The twentieth anniversary of Montenegro’s independence is approaching. We, the “Paese Roma” journalists, feel close to all peoples who get independence. Thus, let us introduce to you an international film director who chose Montenegro for artistic and creative reasons when, in his country of origin, freedom of speech ceased to exist. He is Salavat Vakhitov, known artistically as Alex Silence, who moved from the city of Beloretsk, Bashkortostan (Russia) to the city of Budva (Montenegro) in 2023.
Paese Roma: Salavat, you are a director and painter who has chosen Montenegro to live and create. Tell us what your next solo painting exhibition will be dedicated to?
Alex SILENCE: I have always been interested in the theme of faith, of the supernatural, of the world of gods and angels. In every screenplay I write, not only in paintings, there are characters from this world — let’s call it the World of the Gods. Currently, some galleries in Montenegro are interested in my paintings and films because, usually, if I become interested in a theme, I stick to it in all my artworks. Before the war (the Russian invasion of Ukraine that took place on February 24th, 2022, Editor’s Note) I was working on a large film project with Italian partners. In that film, angels interacted with real people, protecting them from evils. There is, for example, a figure of a Guardian Angel. The film is titled “Resurrection”.
Paese Roma: Tell us about your roots and how your origin influences your artistic creativity, in particular, in figurative art.
Alex SILENCE: I am Bashkir, born in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan. My ancestors, my great-grandfathers, were official mullahs appointed by decree and tribal elders. I consciously accepted baptism, becoming an Orthodox Christian at the age of thirty-five with the name of Alexander, therefore, I took the stage name of Alex Silence. I had been interested in the personality of Jesus Christ since childhood. Twenty years have passed since my baptism, and these years have given me a great deal in understanding my role in life, in understanding myself, of human nature. All this helps me in my work. It is important not only in cinema where understanding human psychology is crucial, but also in painting where the images of the Mother of God, of the Savior, of the Angels and of the place of man in this hierarchy have become my main themes.
Paese Roma: What brought you to move to Montenegro, and why did you choose this country and, in particular, the city of Budva?
Alex SILENCE: To tell the truth, I didn’t choose Montenegro; I ended up here by chance. My first choice was Belgrade, Serbia, for I understood the roots of the current war in Ukraine went back to the Balkans. I wrote a screenplay for an anti-war animated film titled “Destiny”, but I was not allowed to make it in Russia. The screenplays I have written have still remained dead letters, but, I believe they have just gained value with time, and I am ready to shoot the respective films in Europe. As for Montenegro, it welcomed me warmly; I immediately found friends and colleagues. In the first two weeks of my stay on Montenegrin soil, the charitable foundation “Pristanishte” (“Refuge”) gave me food, lodging and telephone connection, allowing me to survive so that I could then find a job on a construction site and rent a house. For all this I heartily thank the founders and collaborators of “Pristanishte” Svetlana and Alexander Shmelev, Andrey, Ludmilla, Alena, Marina and my numerous new friends who gave me hope again. I realized I could grow artistically here and I went on painting and making films. I founded a production company in Budva and went on working.
Paese Roma: Tell us what pushed you to make cinema and why you chose directing. What do you remember of your studies at VGIK (State University of Cinema of Russia, Editor’s Note)?
Alex SILENCE: My approach to cinema was logical, even though I had never dreamed of being a director. I drew animated films, made paintings, and, at first, I applied for the VGIK painting department, but I was not admitted. Being already a painter and having already exhibited my works, I thought: why should I study the same thing again? So I applied for the directing course. In 1993, I was admitted to the VGIK’s workshop run by Professor Kochetkov. I was lucky to have Alexander S. Kochetkov among my teachers. The program was broad and multidisciplinary, which, at the time, was very unusual and rare. Being directors of documentary cinema, we also had to shoot feature films and stage theatre plays. Going back to Master Kochetkov, I remember accompanying him to the subway talking about my diploma film. He pointed out all my mistakes in editing because he remembered every single frame. A detail that struck me. The master was always so attentive toward every student.
Paese Roma: What, in your opinion, is your main task as a director? What subjects are treated in your films, and what projects are still in development?
Alex SILENCE: As our master Alexander S. Kochetkov said, the main task of a film should be positive. I lost my parents early, I thought a lot, I analyzed and I understood. Accepting baptism before approaching cinema helped me a lot. For me, it is fundamental to convey to the viewer: life does not end with death, after it, there is something infinite and beautiful. I felt the desire for Eternity since childhood. If I can convey this desire and love for Eternity in my films, I will be happy… I am just starting my journey. All my most important films are still yet to come. For now, I have managed to shoot a film about the ancient history of a nation and its land. I managed to shoot a film about my father. He was a famous writer of Bashkortostan. He passed away very early, and his loss greatly influenced my creativity.
Paese Roma: It took you twelve years to work on “The Resurrection. The First Day”. Tell us about the idea and the main stages of this project.
Alex SILENCE: Right, I spent twelve years living inside this film. Every six months I applied to the Russian Cinema Fund and to the Ministry of Culture. I refused other projects because “The Resurrection” had to be my contribution to a free Russia that has an active and highly developed civil society. I believed Russia would show the world a spiritual development. I met Alexei Navalny; he liked the idea. I shot a part of the film, I organized its screening at Cannes, I met Italian filmmakers who became partners. Everything was ready as far as the actors were concerned, and the Russian Ministry of Culture supported the project, in 2021, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine destroyed our plans and my faith in Russia as a peaceful nation.
Paese Roma: How did Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine change your life and your art?
Alex SILENCE: It was a personal tragedy; I had been convinced for twelve years Russia was a peaceful nation having a great culture. Seeing it become a Nazi state was worse than death. I no longer wanted to live; and twelve years of work were wasted.
Paese Roma: What do you think about war in general and about the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East? How is your anti-war position reflected in your art?
Alex SILENCE: I hate wars. If politicians lead to war, they are incompetent and should leave politics.
Paese Roma: What determines, in your opinion, the mental and psychological health of an individual, and why is it relevant in the modern world?
Alex SILENCE: A healthy person can only love — life, children, work, country, truth. A mentally and psychologically normal person is always in a state of love.
Paese Roma: How would you define fascism and Nazism? What should current society do to prevent their rebirth?
Alex SILENCE: Nationality is a medieval invention. The problem is not a nationality, but the fact money has become a commodity, and a narrow circle of families holds power. Nationality, religion, class wars are just tools to control people.
lPaese Roma: How do you see the future of Russia and its international relations, in particular with Ukraine and the states of the former USSR?
Alex SILENCE: Russia needs thirty to fifty years of atonement for its own faults. It should dissolve into smaller states to defeat its own chauvinist nationalism. Particularly horrible is the great Russian chauvinism among ignorant people and young people. And it is very convenient to the bandits who sit in the Kremlin.
Paese Roma: How do you finance your art and culture today?
Alex SILENCE: I work in the construction field. With my earnings from this activity, I purchase materials, paint and shoot films. I go on with my artistic activities here in Montenegro, even though it becomes more complicated day by day. Russia has refused me citizenship. All my documents have been stolen. In Montenegro I find myself in a predicament. I cannot go to Russia, and it is also dangerous: they have already tried twice to put me in prison, in Russia.
Paese Roma: Would you like Bashkortostan to be independent, or could it remain in Russia with democratic reforms?
Alex SILENCE: I would like it to be sovereign, but it is impossible because of the buffer zone the Russians have created between Bashkortostan and Kazakhstan, namely, the Orenburg region. As a result, Bashkortostan has no external borders and is an enclave within Russia. It should be noted, however, that no one has ever conquered the Bashkirs. Not even Genghis Khan ever managed to do so. The Bashkirs joined the Russian state of their own free will. The pact they stipulated with Ivan the Terrible was not violated even by the Bolsheviks. Bashkiria was an autonomous republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, its lands belonged to the Bashkir people. This historic pact was violated only by the sacrilegious dictator Putin.
Paese Roma: You are a Muslim who has chosen Christianity. How do you see the dialogue between Christian and Muslim communities?
Alex SILENCE: Religion should be an individual choice; there is no place for it in politics.
Paese Roma: If you could address the main political and economic leaders, what would you say?
Alex SILENCE: Go away, you have brought the world to war, you are incompetent. Your vanity, your pride lead to wars continuously. You justify wars with religious reasons, but, frankly speaking, all wars revolve around money.
Paese Roma: Tell us about your father and his contribution to Bashkir culture.
Alex SILENCE: My father was a famous writer and literary critic. He worked hard and left an immense legacy. I shot a film about him. His books are at Harvard and Oxford, but they are not yet translated into Russian. He was a very uncomfortable personality capable of telling the truth to the face of the powerful. He told me the truth about the Soviet state: people shot without trial, genocide of the Bashkir people. After the insurrection of Emelyan Pugachev (1773–1774, Editor’s Note), the Bashkir people suffered ethnic cleansing. The punitive expedition was led by Suvorov who burned entire Bashkir villages and set adrift on rafts the hanged Bashkirs without sparing either old people or children. What the Bolsheviks then repeated killing sixty percent of the Bashkir people after the insurrection of Ahmet Zaki Validi. This fact is not yet recognized as genocide by the international community. It is a subject not only for a new interview, but also for a film I will certainly shoot.
Paese Roma: How would you explain the Bashkir epic to representatives of other nations and how do you promote Bashkir history and culture?
Alex SILENCE: “Ural Batyr” is unique; it is under the protection of UNESCO. The hero defeats Death. I was about to make an animated film about it. In 2000, at the “Bashkortostan” film studios, I had an animation cinema department built to realize “Ural Batyr”. But the then director of the studios was caught red-handed stealing from the state, and we were sent away from the premises of the former agricultural machinery factory “Ufaselmash”. I had spent two years building the department, without ever being able to make my animated feature film. Remembering the words of a classic “the ruin of Russia are the roads and the stupid”, now the ruin of Russia are the thieves and the bandits. I declare it under my responsibility.
Paese Roma: Do you feel Russian?
Alex SILENCE: No, I have always felt like a citizen of the world. In 1991 I burned all my documents. For me, it was an act with which I contributed to the freedom of man on earth.
Paese Roma: What is the essence of Russian culture? Can the “Russian idea” be useful?
Alex SILENCE: It is a dangerous idea that destroys smaller nations. Under Putin, it has become worse due to the promotion of chauvinist nationalism. My grandfather, official mullah and tribal elder, was shot without trial by the red commissar Kashirin. The name of Kashirin is still in use in Russia: several streets in Bashkir cities bear it. What atonement of the Russian people can there be if the streets bear the names of murderers, if the soldiers who go to occupy Ukraine have on their badges the words “God is with us”?!!
We thank Salavat Cakhitov/ Alex Silence for this interview and invite our readers to follow him on his social network. You can even get in touch with the painter and the film director for artistic collaboration. These are his contacts:
Salavat Vakhitov
Klinci, Lustica, Montenegro
+38268373162
akbuzatfilm@gmail.com
Olga Matsyna
