Folk på Tvibit - Yann Belov

Tvibit is made of many different voices, one of them is that of Yann Belov, who is part of the staff of NUFF (the Nordic Youth Film Festival) for the second year in a row. Yann is a multi-talented young creative: his passions range from photography to music, from drawing to moviemaking and others. Together with Daniela Toma, Yann is managing this year’s promotion of the film festival*.

In this interview, you will learn a little more about Yann, his humour :D, his passion for film as well as for other forms of art & expression; you will also read about this year’s NUFF, his expectations connected to it and about what it means for him to be a young creative that lives in Tromsø. Join us and read!

Yann:

“I am a very expressive individual. I really like to talk and often it doesn’t even matter about what, as long as I feel that I’m connecting with the other person I’m talking too. Art is like a language in a way because you connect with the “observer” by telling them something.

I am expecting NUFF 2020 to innovate. Because of the restrictions that COVID-19 have brought, the festival is happening online. We have an amazing development team that have made a 3D space where anyone can watch our movies online in a VR chat resembling environment. The workshop groups are going to make movies together from different parts of the world and socialise in this 3D environment.

There is much that is cool about Tromsø like the nature, the people, the architecture … the list could continue on and on. But for me the coolest thing about Tromsø is how much opportunities it has for young people and culture. There are many amazing festivals that make it a point to include young and local people. Tromsø is the Northern Scandinavian culture hub where the youth can really enjoy.”

Interview and photos by Alessandro Belleli, with help of Marion Bouvier, Tvibit

Introduce yourself and tell something about you

My name is Yann Belov. I am half-Russian half-Swiss and live in Norway, so you could say I am quite an international person. Two years ago, in the summer of 2018 I was sitting at home when I got a call from a friend telling me:

“Yann please help me, I’m at this thing called NUFF and I have to write music with these Russians! I NEED A TRANSLATOR!”

Naturally, I went to help my friend. One hour later I was running in between 3 different workshops at NUFF as a translator, ended up being some kind of unofficial NUFF participant and even got credited in 2 workshop movies.

How do you like to express yourself and what do you use to do it?

I am a very expressive individual. I really like to talk and often it even doesn’t matter about what, as long as I feel that I’m connecting with the other person I’m talking too. Art is like a language in a way because you connect with the “observer” by telling them something. Maybe you are just communicating a so-called vibe, but you are still transmitting information. Because of this I have a passion for art, I am always looking for new media and forms to express myself. To do that use photography, moviemaking, writing music, drawing, playing music, skating and I guess could one also say working on the making of a festival?

Do you remember the first film you saw as a kid and what impression it left on you?

The first movie I can remember watching was “Kaptein Sabeltann” (Captain Sabertooth), I watched it in a cinema in Oslo when I was 3 years old. I remember that my mom bought me the movie as a DVD because I was very obsessed about it. After watching the film multiple times I even watched the “behind the scenes” footage on the second DVD multiple times. As a kid I was too stupid to really understand much of the behind the scenes and the only impression I remember having was something like: “Damn, movies are cool, I want to see more”. Later this impression combined with hundreds of them evolved into: “Damn, movies are cool, I want to see and make more ”

This is the second year you are participating as a staff member of NUFF, what will you be doing this year and how do you feel about the beginning of the festival?

This year I am the promo manager together with Daniela Toma: we will be promoting the festival, making social media posts, trailers, stories and for example make interviews/be interviewed. Go watch NUFF by the way, I am definitely not paid to say this.

I feel excited about the beginning of the festival, I often associate NUFF with summer and meeting lots of new people. This year everything has been turned upside down because of Covid-19. I am both nervous and looking forward to this brand-new way of making an online festival, all the new and unexpected challenges we may face.

NUFF is in fact for the first time and due to COVID-19, going fully digital: what are you expecting from this new journey?

I am expecting NUFF 2020 to innovate. Because of the restrictions that COVID-19 have brought, the festival is happening online. We have an amazing development team that have made a 3D space where anyone can watch our movies online in a VR chat resembling environment. The workshop groups are going to make movies together from different parts of the world and socialise in this 3D environment. I expect both new amazing opportunities and solutions that will be brought forward by this new way of doing film and also new challenges that the participants hopefully will learn to overcome.

As an artist I often feel that limitations sparks creativity, because you really have to innovate for it too work, therefore i expect seeing innovative and interesting workshop movies this year.

What's the coolest thing about Tromsø?

What is up with these hard and open questions? What, am I supposed to praise Tvibit and NUFF now or what?

*Herman walks up and whispers in my ear*

There is much that is cool about Tromsø like the nature, the people, the architecture … the list could go on and on. But for me the coolest thing about Tromsø is how much opportunities it offers for young people and around culture. There are many amazing festivals that make it a point to include young and local people. Tromsø is the Northern Scandinavian culture hub where the youth can really enjoy!

Why is film a medium you relate to?

Who does not relate to film??? Like for real has anyone ever just felt like “ugh, I can’t relate to this because it’s just a film”

Anything can be done in film, its the most versatile media format we have and the relatability of the given film is only limited by the moviemaker.

What's your staff pick of films for this year's NUFF?

“Les Méduses” (Jellyfish), “Tradition” and “Sentience” are my staff pics.

- “Why?” I hear you ask

Well I am to lazy to try to explain without spoiling anything, just go and watch them OK?

What's the future of film?

I feel that, as one of the Promo-managers of NUFF I am obligated to answer something such as “The young, bright, upcoming movie makers that participate in NUFF”. But now, because of this feeling of obligation, I really don’t want to answer the question like that. And as I am already hired you can’t do anything about it, Hermann!

I think VR, interactive movies and a bigger focus on high budget series is something that the future of film will bring (to be clear I do actually think that “The young, bright, upcoming movie makers that make up the participants of NUFF” are the future of film as well, but didn’t want to be a total sellout as well).

Can you tell something to invite others to follow/join NUFF?

I have watched every single movie that will be shown at NUFF this year (except for the animated one with the ape, that I will see this evening). I would definitely pay to go watch these movies again, but you can watch them online FOR FREE in a virtual world with your friends at the same time. If you are at all interested in film you definitely should check out NUFF!

* NUFF is an important part of Tvibit and this year became its 18 years anniversary: 18 years of history of celebrating young and talented filmmakers. From https://www.nuff.no/ “This year's NUFF film program will be accessible to the public in an unusual, new way. With the exception of one block of films (program 1) - due to copyright problems - all films will be shown both in the Verdensteatret Cinema in Tromsø in front of a limited audience and through a live-stream accessible worldwide. “