After receiving an M.S. degree in Oceanography, Vitaly Sumin produced ocean-related documentaries (Jacques Cousteau style) which eventually led him to abandon his scientific career to get a B.A. degree in film directing. He subsequently worked as a co-writer and producer on numerous productions. Sumin’s award winning short film "From Womb To Tomb", which he wrote, directed edited, and produced, made a world tour of important festivals. Sumin received a US patent #4,784,394 for his invention "The World Belongs To You!" - an interactive tourist game (including video, reality TV and other versions).
Sumin further studied at The Sorbonne in Paris under a study grant. His script "Idiot", a contemporary international thriller based on Dostoevsky’s novel, received a development grant from The Warner Bros Fund. A number of other Sumin's scripts are circulating in the United States and Europe.
2006: Shades of Day, - the initial offering of VM Productions' the ambitious Dostoevsky-LA Project. This film was selected by the Rutgers University’s professor Gerald Pirog for his course in cinema along with classic works by Bertolucci, Kurosawa, Bresson, Scorsese, Shrader, Von Sternberg... (click for more info)
2010-2011: Notes From The New
World - the second installment of the
Dostoevsky-LA
Project.
(click
for more info)
2012:
The Missing
Screenwriter - 19 episodes (click
for more info)
2013: Shades
of Day - Director's Cut 2013
2014-2017:
two feature films in
post-production- -
Dostoyevsky Reimagined: The
Making of Notes From The New World --
- The Missing Screenwriter -
Vitaly Sumin resides in Los Angeles.
Interviews with Vitaly Sumin ( please click here!)
More about Vitaly Sumin (please click here!)
March 29th: Postproduction is almost complete! We've completed
our color correcting, and we're just finishing up the 5.1
surround mix. Everything is now coming to a finish. It's great
to see the film nearly done with all the contributions by so
many great people up there on screen looking and sounding so
great. It's been a long but great journey, and we're nearly
home.Two trailers have just been released -
WATCH THEM HERE!...
THE PICTURE IS LOCKED!
We have
locked the picture as of December 29th. We went through a couple
of cuts of the film, and we are happy to report that we are
quite proud of our final cut. We've gotten some very positive
feedback. Since the picture is locked, it means we can now forge
ahead with Foley, ADR, sound effects, music, final mixing, and
color correcting. It's always amazing to be reminded of just how
much work goes into completing a film. It is particularly
evident when doing an independent film on a small budget such as
ours. I'm again reminded of the dedication and talent of
everyone involved. It really was a joy to work with
Skip Spiro, our
picture editor,
and
Taesung Yim, our Production & Postproduction supervisor to
see the film come together. Thank you again to the
great
cast and
crew of
“Notes from the New World” and to everyone who have put their
time and talent into making this film come true!
The
principal photography wrapped in May 17th! Ever since the
disappearance of Robert Hurley, the co-screenwriter, the
production faced odd challenges and hurdles. (Please
read about them and view our
Video Journals.)
Hurley’s disappearance remains a perplexing mystery. Yet,
with perseverance, tenacity, and the dedication and hard work by
our talented cast and
crew, we have
successfully completed a great principal photography. Although
many of our original cast and crew members had to leave the
production for various reasons (see our
pre-production pages), we were lucky to have found such
talented new cast and crew members. I am so proud and thankful
for their talent, hard work, and dedication. Of course, as a
small independent film, it wasn’t easy. Everyone put in long
hours and endured tough challenges. We couldn’t pamper the cast
and crew like a major studio film. The food wasn’t always so
good, and we certainly could have used more equipment. But these
challenges only caused everyone to work harder, and we’re
excited to be moving into post-production with terrific footage.
Thank you to the great
cast and
crew of
“Notes from the New World.” September
3 Ellie, Q:
A. Q:
A. Q: A. Q: A. Q:
What does the key represent? A.
It appears that without the key there's no money and
possible common future for Sonia and Steven. Is Sonia an
angel or just a human being (after all!)? Or are we dealing
here again with the change of the masks (including the mask
of an angel)? That's how L'Alchemista ends - the guy finds
money -so he can live in this world. No escape? Q: A
That's where she's not an angel. On the other hand, she was sent
to this world and this film to make some changes for the
good so the Life may continue (see "what the key
represents?") Q: A. Q: A.
It may well be that women in general, are more stable and
faithful than men. Take, for example, Ingmar Bergman, my
favorite director. - The women are stronger in his spiritual
morality plays... If Sonia wasn't around, Steven may just
give up... Or he may find Irina or somebody else... Steven
lives miserably because he wants to identify himself with
the hero of the book. Does he take a low paying job for the
same reason (the hero of the book is a poor guy). How did he
live before Bob asked him to play "Dostoevsky"? We don't
know. It may be that he could be the Steven we know. It may
be different. Q: A.
The little boy may be in love with Sonia. He may be an angel.
Or just a little boy. Or all of the above. We don't know,
but my guess is that love made him an angel. So he waits
until he can help. Q:
Interesting how Steven's friends say they would never hurt him,
just like the friends of the "hero" of Notes. It seems that
Steven is his own worst enemy as is the "hero" of Notes. A. Q: A.
Could/will Sonia become Irina?.. Or does Steven need both
women and to remain with both? Sonia opens for him a page of
Life... Irina a page of Death. Where does the truth lie? Q:
I certainly see Steven being a moral terrorist just like the
"hero" of Notes. He does reject love... But is that
something we all do? Do we all need to hate just as much as
we need to love? What is it about love that scares us? A.
Terrorism in the sick mind of the hero of Dostoevsky's book
(as Steven understands it) may represent a search for the
love of God because of the lack of love on Earth. Love is a
way to Death and Eternity. That's why it scares us. On
another level, we can talk about commitment and other
elements endorsed/imposed by society. Q:
In a sense, Sonia is more advanced than Steven, she is the
"first-world country" and he is the "third-world." Is that
why he puts her down and throws her away until he has
reached her level and decided to love instead of hate? A
She's also stronger than he is. Also, we may consider an
additional reading: There's a moment in the exposition when
Steven considers taking out the mask of the hero by
Dostoevsky and become Steven again... It happens when Sonia
runs after him and stops him: "I KNOW who you are..." So he
considers becoming himself again (because he likes Sonia
from the first glance) rather than representing a Mask that
Bob wants him to be. Q:
It seems like all the Russians in this film are bad guys? Is
that for a reason? It seems typical of American movies to
make Russians the bad guys... but is this an American movie? A.
Well, it's an LA movie designed by Vitaly Sumin (who has
acquired a certain life experience) and executed (I hope) by
all of us. Moreover, when I wrote the Russian characters I
didn't intend to show them as stereotypes because I know who
they are... But since it was written in English - my
knowledge didn't match the "knowledge"/ Our film is
included by Gerald Pirog, professor of Rutgers University,
New Jersey in his course “Dostoevsky and Cinema” along with
the works by Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorsese, Robert
Bresson, Lucino Visconti, Paul Shrader, Akira Kurosawa...
(From an e-mail by Vitaly Sumin to Ellie Araiza - Ellie
was considered for the role of Sonia)
Below are my initial, partial reflections regarding your
letter. Again, your thoughtful questions and comments gave
me the valuable opportunity to analyze what I've written.
Thank you kindly. Let's continue.
--Vitaly
Reading through the script for the second time, I found it
more comical. I felt the film is somewhat absurdist and even
satirical. I don't feel as an audience we are meant to
relate directly to these characters, they are not
necessarily realistic BUT they are truthful. (Like
characters in Moulin Rouge) They are representative
caricatures of different kinds of people who've made
different choices.
You got it right. Initially I wanted to write a
sort of a musical film. On the other hand, the characters,
stories, motivations have to be considered and performed as
real. Was such an approach dictated by Dostoevsky's texts? I
mean - are his characters real? I'd rather consider them as
the personages of carnivalesque morality plays. (We may
refer here to some of the thoughts in this regard:
http://www.shadesofday.com/VMP/smile.htm)
I can definitely see a lot of similarities between the
"hero" of Notes from the Underground and the "hero" of Notes
from the New World. It seems to me they are both
antagonistic and self-defeating. They are cowardly and
untrusting. They are in the ocean letting the current do
with them what it wants. They fight with pride but then just
give up. Seems to me like Steven is obsessed with "Notes
from the Underground" because he so identifies with the
lead. I think he has good intentions, but I think he is lost
and alone.
Well I don't know... Maybe we're dealing here with a certain
spell... Steven became a character of Dostoevsky against his
will (in a certain way)... Maybe Sonia feels it and wants to
save him (if still possible) to make him alive again.
I don't understand what could possibly make Steven an angel?
Like I said above, he is mostly a coward who is easily
swayed by others, afraid to think for himself. Even Irina
thinks more for herself than Steven does. Steven hides
behind the character of “Notes from the Underground.” Why
should I care about Steven as an audience member? The only
reason I care for him is because of seeing how Sonia looks
at him... There must be something about him. Is it that he
really wants to be good? Sonia is more of an angel to him
than he is to her. And yet she sees in him, perhaps the good
that he is often too scared and prideful to let out. She
sees him through a filter that maybe God put on her eyes.
Sometimes we are meant to see only the good in people,
perhaps to show them the good in themselves. Or maybe she is
the only one who really sees him. As an audience member... I
have to wonder... why and how is he an angel?
Steven got an "order" from Bob to be a Dostoevsky "hero". He's
both Bob's and Dostoevsky's guinea pig. As an actor he's a
"hard worker". Who's the real Steven? Can he really identify
himself with the "hero" of "The Notes" by Dostoevsky? Should
he get an "order" the next day from Bob to play Hamlet, he
would try to become 100% Hamlet...
It seems to me that Sonia doesn't consider Steven as a
"coward"... She may see "behind the masks"... The problem of
Humanity (and Ionesco genially pointed out to this tragedy
of our daily existence in the "Rhinoceros") is that anybody
(at least 98% of us) can be a coward or a hero - depending
on the circumstances... Need historical examples of all
human experience? - Here they are: human conditions and
behavior under the communist and fascist regimes ... Jesus
said to his disciples that ALL of them will betray him
before the sunrise... Sonia just sees a wounded soul of an
actor who perpetually carries on himself like Sisyphus a
heavy cross signifying the tragedy of human existence...
What is hidden behind the masks (if anything?)... Steven
checks his ability to be a murderer ("anybody can be a
murderer"...) as well as the reaction of the crowd... Nobody
cares (Do we?) This is a cry addressed directly to God:
WHY?!. So Sonia is here to help and to take care...
Therefore she sees him through a certain filter. Yes, he's
an angel because she's an angel (messenger)... And what is
this life without dreams? (This is only a partial
answer/question, of course).
How does Steven go from kicking Sonia out of his car TO
turning around and picking her back up?
Well, we may only guess... As a hard-working actor - he may
identify himself with the hero of Dostoevsky completely...
So he's under a spell... Are we talking here about the
biology of the nature of men, humankind in general? Love is
never a fairy tale - it's a permanent struggle - a
thin line between life and death - the opposites... At least
that's how it is for most of Dostoevsky's heroes... Some
killers awaiting their death sentence may say (including the
killers in Dostoevsky's world) that they killed because they
loved...
People tried a revolution via terrorist means in the city
where Dostoevsky lived.... Maybe that's what the key
represents.
Why doesn't Sonia give up the key?
Why do the Russians go through all the trouble of
manipulating Steven to get to little Sonia? Why can't they
catch her? What is it about her that makes her untouchable?
Is SHE an angel?
They want to catch her but don't succeed. That's it. If
somebody believes that they don't catch her because so and
so... then who could stop people believe in something?
Steven seems to me to be very prideful, and Sonia is the
opposite of pride, she is love. He wants love, just like
every human being does. We all want it at the pit of our
souls. But some of us give up all together. If Sonia wasn't
around, would he just give up on love and live miserably?
Who is this little boy? Does he see Sonia as an angel?
The difference is that in the book the meeting of the former
classmates is a rather tragic event (as far as the hero of
the book is concerned). In the film it's a sarcastic comedy.
Karl Marx said that the highest point of each tragedy is its
comedy - the gods of Olympus died twice - the first time in
the Greek tragedies, the second time in the Roman
comedies... (cited by memory). In the book the hero is a
victim of the rules. In the film Steven (manipulated by Bob)
sets the rules.
At the end of the script, our "hero" doesn't seem to make a
conscious choice to be with Sonia. It just so happens that
Irina dies. What if she had lived? Would he still go with
Sonia? Or would he just stay with Irina? Perhaps Irina is
more like him, swayed by money and other temptations. What
changes or growth does Steven go through in this film? I'm
not sure.
historical/semi-geographic structures of the English language.
Therefore, while directing I'll make efforts to show the
Russians as real people - not Masks.
June 2
“Shades of Day” is in good company!
For more info on this subject go here:
http://www.shadesofday.com/critics.htm
(NOTE: To read an interview with Vitaly by Lisa Pinckard
click here:
http://www.shadesofday.com/VMP/smile.htm
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