World Suicide Prevention Day 2020: Interview with Nikita Litvinov, director of "Elevator to the Top Floor"

My name is Nikita Litvinov, I am from St. Petersburg, Russia. I am the director of the movie "The Elevator to the Top Floor"

ROFFEKE: What do you consider to be success? Litvinov: It is a great success for me that we managed to implement this project. This is my debut film as a fiction director, before that I only shot documentaries. It is important for me that about 20 festivals around the world - from South Korea to the United States and Kenya have agreed to show our film. The most important thing is that the audience is watching it.

ROFFEKE: What challenges did you face as you were directing "Elevator to the top floor"? Litvinov: There were quite a few difficulties. We had little time to shoot (about two days) and a very modest production budget. But thanks to the help of like-minded people and the production company "Potential", we were able to cope with all this. The shooting was not easy due to my inexperience. Many of the things that I wanted to see from the actors didn't get to be fully realized. But I'm not ashamed of the result - it's important.

ROFFEKE: How do you take care of your mental well-being? Litvinov: I still don't know how to stay cool and always be confident in myself. Sometimes I find it difficult to cope with emotions, I am a very expressive director. Maybe with experience I will become calmer, who knows? So far, I think so - you need to constantly shoot something, be in the process. Then your creative energy is always in good shape.

ROFFEKE: Advice for aspiring filmmakers? Litvinov: What advice do I have for aspiring filmmakers? First of all, don't be afraid. Making a movie takes a lot of courage - from start to finish. You must be ready to walk this path. Cinema is always research, you never know what will turn out in the end. But if there is a huge will and desire, you need to rush into it headlong and constantly learn something new. Yes, these are very common words, but something like this, I think, and it works.

ELEVATOR TO THE TOP FLOOR from My Video Pro on Vimeo.

("Elevator to the top floor" will be available online, only on 10th September 2020 during World Suicide Prevention Day, from (Kenyan time) 12:01 am to 11:59pm. You can watch it here: )