Episode #14 - Olga Loginova is an incredible collaborator and artist who speaks poetically and with no filter. She is a director, producer, and cinematographer who recently graduated from Columbia where she learned to make scientific documentaries. Originally from Belarus with Russian roots, she has chiseled her vision of a storyteller through rigorous training in Germany, China, and the U.S.A., as well as by traveling and reporting across continents.

She chose the stunning short film Volte, a 10 minute coming of age documentary from Poland. Olga talks about how she resonates with the film because “as a child I danced, and very soon I became too tall. I was lagging behind because I was too big, too big, too big.” This film is made in the Slavic school of teaching “where every shot is perfect.” Olga describes this film as “the difference between trying to document something and art. This is art.” This eastern European documentary that was picked up by the New York Times Op-Docs.

Olga also brought her feature Sacred Leaves The documentary is about the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and the constant destruction it faces for human profit. Olga talks about how her interest in the Amazon grew from how climate change in Brazil changes people’s lives as it does in her own ancestral lands of Siberia. There are countless adventure stories from her seventeen days of shooting, which she covers in addition to discussing characters who come “once in a century,” and what surprised her most. She shot the film before the wildfires hit, and offers insight into the many sources of deforestation that led to the rainforest’s current state. She plans to return to Brazil in the winter to show the film.

Olga herself is a character who comes once in a lifetime, and we were thrilled to have her international talents. Enjoy the episode.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Olga Loginova - Director/Cinematographer

Credits:
Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production Company & Location - Fourwind Films