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Star Student
While still in film school, Ariel Kleiman is already making waves with his short film picking up two awards at the Cannes Film Festival and recently a Dendy Award at the Sydney Film Festival
What essentially began as a final year project for Melbourne VCA Film & Television School student, Ariel Kleiman, turned out to be a hit when the short film he wrote and directed took out two prizes at the prestigious Cannes Critics' Week. "Cannes was a very overwhelming experience," the young filmmaker tells FILMINK before adding with a grin, "I usually spend my Saturday nights in my underwear watching videos so the constant commitments, functions and parties were quite intense."
Titled Deeper Than Yesterday, the film was shot on a real submarine anchored in the water off Victoria and explores the claustrophobic world of Russian submariners after three months underwater. Kleiman finds it difficult to articulate exactly what inspired this fascinating premise. "I was kind of forced to write something for my graduating film and this story came out of my subconscious," he recalls. "Looking back on it, while I was writing, I was living in a share-house with my girlfriend Sarah [Cyngler, Producer/Costume & Production Designer] and our friend Ben [Gilovitz, Producer]. Maybe the close quarters of a share-house inspired a story about a group of savage submariners," he laughs.
Due to its unique subject matter, as well as the usual budgetary constraints, Kleiman faced a number of challenges in bringing the film to life. "A cast of unprofessional actors in a completely volatile shooting space proved to be one of my major challenges," Kleiman explains. He also experienced resistance from a number of sources. "A lot of people were very worried that we were in over our heads! I was encouraged at different stages of the production to reconsider a lot of elements about the film. We also received strong backlash from a Russian organisation regarding the content of the film. Even though we did have to make a few compromises along the way, I'm proud that we stuck to our guns and aimed as high as we did."
Indeed Kleiman's efforts were rewarded when Deeper Than Yesterday received two out of the three short film awards at Cannes Critics Week, The Kodak Discovery Award selected by a jury of industry professionals and the Petit Rail d'Or selected by the cinefiles of France's Railway Association. Announced at a ceremony in Cannes, the accolades were presented to Kleiman and producers Benjamin Gilovitz, Sarah Cyngler and Anna Kojevnikov. "Winning these has definitely been helpful in making people more aware of my work," Kleiman says. "We have received a lot of interest in Deeper Than Yesterday and my plans for future work."
While Kleiman immensely enjoyed his time at the prestigious film festival, he found the experience to be slightly different to what he had anticipated. "I think I came into Cannes a little naive," he reflects. "I had visions of us all sipping mimosas on super yachts and just hanging out with Woody Allen. I really had no concept of the big business involved with the festival. The festival is kind of dominated by the market, it's huge. It really opened my eyes to a totally different component of filmmaking, one they don't really focus on at film school."
While there may be certain aspects about the movie biz which an upcoming filmmaker is unable to learn at film school, Kleiman is positive about the experience and skills he has learnt from the VCA Film & Television School. "VCA was definitely a great way to meet fellow filmmakers," he enthuses. "We had an intimate class of 14 students so we all collaborated on each other's films throughout the course." Kleiman actually shot a short film titled Muscles for his classmate Edward Housden which was also selected to screen in Official Competition at Cannes. In turn Housden shot one of Kleiman's earlier films, Young Love, which was shown at Sundance earlier this year and gained an Honourable Mention in short filmmaking.
Kleiman enjoys this collaborative process and looks forward to trying his hand at various roles behind the camera. "I was actually contemplating shooting and directing Deeper Than Yesterday though I am very happy that I was encouraged against it. Peter Eastgate who ended up shooting the film, did a brilliant job and I think taking on both roles would have possibly been the end of me!" Kleiman laughs. "I really love cinematography and am still very much learning the craft. I would love to shoot more films in the future though maybe not my own."
Before he can start making films full time, Kleiman has to overcome one small feat: graduating from film school. "I failed a few subjects along the way and have to come back next year in order to get my degree," he says. In the meantime, the filmmaker has signed on to write his first feature film for Warp Films which he plans to direct, showing that failing a few exams along the way doesn't really hurt...
Find out more by visiting Ariel Kleiman's website and the Deeper Than Yesterday film website. For more information about the VCA Film & Television School, click here.
Deeper Than Yesterday is screening at the Sydney Film Festival and is competing as part of the Dendy Awards for Short Films.