We're going all the way over to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, some of you may know it as Saigon.
Today will be talking with Boris Meshkov, a producer, director of music videos, film commercials, and currently working on a film series called Saigon 3000.
He’s been around the world and he expresses a world of creativity in his own work, in his own travels. Boris was born in Russia and is now living in Saigon and in between, he's traveled to over 20 countries, where he's lived and worked.
Boris began his travels back in 2014 when he got a scholarship to travel as an exchange student to the US. While there, Boris got a 3 months job in Idaho Sun Valley, and in between work, he visited the city of Boise, which he found to be absolutely beautiful. When his 3 months work was done, he moved to Los Angeles Hollywood to pursue his film-making dream. A year later, when that didn’t work Boris returned home to Russia.
According to Boris, when traveling, don’t travel alone. So Boris and his girlfriend made the decision to hitchhike across Europe where they slept in tents during their visit to 20 countries, 6 months later, Boris still had this deep desire to travel, he decided to travel east to China, before getting to Vietnam.
After 3 years of living in China and teaching English as an expatriate, Boris made his way to Vietnam. Two years later, he shares with us lessons he has learned in pursuing his journey of film making and his progress in making his movie Saigon 3000.
- Vietnam's growth over the past decade and a half have made it an excellent country for the film industry due to an increased number of film studios and production companies. The lifestyle, reduced competition, and less bureaucracy make it easier to break into the film business compared to Hollywood.
- Making connections as a foreigner wasn’t easy, however, by sharing his ideas about the movie he wanted to make with everyone he met, before long people in the industry started reaching out to him.
- Boris tells us about his experience pitching his film and how he has to incorporate feedback into making this film.
- For success in the film industry, Boris says it is about your network, who you know. The key in filmmaking is quality and to find good quality, you require teamwork and collaboration. By sharing the love on the set in pre-production and post-production. you can make something really great.
In summary, Boris says when he started to travel, he was looking forward to discovering the world. But when he finished traveling, he realized that he discovered himself. So it's not the adventure of searching. It's the searching of and revealing yourself.
Boris Facebook: Boris Meshkov
Boris Website: Saigon 3000