Featured Member: Max Bentsianov

How many years have you spent studying and/or working in the Vancouver Post Production industry?
15 years

What is your favourite project that you’ve worked on, and why?
I would point to BlackStrathcona.com that I helped with back in 2014. I was proud and lucky to help a very talented local director Gordon McLennan with such an important cultural project and also I was responsible for the main media tasks such as: shooting, editing and graphic design.

Where/how did you get your start in the community?
I think when I started my art education at Emily Carr University in 2008.

Why did you join the VPA?
I was always passionate about film and visual storytelling. Yet, when I was studying at ECU, I was curious about graphic design as well, hence I juggled design and video projects. I joined VPA only a few years ago, as my interest in getting a gig in a real film editing setting became more prominent.

Who was/is your mentor/inspiration/idol?
David Lynch, Lars von Trier, Luis Buñuel, Andrei Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jonas Mekas, Stanley Kubrick, David Fincher, Kira Muratova, Marina Abramovic + quite a few more from film, visual art, music, design worlds.

If you could have worked on any series/film ever created, which one would it be, and why?
I would love to work on a surreal, poetry infused like “Mirror” by Tarkovsky, “Antichrist” by Trier or “Mulholland Drive” by Lynch. Alternatively, a series that is oriented towards social critique like “Black Mirror” or “Clockwork Orange”. Big fan of the 1st “Alien” as well.

In one sentence, what advice do you wish someone had given you five years ago, relative to your career today?
Learn Avid and network to try to get into editing room for a scripted show.

What is your favourite pastime outside of work?
Music learning and production, reading, writing, watching movies, going to concerts, spending time with wife and 11y/o daughter.