Earlier this week, American director David Borenstein was supposed to pitch his next project at CPH:DOX’s prestigious Forum platform. He had to pull out at the last minute, however, but for a very good reason: just five days before, the director’s life and career changed dramatically when he won the Oscar for Best Documentary for “Mr Nobody Against Putin,” which he directed with Pavel Talankin.
Speaking with Variety while packing his suitcase to fly home to Copenhagen from Los Angeles, Borenstein says he can’t yet share details about “Living in Our Heads,” the next feature he is working on with “Mr Nobody Against Putin” producer Helle Faber at Made in Copenhagen. What he can say, however, is that his experience with his now Oscar-winning doc will undoubtedly shape his next work.
“One thing I learned from ‘Mr Nobody Against Putin’ is the benefit of having a co-director and opening yourself up to working with someone else, including someone you wouldn’t necessarily think to make a documentary with,” he adds. “If you had told me I would direct a film with a Russian school teacher from a town of 8,000 people, I would not have immediately believed you, but what Pasha gave to this project was everything. He was unbelievable.”
Borenstein says the project will “continue to be an interesting collaboration with someone, and we are going to use this collaboration to create an interesting film language.” He adds that “there is going to be a voice that I help write in the middle of the film that is a very unexpected perspective, or I hope it is an unexpected perspective, on a big geopolitical topic. I am interested in mixing tones still and approaching projects with an unexpected angle, like we did with Pasha. That is all I can say.”
The director notes how the films he loved the most over the last year, including Geeta Gandbhir’s “The Perfect Neighbor” and Mstyslav Chernov’s “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” “all play with the idea of this new era where there are cameras everywhere and the ubiquity of the image.” “I’m feeling very inspired by my film and those of my colleagues this year, and thinking about them when looking at future projects.”
“Mr Nobody Against Putin,” courtesy of Frantisek Svatos
Courtesy of Frantisek Svatos
Faber points out she can already feel a shift in the level of interest in the project following the Oscar win. “When you have the right project, everyone wants to be a part of it, but, of course, now that we can brag about this little golden man, I think more interest will come our way for the next project.”
Besides interest from the industry, what other advantages does Faber see in the Oscar spotlight? “I think it’s going to be much easier to get people to talk to David,” she says. “For the next project, we really need to get through to some important people.”
“Now that people can see how David, I, and our production company have worked with Pasha, it makes them come forward because we really take care of people in our films,” she goes on. “We make them stand out. It’s more a question about getting access to the people we want and need for our next project, but I am hoping it will be easier.”
But the major platform of the Oscars also brings another level of exposition, which is not always beneficial for a documentary director trying to move stealthily and precisely. Asked how this might affect his process, Borenstein says that, for years, his work has been defined by “getting access, being on the ground, and working my way into interesting institutions.” “I do wonder if the loss of some of that anonymity has to make me think about how to go about that.”
Although Borenstein can’t reveal much about “Living in Our Heads,” he can confirm his immediate next project is working with — and supporting — American broadcaster PBS. “We are still financing my next project in Denmark and the public system in Europe has been really good to me, but I think PBS is absolutely crucial for America,” he says. “I am in dismay about what’s happened to it over the last year during this Trump administration. I would like to support PBS however I can now.”
“I will continue my years-long collaboration with the science program Nova on PBS,” he reveals. “I love this work because it informs people in America, reaches schoolchildren, and has democratic values within it.”
As for Faber, on top of working with Borenstein on a new collaboration, the producer is enjoying being done with the madness of the Oscars campaign and being able to look ahead at what she might want to tackle next. “Right now, I’m trying to build up a new slate of development projects and working on a very big documentary series I can’t talk too much about yet,” she says. “It’s a good time now to come forward with strong projects, but I told myself that, after ‘Mr Nobody Against Putin,’ I am going to be very picky, because I would rather work on fewer projects and have them be the right ones.”
