Short Films About Love: An Interview with Columbia University Filmmaker Varvara Aristakesyan

Like the acclaimed filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, Columbia University film student Varvara Aristakesyan explores universal themes of love and connection, especially the quiet moments that pass us by. Born and raised in Moscow, Russia, Varvara has been well-suited to the arts, having grown up in an artistically rich family and gained multicultural experiences in various countries. This perspective is what shapes Varvara’s weekly short films about love on her Instagram page, which has amassed nearly 150K followers.

Many of her shorts stem from her personal experiences, and others touch on the stories she’s heard from others. Through and through, Varvara explores the complex concept of love and its intricacies across cultures, binding people in her work through the most universal of emotions. After another interview with Leche Mag, we here at FRONTRUNNER had the privilege of sitting down with Varvara to dig deeper into her philosophies on love, life, and filmmaking.

You’ve said that growing up, you were constantly surrounded by art: Cinema, literature, and theatre. Could you describe your upbringing in the arts and how it’s shaped you into the filmmaker you currently are?

My dad’s side is made entirely of artists: my grandpa is a writer, my grandma paints, and my father is also a painter but also works digitally in design and video. He’s an art director. That side of my family has always nourished my love for visual arts and filmmaking. Every celebration – birthdays, Christmas, etc. – my dad would do something creative, related to the arts. There was one year when he made a quest with a few questions about cinema that led us to gifts. Especially growing up in Moscow, we Russians have so much poetry, playwrights, and many big theatres, like what Broadway is for New York, but everywhere. In Russian art, there is a lot of longing and observation, which are big parts of my work.

Your work addresses universal experiences that aren’t bound to one specific place; however, you were born and raised in Moscow and now work in New York City. Do you ever find that these transcultural experiences manifest themselves in your work?

Yes. Firstly, I’m very grateful for my immigrant background. I was blessed to see the world when I was younger, and I visited many European countries. When I moved to NYC, one thing I loved was how everyone came from different backgrounds, yet something united all of us. We’re here to achieve our dreams. Living in different places like Moscow and Paris taught me how diverse the world is. I made one film in Paris and another in Milan to see how different the story could be because of the place. Because I got these experiences, I’m not tied to one place in my art.

In an interview with Leche Mag, you said that your initial field of study was mathematics and that a mathematical approach translated naturally into your passion for filmmaking. Could you expand on that?

After I transferred to Columbia, I directed my second short film. I recall that 80% of the time, I stood behind my cinematographer and tried controlling everything they did, which isn’t ideal. However, that made me realize that I am drawn to cameras and cinematography, and it was a push to get a professional camera. Afterward, I realized that mathematics is involved in filmmaking: shutter speed, the F-stop, how this relates to ISO, etc. These variables determine how light is created and how the camera processes it. Even sound: connecting your sound equipment, adjusting wave lengths, etc. Math is everywhere; filmmaking is a bunch of calculations. Mathematics is also problem-solving, which is an essential part of storytelling, too.

A sentiment in one of your shorts that was striking is, “I want that feeling that your town is the whole world; like nothing outside of it really matters.” How do you translate that into the relationships and emotional stakes in your short films about love?

That’s one of my older reels. Back then, I decided to make films about my personal experience. That’s how my poem came about. I put my desire to find a stable place into that poem because the only stability I have is my family, not a location to call home. And that poem inspired me to keep making sense of my life and the lives of others through filmmaking. When I began taking my film journey more seriously, my short films about love were solely based on what I had lived through. Talking with people, interviewing them, and listening to their stories about love were how future projects began to develop. My early work inspired me to get a bigger perspective on love. Because I believe that love is in the middle of desire, hatred, and obsession; it’s always at the center.