From the director:
I had an awesome time making this film with my friends and family. I'll never forget when my mom scared the crap out of me walking in with that damn skin mask, I thought movie idea!
I was young, ambitious, full of energy and I didn't need anyone's approval to make this film. My heart was in it from the get-go and I wanted to keep entertaining.
All my life I've been a storyteller, producing my own films since the age of 14 and creating what I can with what I have. By 17, I completed 4 feature length films that made their way within the community. At 19, I gathered whatever money I saved and made my first professional feature film named Ecdysis. It took over 3 years as I worked with over 50 actors, shot in over 20 locations, and kick-started my commercial agency throughout the process. Many valuable lessons were learned and I have leveraged the fact that I produced an entire feature film (on my own). I wish I had a team but I was literally the writer, editor, director, camera, sound, color corrector ect...
As I started aging with my movie, my experience with storytelling and editing has also evolved. Looking back now, there's a lot I would have changed, but at the time, it was too late to change anything as we were well into production. My antagonist was an investment banker and I was still in college, so you can imagine the hurdle of working with people's schedules. In 2013, we finished shooting; In 2014, we held a premiere in downtown Toronto and had a good crowd of over 100 people at The Royal Cinema. The film was revised and finalized in 2015 and released online in 2019. It's a story written by a 19-year-old, finished by a 24-year-old, and questioned by a 27-year-old. I made the decision to post it online as I've been married to my film for too long - a common side effect of filmmakers alike.
I had to create a rigorous schedule to bring this film to completion and the hours spent on this was industry standard. I think I have a strong taste in music and wanted to display that in the film, but with no dedicated composer it was a challenge. I spent hundreds of hours (and thousands of dollars) listening to fitting music that would be appropriate for the story, and after all the effort and headphone imprints on my skull, I made it sound coherent. The film plays like it has its own soundtrack; I tried to stay consistent with songs from 2 or 3 composers, but it was really the sound and music editing that brought it all together. If you were to look at the edit in Premiere Pro, you would see I would use 15 seconds of 1 song in one part of the film, and the rest in another. Only a few will understand the effort, time, and creative merit in creating a feature length film.
A joint effort with my closest friends and industry professionals has led me to create this quirky, multi-genre, "cult classic potential", fun, and adventurous film. Thanks to all who contributed.
Yes, I would like to keep making movies because I know I have some good stories to offer to the world, but my work is compromised with limited budgets and no access to distribution.
If you happen to be in the industry, or you are affluent and have always dreamed of making a movie, then I'm your guy. I grew up with immigrant-level work ethic and developed a strong eye for quality work and quality people. I'm able to produce content efficiently and push the production value with what I have to work with. I can organize and execute the entire feature film process and bring on the right team players to fulfill the tasks I cannot. I bring a lot to the table as I have experience in writing, casting, scouting, planning, shooting, directing, editing, color correction, sound mixing and more. I appreciate mastery in films by auteurs such as Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and aspire to their standards of filmmaking. With the right tools, resources, and studio or individual backing, I know I can affect people through my stories.
If you think we can be a good fit, you want to hear one of my stories, or you want to just chat, please feel free to reach out to me.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy our film.
Sincerely,
Lior Khananaev
lior@sweetlemon.ca
To view my professional work, please visit sweetlemon.ca
If you want to enter my headspace, you can visit liorswork.com
Movie website: ecdysis-movie.com
Insta/fb: liorchik23
Trailer: https://youtu.be/9cp5SkAuScs
I had an awesome time making this film with my friends and family. I'll never forget when my mom scared the crap out of me walking in with that damn skin mask, I thought movie idea!
I was young, ambitious, full of energy and I didn't need anyone's approval to make this film. My heart was in it from the get-go and I wanted to keep entertaining.
All my life I've been a storyteller, producing my own films since the age of 14 and creating what I can with what I have. By 17, I completed 4 feature length films that made their way within the community. At 19, I gathered whatever money I saved and made my first professional feature film named Ecdysis. It took over 3 years as I worked with over 50 actors, shot in over 20 locations, and kick-started my commercial agency throughout the process. Many valuable lessons were learned and I have leveraged the fact that I produced an entire feature film (on my own). I wish I had a team but I was literally the writer, editor, director, camera, sound, color corrector ect...
As I started aging with my movie, my experience with storytelling and editing has also evolved. Looking back now, there's a lot I would have changed, but at the time, it was too late to change anything as we were well into production. My antagonist was an investment banker and I was still in college, so you can imagine the hurdle of working with people's schedules. In 2013, we finished shooting; In 2014, we held a premiere in downtown Toronto and had a good crowd of over 100 people at The Royal Cinema. The film was revised and finalized in 2015 and released online in 2019. It's a story written by a 19-year-old, finished by a 24-year-old, and questioned by a 27-year-old. I made the decision to post it online as I've been married to my film for too long - a common side effect of filmmakers alike.
I had to create a rigorous schedule to bring this film to completion and the hours spent on this was industry standard. I think I have a strong taste in music and wanted to display that in the film, but with no dedicated composer it was a challenge. I spent hundreds of hours (and thousands of dollars) listening to fitting music that would be appropriate for the story, and after all the effort and headphone imprints on my skull, I made it sound coherent. The film plays like it has its own soundtrack; I tried to stay consistent with songs from 2 or 3 composers, but it was really the sound and music editing that brought it all together. If you were to look at the edit in Premiere Pro, you would see I would use 15 seconds of 1 song in one part of the film, and the rest in another. Only a few will understand the effort, time, and creative merit in creating a feature length film.
A joint effort with my closest friends and industry professionals has led me to create this quirky, multi-genre, "cult classic potential", fun, and adventurous film. Thanks to all who contributed.
Yes, I would like to keep making movies because I know I have some good stories to offer to the world, but my work is compromised with limited budgets and no access to distribution.
If you happen to be in the industry, or you are affluent and have always dreamed of making a movie, then I'm your guy. I grew up with immigrant-level work ethic and developed a strong eye for quality work and quality people. I'm able to produce content efficiently and push the production value with what I have to work with. I can organize and execute the entire feature film process and bring on the right team players to fulfill the tasks I cannot. I bring a lot to the table as I have experience in writing, casting, scouting, planning, shooting, directing, editing, color correction, sound mixing and more. I appreciate mastery in films by auteurs such as Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and aspire to their standards of filmmaking. With the right tools, resources, and studio or individual backing, I know I can affect people through my stories.
If you think we can be a good fit, you want to hear one of my stories, or you want to just chat, please feel free to reach out to me.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy our film.
Sincerely,
Lior Khananaev
lior@sweetlemon.ca
To view my professional work, please visit sweetlemon.ca
If you want to enter my headspace, you can visit liorswork.com
Movie website: ecdysis-movie.com
Insta/fb: liorchik23
Trailer: https://youtu.be/9cp5SkAuScs