only admits that he hatched this idea for several years. Now that the trip to the Berlinale has provided the author with a practical opportunity to realize bold creative ideas, Maxim and his brother will shoot his ten-minute short story in Minsk, and young directors and cameramen from other countries will work on other fragments. The project is positioned by the creators as "One Film Festival".