"I hesitated for a long time before I decided to make this film because the material is highly personal": the director Roman Mikhaylov about the film Songs of the Djinns, which is part of the Russian

The director Roman Mikhaylov, the producer Yulia Vityazeva, and the actors Anastasia Neginskaya, Manasvi Mamgai and Vyam Yadav introduced the film.

Songs of the Djinns is a fairy tale about miracles. Two actresses wander the streets of Varanasi on New Year’s Eve. Meanwhile, in Goa, preparations are underway for a music event with pop stars. Eventually, they all find themselves on a ship, taking turns to tell their stories. The ship will sail down a quiet river, and on the shore, everyone, absolutely everyone, will be listening: bats in ruined palaces, wandering magicians, and touring DJs. They need to hear the singing of the djinns.

Roman Mikhaylov: "Yesterday I gave the text for Songs of the Djinns to the publisher, which explains all the contexts, symbolism, and motives behind why we started making this film. I hesitated for a long time before making this film because this text is highly personal; it has references to books and music, which, by the way, we worked on for more than a year. For us, Songs of the Djinns is a unified symphony and a living organism. I grew up on Soviet cinema and saw my first Hollywood film when I was seven. I’m a fan of Tarkovsky because he took the filmmaking process more seriously than anyone else at that time, and he proclaimed that cinema is an ethical gesture. This resonates so deeply with me. It was like a religious practice for him, when you own every second of the film".

Anastasia Neginskaya: "For me, working on this film was a journey to the completely new and unknown. This project began for me back in Moscow, when Roman Mikhaylov gave me a call. At the time, a yellowish haze had been hanging in the air for several weeks, just like in Roman’s films. I was walking down the street, talking to him, and I already felt I were in a film. Before leaving for India, I watched two films: The Sacrifice and Song of India. They had similar vibes to me in terms rhythm and melody, and I captured that atmosphere".

Manasvi Mamgai: "The fact that this film is co-produced by Russia and India is a miracle in itself. For me, the shooting was very spontaneous, but this opportunity to work with the Russian film crew was very important to me".

Vyam Yadav: "There was magic in the air during the shooting. Varanasi is a magical place in its own right, I’m from this place myself, but everyone who visits it sees it with their own eyes, and the film reftlects that vision".

Yulia Vityazeva: "We had two completely different stories, which we interconnected with scenes, lines and ideas in such a way that one story flows into the other. At the same time, they were filmed by different cinematographers, using different cameras and different framing styles, and I was deeply impressed by how well these two stories ultimately worked together".