Ukrainian actress Alisa Lukshina about her priorities and constant education

My first leading role

“My first film experience was in 2008 in a very interesting and important role for me in Farewell | L’affaire Farewell by Emir Kusturica (France). A year later I had a leading part in a 100-episode Ukrainian TV series Only love produced by 1+1 TV channel. Just after the musical comedy Trubach by Anatoli Mateshko, Anastasia Mateshko invited me to the short film The Roomer, that was released in 2015 and was in the National Competition of Odessa Film Festival.”

“I never take money into consideration when I agree to take part in a film. I am more interested in the script and personal relationships. For example, I took part in production of the film about a girl with a wonderful voice, though with a serious flaw – she is blind. I have a leading part in that film, with a very interesting script, though I won’t tell you the idea. And to my mind, it is not important that the production will be without a payment.”

“The films with my leading parts – The roomer and The lipstick by Liza Telbizova are psychological films that tell about fragile psyche of a teenager, her reactions and conclusions, about stunning and incomprehensible actions for parents. Those films will be in use, first of all, for parents who take care of their children and aspire to constructively form their personalities and help their children to avoid making mistakes.”

My priority – education

“I have acted in about 30 projects so far, though not all of them were released and probably some of them won’t ever be released. From time to time I am offered leading roles, though they are not my priority, it is not my task to raise the bar for myself. If the part is interesting, I do not really care whether it is leading or not. I am at the age when one needs to study; my priority is education. And a supporting role can be very remarkable, everyone knows that. It happens sometimes that no one remembers main characters, though they remember bright scenes. This is what I call craftsmanship. That is what I aspire to. Though, probably because my attitude is quite nice, recently I have had more leading parts.”

“Moreover, I do believe that it is very important for a young actor to learn foreign languages. I am lucky, foreign languages run in my family. My grandmother, who lives in Saratov, know 34 languages. So, I think I have inclination to them and tthis is very useful, as for example last year in Cannes. I know English, Polish and Japanese. Therefore, I advise everyone to learn languages.”

My professional education

“After entering the Warsaw Film School, I started thinking about acting, though I decided to choose directing post-production course. There is FREEDOM of thought and creativity in the Warsaw Film School. There are all the conditions needed to encourage students to study. The professors have a warm and respectful attitude. I have weird and doubtfully pleasant impressions of Warsaw Film School. If I have more time, I will try to be a free-listener at other faculties.”

My experience with other actors

“I have gained so much experience with all the actors I have ever worked with. I think that most of all I loved the cast of feature film Trubach: actress Rima Zuybina who last year filmed in a wonderful film The Nest of the Turtledove, she is just amazing, she is shining as a sun! Nonna Gryshaeva – I adore her; I am her secret fan. She is an incredible actress and woman.”

“And also Ada Rogovtseva – a genius and a beauty! She is a really great actress. I am proud to have worked with her. I totally agree that in the profession of acting , there is no place for bad or weak people. A person being an actor is a whole Universe, which is deep and unique. It is a pleasure for me to remember Volodymyr Hostyukhin, Dmytryi Pertsov, Emir Kusturica and others. And I am very grateful to the actors Oleksiy Smolka, Tymur Ibrahimov, Tetyana Konovalova, Vika Litvinenko, Sasha Hikitin, and Oleksiy Horbunov.”

“By the way, when I was filming in the TV series Only Love with the wonderful actress Ndia Kondraovska, she taught me a crammimg technique. You need just read your text calmly 60 times. She told me that our brain is like muscles, the more you work, work out your muscles, the fater and better you remember.”

My first trip to the Cannes Film Festival

“In 2016, together with director Liza Telbizova, I visited the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival. We made a presentation of our short film together with other Ukrainian films in the Ukrainian pavilion. A lot of people visited the presentation, so we had a wonderful opportunity for networking.”

“I think it is very important to visit the festival and not only once. To my mind, the most important is the discovery of the world, travelling, observation how other people live. It is the experience in the first place. A diverse experience, and professional as well. And networking is the most important. One of the acquaintances who I met there, I could say, completely changed my life, and I am not exaggerating! I found my real big love there!”

My advice

“What advice can I give? I would rather give it about parents. A child can never get into the film business if there is no relative to support her/him, who will direct and believe, inspire her/him and teach how to cope with disappointments and to correct mistakes. This person would have an opportunity to devote enough time to the child . At the same time, no child would ever succeed in any field – film, dancing, singing, if the parents don’t understand and feel the skills of their child, her/his true talents. It is not possible to make a leg smaller and a heart bigger, as an old kind king once said.”