Price is Right was a short film nominee of the best first-time filmmaker competition of MIFF. The film is about environmental cost of industrial exploitation of the far North. While ransacking an abandoned research facility two brothers find a mysterious device that can expedite their quest for riches, but only one of them is prepared to pay the hefty price.
Grigory Shakhanov, the director of this short film project is a self-taught filmmaker from Moscow, Russia. After 10 years in PR consulting, he decided to change careers and started a video production company called SHAGRAL. This new path reignited his love for cinema, and he started seeking opportunities to practice filmmaking.
Such opportunity presented itself when “Northern Character” production company announced a filmmaking intensive (a “cinelab”) held in a small northern town of Nickel, located 30 km from Norwegian border. 10 young filmmakers attended, Grigory was one of them.
As part of the cinelab, students attended Kola superdeep borehole site – the deepest manmade hole in Earth’s crust – which inspired Grigory to write “Price is right”. Out of 10 scripts, the expert panel chose “Price is right” as one of two films to be made. Three long days later (two prep days and one shooting day), the film was shot. In addition to directing, Grigory also edited, colorgraded and designed visual effects for the film.
Director Statement This film was a culmination of two weeks of learning, creating and bonding with a group of young passionate filmmakers. It was truly a collaborative effort where every single crew member was literally indispensable and I’m deeply grateful for everyone’s effort and support. I could not ask for a better first-time filmmaking experience! I can only hope it’s just the first of many more film adventures to come.