Thirty-six-year old filmmaker Mikhail Kanaev arrived from Tula, Russia just in time to participate in the Ballston Spa Film Festival Thursday evening. His short film entitled ““By The Score” kicked off the three-day festival and was received with a loud sustained appreciation of applause by the audience. It will be shown again on Saturday evening at when the festival wraps up at Ballston Spa High School.
Festival coordinators and volunteers have given Kanaev a warm welcome, inviting him to speak about his film at a panel on the opening night and again on Saturday. Kanaev was also invited by Albany County Convention Services Manager Debbie Goedeke of the Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau to a luncheon at Taste with local filmmaker Mike Camoin, co-founder of Upstate Independents. “There are dozens of reasons why Albany is the perfect place to film” said Camoin. “The tax breaks, the diversity, the rich architecture.”
Camoin should know – he’s the brainchild behind the independent film in progress, “Grazing Miss Albany“, a story about faith and business and being who you are.
Because of Kanaev’s limited English he’s traveling with a language interpreter, Svetlana Allenova. After the Film Festival, they will travel to Salt Lake City to scout locations for a 2012 project, then to Los Angeles, and to New York City before returning to Russia.
Kanaev, along with Sonja Stark of PilotGirl Productions, has been helping the Alliance prepare a documentary, “The Memory Project,” for our 20th Anniversary Exhibition in September. Kanaev’s film company is called “MASK.” He is also the organizer of a film festival of short films, “SHORTS,” which is held every September in Tula. You can view some of Kanaev’s other film works here.