Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Alex Veadov, Arthur Ian, crossing, exclusive, interview, Marina Sritis, Off Shore Productions, Rudolf Martin

Crossing: Director Arthur Ian on Challenges, Cold War & Inspiration

The moment first-time director Arthur Ian realized his debut feature Crossing was worth the years of work was when Eastern European cast members thanked him for not only not killing their characters but also allowing them to play against type as they're used to playing "Hollywood bad guys." The film follows Andrei (Rudolf Martin), a young man from a Soviet family who leaves his country during the final act of the Cold War to achieve the life of his dreams. Twenty years later, his life is caught in the cataclysm of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, bringing him back to square one and forcing him to re-discover his family, his country, and his values. Ian spoke with Bleeding Cool about bringing his vision to life, influential films and filmmakers, and how the pandemic delayed the film's release.

How 'Crossing's' Cold War Aligns Coincidentally with Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Bleeding Cool: Do you feel a sense of déjà vu geopolitically since [Crossing] is set during the Cold War compared to Russia's conflict in Ukraine?
Ian: There is a little bit of a déja Vu. It's also a bit of 'Requiem for a Dream' because we had a dream that the Cold War would end and we would embrace a world of freedom, peace, and stability. It all fell apart as the world economy did in 2008. The post-Cold War order also fell apart, and we find ourselves in a much more dangerous world than the Cold War. We've never seen a war like this in Europe since 1945. If you want to look at it politically, it's a lot worse than the Cold War, but there's a little bit of bitterness to it, and we hoped this would not happen again, but it did.

What filmmakers helped influence you as your first feature?
I was conscious of the fact it was my first feature film, so I took a long time to work on the script and went through several rewrites. I worked with those at the American Film Institute and UCLA Film School. I solicited much input from the actors and let them work with me. I believe in collaboration, so I would often talk to them and share my ideas, and they would give me their ideas, which was wonderful.

In terms of specific films and filmmakers, I couldn't pick one in particular, but I've watched many movies and taken many notes to prepare for them. There were a couple of particularly helpful movies. One was an amazing German film called 'Good Bye Lenin!' (2003) that had a similar theme. It's a wonderful film. It's not for me to compare what we did with that film. It won an Oscar, a wonderful movie and a beautiful story. [Crossing's] theme and sensibility were very similar. The second one was called 'Kolya' (1996), another beautiful film. It's a Czech-French film about a Russian boy stuck in a Czech family in Prague in the final days of the Cold War.

I learned a lot from that and many other films. I couldn't point to one single filmmaker, but what worked for me was collaborating with the cinematographers [Argo Baroyan and Sandra Valde-Hansen], sharing my ideas, soliciting her ideas, collaborating with the actors, and my editor Bryan Colvin did an amazing job. At some point, the movie takes kind of a life of its own and starts telling you what it needs. That's mystical, and you have to fuel what the film needs. Some advice for first-time filmmakers, [it takes] a lot of preparation; 70% of [the process] is preparation. You have to allow for things to go in a way you wouldn't think would.

Did it feel lost in the shuffle when [Crossing] was made in 2019 and the ongoing pandemic? What was most difficult about completing it?
Many people were asking me, "Why wasn't this [film] happening?" It was probably too big of a task for a first-time film on a small budget. You know how they say, "It's cheap, fast, or good. Choose two out of three?" That's so true. We had a small budget, but it was an enormous amount of money for me. It's nothing in the context of a film. We were trying to accomplish something huge to shoot in two different countries. We tried to shoot some Soviet scenes in America. We quickly saw it didn't work and that you couldn't shoot the Soviet Union in the United States. We did one shoot in L.A., another in Armenia, some pick-up shots in L.A., and some in Armenia. That took a lot of time, money, and then editing.

It was finished within four years, but then we had COVID. It was a lot of stress, and a lot happened. Alex is sitting here and struggling with it, too. This was a very lively few years, shall we say. Coming up with all that money to complete the film, being a first-time filmmaker, and dealing with other first-time film specialists was not easy. I would rather take time and do it as well as possible than rush through it. I wasn't doing [the film] to have a premiere and have my friends praise it. That would not be the right.

Off Shore Productions' Crossing, which also stars Marina Sirtis, Alex Veadov, Teri Reeves, Kathleen Gati, Mesrop Tsaghikyan, Isidora Goreshter, Lily Vardan, and Ilia Volok, is available on digital.

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