This sense of catastrophe is one that is ever present in art. It ripples across the line that divides adaptation and reality, transforming our world into another. It is through catastrophe that an adaptation manages to bring one of Dostoevsky’s oldest and most un-adaptable works, Notes From Underground, into a modern epic: Notes from the New World. 

The Macbeth Effect

In theater lore, there is a long-standing belief that certain stories carry a curse. It is derived from the play Macbeth. The so-called “Macbeth effect” traditionally refers to actors’ superstitions about staging dark material, especially stories soaked in murder and ambition. In psychology, the term also describes how feelings of moral contamination lead people to seek physical cleansing. As though guilt itself were a stain.

The Macbeth effect was born from the stage, but has extended to play an important role in Hollywood. The realm of glitz and glamor is filled with more dark tales and conspiracies than one could count. Screenplays steeped in violence and spiritual corruption do not simply portray darkness, they generate it, pulling performers and audiences into a shared atmosphere of unease.

Dostoevsky adaptations, particularly Notes From Underground, lean heavily into that moral contamination. His writing has been equal parts revered and reviled. His characters do not merely commit crimes, they rationalize them, philosophize about them, and sometimes worship them. These arguments can suffocate both the actors and the audience. The justification can warp our sense of right and wrong. It leads one to question if such stories should even be seen or staged: the MacBeth effect in full force. 

A Dostoevsky Adaptation

This particular effect of Dostoevsky’s work takes shape in the latest, and perhaps greatest, adaption of his work: Notes from the New World, an effort to adapt one of Dostoevsky’s earliest and most mysterious works: Notes from the Underground. Notes from the New World is an adaptation both loosely and directly inspired by Dostoevskian themes of alienation, pride, wealth, ideological extremism, and spiritual decay. It depicts classic Dostoevian characters ripped from their stories, transcending their narrative bounds to confront universal truths. And above it all, a meta-narrative level that directly challenges the viewer. This film has layers of meaning and philosophy, but perhaps nothing is more revealing than the film documenting its troubled release: An LA Story. 

An LA Story depicts more than the making of a film. It is a Dostoevsky adaptation of legendary proportions, detailing the troubled production of a film seemingly cursed by the fates themselves. As LA Story unfolds, an initially fabricated story of a missing screenwriter named Robert Hurley unravels into a truly supernatural phenomenon. The cast, crew, and even the auteur behind the script, Vitaly Sumin, discovers that the script itself faces a dark curse. Accidents haunt rehearsals, relationships fracture, and a creeping paranoia takes hold on set.

Macbeth and Los Angeles

What makes An LA Story so compelling is its suggestion that the “curse” is not supernatural at all, but psychological. The screenplay of Notes From the New World centers on passion mixed with deep, violent betrayal. While the film struggles to get made, the cast and crew unravel a dark conspiracy involving an ancient cult and a dark ritual. What begins as a fabrication quickly spirals into a story of witchcraft, curses, and a crew fractured from the start. In embodying their characters, the actors immerse themselves in suspicion and duplicity. Jokes turn sharp. Minor disagreements grow into ideological battles and suspicion of real crimes. The fictional curse takes root in reality.

Here the Macbeth  effect becomes a lens. When people repeatedly simulate immoral acts, such as those depicted in Dostoevsky’s works, their minds respond as though something real has occurred. Even if no blood is shed, the rehearsal of darkness can create a residue.

In LA Story, we can see the actors playing the central characters descend into fear and paranoia. They suffer from medical conditions and growing paranoia. Others begin to latch onto a real life investigation, fearing for their own lives and safety. Enough of the cast and crew leaves that only a skeleton of what was there before remains. The material of this Dostoevsky adaptation is simply too dark – and in a Macbethian manner, the tragedy becomes manifest. It becomes apparent that the screenplay was simply too dark, too subversive, and too gruesome to be staged. 

Redemption in a Dostoevsky Adaptation

Despite it’s great darkness, the film also gestures towards redemption. In this beautiful Dostoevsky adaptation, the remaining crew rally together and a true masterpiece rises from the ashes. As the director, Vitaly Sumin  postulates, “Now imagine how this story would have gone if I had the money in place at the start of this adventure. We would have gone into production right away, without the half a year or more of rehearsals, with possibly the wrong actors in the lead roles. The script would have been less developed. I would not have built up the deep understanding of the story that I now have. It would have resulted in a very different film” (LA Story).

The enduring lesson, whether in Dostoevsky’s works or in the narrative of an LA Story, is that art is powerful precisely because it is immersive and true. This brilliant Dostoevsky adaptation shows us that stories shape the emotional worlds we inhabit. When we tell stories of ambition, pride, fear and love, we may begin to fall into those stories and let them become our realities. But it is only through this darkness that we can transform and be reborn. If a story’s negative aspects can manifest through identification, then so can its redemptive ones. Stories destroy us, but only to tear us down and remake us whole. 

Want to know about VMP Films and about the films we make? Want to participate
in our projects? Go to https://www.dostoevsky-bts.com/ and enter your email on
the box at the bottom of the page where it reads “I Want To Be Part Of The
Action!” And you are ready to go. Don’t forget to grab our FREE e-books ! .
Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads

The post From Dostoevsky to Hollywood: The Macbeth Effect and the Cursed Film Notes from the New World first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

Adapting a story

We all have that particular book we loved the first time we read it and when it became a film it left us disappointed. Either they had trimmed super special moments, vanished entire sequences critical for character development, or simply showed a different setting of the world we had already built to the last detail in our mind. These and more changes can happen to a story and its protagonists when translating the narrative from literature to film. Contrary to popular belief, that does not always mean a movie is bad.

It’s just different

We can all agree reading a book is essentially different from watching a movie. And not only in terms of the physical support from where we get to experience the story —some pages or a screen—, but also in terms of the available narrative resources proper for each medium that directly impact the way a story unfolds.

Guillermo Del Toro, a famous mexican film director shared in an interview one of the most important guidelines when making a film: “whatever you decide to put into your script must be proved by the camera or the sound recorder.” This is because film is an audiovisual plattform, which means equal importance of images and sound are needed to deliver a message, so whatever you cannot see or hear is no material for a movie.

A good example for this statement are the character’s feelings. While in a book you can read how a character feels about something without them even saying a word or behaving expressly in a certain way, in films you will either need to hear or see a representation of how they are feeling in order to understand this inner world. Whether someone talks about it, or even if we just get to see them behaving in a very specific way, there are no other paths for conveying meaning in cinema other than hearing or seeing things.

Some examples

There are a lot of movies that were actually born from a previously published book or story. Some of them are pretty well known to be adaptations but there are other ones that maybe would not be that easy to spot. Here you got 3 film examples that you probably didn’t know were adaptations:

1. Mood Indigo (Michel Gondry, 2013).

Sinopsis: Wealthy, inventive bachelor Colin endeavors to find a cure for his lover Chloe after she’s diagnosed with an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs.

From the book: Froth on the Daydream, by Boris Vian, 1947.

2. The Dead (John Huston, 1987).

Sinopsis: Gabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.

From the short story: The Dead, by James Joyce, 1914.

3. Shades of Day – New Directo’s Cut (Vitaly Sumin, 2023).

Sinopsis: The film crosses and re-crosses the thin line that separates tragedy from comedy. It introduces us to the enchanting LINDA, whose life is centered around a planned reunion with her former lover PAUL. Her plans change in remarkable ways as she encounters an extraordinary cast of characters, including a new lover and a movie producer who is being pursued by the Mafia.

From the short story: White Nights, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1848.

And the answer is…

Literature and Cinema are two different narrative mediums. They have their own and unique way for storytelling. While something is possible in one of them, it may be not as useful for the other. Sadly that is why it is so common for us to be disappointed with a movie when we already loved the book. But let me tell you something, there are actually some film adaptations that did a great job resembling the things happening in the book. I already gave you the name of one of them as the number 1 of the list above, now I want you to comment more examples in the Leave a Reply section.

Next time you watch a movie that is an adaptation from a book I invite you to focus on how the character’s feelings are shown on the film, and compare the different ways the book and the movie portray those things. I am sure you will find some interesting things. Hopefully after doing that you will agree on the fact that if a film is different from the book that does not necessarily mean the movie is bad.

Before we finish

You can watch Shades of Day on Prime Video, and first-hand experience this heartfelt film adaptation from the short story that is considered to be one of the greatest love stories ever written.

In this film Writer / Director / Producer Vitaly Sumin explores the boundaries for conveying meaning through the usage of color, editing and sound design, all working together in order to build the right atmosphere for his characters and the story they are telling. This one is the first part of our “Dostoevsky-L.A” project, which also will include “Crime and Punishment, LA” and “Idiot, L.A”.

Want to know more?

If you are thrilled to know more about this lovely multi awarded film and the other projects to come, sign up today for a free membership with us and gain exclusive access to our members-only content, which includes our exclusive e-book Our Method of Producing where you can learn more details about how we get things done.

Go to https://www.dostoevsky-bts.com/ and enter your email on the box at the bottom of the page where it reads I Want To Be Part Of The Action! And you are ready to go.

See you around!
Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads

The post The Wonderful Phenomenon of Film Adaptations first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

According to Cambridge online dictionary, Censorship is “the action of preventing part or the whole of a book, film, work of art, document, or other kind of communication from being seen or made available to the public, because it is considered to be offensive or harmful, or because it contains information that someone wishes to keep secret, often for political reasons.”

In other words, we can understand the act of censorship as an active attempt to prevent a piece of information from being disclosed to the public eye. We may most commonly associate these actions to a journalistic environment, which is the epitome of researching and disclosing information, but I am sure we would all agree that the art world is also one of the most prolific places to find this behavior.

Why would movies be subject to censorship?

Sadly there are many examples of a film being subject to censorship. As it can be understood not only as an entertainment product but also as a work of art, it has the characteristic of being a vehicle for human expression, often struggling to deliver its message precisely due to the things it talks about. But censorship in this regard has a lot more to do with the public nature of the cinema than any other of its features.

Since the cinematograph was invented by the Lumiere brothers in 1895, films have been a public experience, reaching different audiences throughout history. Even movie theaters used to deliver the news in the 40’s and 50’s because it was a place already designed for people to gather.

Movies like Daisies (Vera Chytilova, 1966) or Salo (Pier Paolo Passolini, 1975) faced strong restrictions in terms of their distribution and exhibition due to their political speech and depictions of what was considered morally depraved sexual practices. But even when these are great examples of censorship in movies, they have in common one thing: both films were already finished when the forbiddance began.

Independent filmmaking under attack

While the most popular –or should I say well-known– restrictions in this regard are those where the motion pictures are already at their distribution/exhibition facet, it does not mean that it is the only step of the way movies face such attacks. A good example of this is what happened to Writer / Director / Producer Vitaly Sumin and his crew when producing the award winning movie Notes From the New World , where oddly and dangerous things were taking place in order to stop the film from being made.

From weird discoveries, harassment and physical attacks, to the sudden and mysterious disappearance of Bob Hurley—the screenwriter of the film—the recently released documentary The Strange Case of Robert Hurley and the Missing Screenplay follows the threatening atmosphere this passionate crew had to navigate to bring their movie to completion.

Available now on Prime Video, this thrilling adventure offers more questions than answers as these courageous people struggle to keep moving forward day by day, putting their sanity and well-being on the line in the name of art. Who doesn’t want this story to be told? Is it worth it risking their lives? How did they manage all that pressure? If you don’t want to miss the outcome of their enterprise, watch this breathtaking documentary here.

Want to know more?

Sign up today for a free membership with us and gain exclusive access to our members-only content, which includes our exclusive e-book Our Method of Producing where you can learn more details about how we get things done.

Go to https://www.dostoevsky-bts.com/ and enter your email on the box at the bottom of the page where it reads I Want To Be Part Of The Action! And you are ready to go.

To read more about how the borders of True Crime as a genere and real life blurred in the making of this film visit True Crime: Cult-Like Obsession and Real Life.

See you around!

Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads

The post Real life consequences of censorship in art films first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be on the other side of the screen when watching a movie? Let Writer / Director / Producer Vitaly Sumin guide you through what seems almost impossible to achieve in his thrilling documentary An LA Story: The Making of the Award Winning “Notes from the New World”.

Whether you are familiar with the filming process or not, you must know that it is never easy to make a movie, no matter how short, complex, simple or long it seems to be. There is always a big amount of energy and time invested in it, besides many people and pitfalls to sort out every day that are worth every second you see on the screen.

As if the natural daily obstacles of the filmmaking process were not enough, this production was targeted by a dark and mysterious group (the mafia?) that represented a very serious threat to the well-being of the crew. They were trying to stop the project from being made and strange things suddenly started to happen: The screenwriter went missing, the actors for the lead roles were being harassed and more.

An LA Story presents to you a unique point of view of all the ups and downs in the process of making the award winning movie Notes from the New World. Guided by Writer / Director / Producer Vitaly Sumin, submerge yourself into this rollercoaster of emotions where you will explore different aspects of the whole journey of this amazing crew, ranging from emotional and creative challenges to other more serious difficulties.

Passion Projects

In other words, low/no-budget films. These projects are the ones where we –the film people– usually find some of our best friends in the industry. These types of projects where no one is making any profit are fertile ground for creativity and friendship to grow. Every single person in the crew is putting their best effort into making the film come true, and a deep team spirit fed by trusting each other is what keeps us going in spite of all the challenges we face. That is exactly how Writer / Director Vitaly Sumin and his great team were able to achieve what seemed almost impossible at the beginning.

Of course, there are times where not everyone in the team is willing to give what it takes and that is fine too, but it is always the right people, the best ones who make it to the end of the journey together as a team, not because it is easy but because it is worthy.

This documentary presents a story of perseverance, passion and commitment, and it comes from a place where teamwork truly makes dream work: Independent film-making. It was recently selected for the Lift-Off Sessions 2025 by Pinewood Studios (London, UK), which are monthly showcases where filmmakers around the world are selected to compete online and have the opportunity to reach global audiences.

If you don’t want to miss the upcoming screenings, sign up today for a free membership with us and gain exclusive access to our members-only content, which includes our exclusive e-book Our Method of Producing where you can learn more details about how we get things done.

Go to https://www.dostoevsky-bts.com/ and enter your email on the box at the bottom of the page where it reads I Want To Be Part Of The Action! And you are ready to go.

See you around!

Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads

The post How much it takes to be a filmmaker? first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

During the production of Notes From the New World, VM Productions ran into their fair share of roadblocks and hurdles. Consequently, what was expected to a simple, promotional documentary became its own drama-thriller story, except this time the subjects are real.

An LA Story: The Making of Notes From the New World is that documentary. Now featured in the Lift-Off Sessions 2025: Volume #4, a monthly competition that features a wide range of new and emerging indie content. This weekend, tune into their features segment to watch our journey to making Notes From the New World. Moreover, be sure to vote for it after watching all the good films featured in the showcase!

The Lift-Off Sessions

Festivals and independent filmmakers work hand in hand to curate specialized, imaginative film collections to audiences that love watching them. An LA Story is specifically tailored to explore the film making process from idea to distribution, highlighting the unique challenges that low-budget films face.

The Lift-Off Sessions (physical location: the famous Pinewood Studios in London, UK) value fostering a digital connection with global audiences. They strive to connect people with a wide range of grassroots independent film talent. Furthermore, An LA Story not only fits this mission, it explores it in its content.

For this weekend, don’t miss the online event! Use this link to purchase a ticket and watch the unique tale of An LA Story. Voting closes Sunday night (5.18.2025), so don’t forget to vote after watching! We’re so grateful for this opportunity to share this story with you.

Manifestation and Macbeth

Macbeth offers a conversation about inevitability. If he never met the witches, would he have avoided his fate? Was it bound to happen anyway? The Notes production ran into its own collection of hurdles, each seeming to stem from the story itself.

An LA Story follows the VMP cast and crew as they passionately prepare for the Notes production, and then the constant pitfalls faced by it. It’s a story of perseverance and artistic integrity, not often seen in today’s fast-paced world.

Like Macbeth, Vitaly Sumin and company explored the missing screenwriter, Robert Hurley, accidentally involving the occult and the Russian mafia. In doing so, cast and crew alike faced numerous production problems, like the loss of main actors and their initial filming space. After much deliberation, the production felt cursed… or maybe members of the Russian Mafia really didn’t want this film (Notes From a New World) to be made. 

Enjoy

After all the hard work that went into this film, we’re excited to showcase it in The Lift-Off Sessions 2025: Volume 4. Let us know what you think!

Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads

The post An LA Story: Limited Time Showcase Opportunity first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

During the production of Notes From the New World, based on Dostoyevsky’s Notes From Underground and second in VMP’s ambitious Dostoyevsky Project, Robert Hurley acquired the only copy of a hand-written shooting script, a vital piece of the production puzzle. Writer, Director, and Producer, Vitaly Sumin was distraught to find that, after he trusted Hurley with this script, Hurley vanished. He gathered his crew members, so they could begin to work together to find Robert Hurley, but instead they found a mystery, one that put the production in jeoprody.

Additionally, VMP hired a camera crew to capture behind the scenes footage of the creation of Notes From a New World, with no preconception of what was about to happen. Through meticulous editing, we have put together this footage, in an attempt to solve the mystery: What happened to Robert Hurley? 

Life’s Own Mysteries

In the past decade true crime has blown up as a genre. Streaming services, influencers, and podcasters alike dove into topics of murder, kidnapping, and mysterious disappearances much to the appeal of wide, general audiences. But what drew them to this topic in the first place? 

Some say it’s the ease. The content is everywhere, on every platform, so it’s not hard to find a retelling of a real-life thriller story. Yet, I think this might be a chicken/egg situation, because if not for the popularity, then I don’t think producers would invest in these projects. 

More likely the draw of this genre is the thrilling window into someone’s story/psyche; one completely different than the viewer’s own, sort of like people watching. The story has a very clearly defined hero and villain. It’s a dramatic story that explores unique motives with a guaranteed answer at the end. 

It plays into the natural curiosities of the audience and can also justify the traumas experienced by the audience members. In my research about the true crime genre, I began to draw many comparisons to the very popular, and much older genre of Film Noir.

The Thrill of the Chase

Film Noir was popularized in the 1940s after the rise of crime thriller novels in the 1930s. Known for its melodrama, dramatic lighting, and archetypal characters, the genre emphasizes cynical attitudes and motivations through crime drama storylines.

Similar to true crime, Film Noir exhibits risqué dialogue and behavior for the time, and contrasting to true crime, it has less heroic protagonists than seen in other traditional cinema. The story prioritizes the way the audience connects with the protagonist and the way the audience expects the story to follow.  It’s gritty and real, exploring darker themes seen in humanity.

Robert Hurley’s story is a mixture of both. It’s entirely true, with nefarious characters and mysterious threats. The VMP crew examines the intense mystery surrounding his disappearance like the protagonists of Film Noir, and the situation plays out chronologically, just like true crime.

The Missing Screenwriter

The date of birth of Robert Hurley’s and his past in general is unclear, some sources saying he grew up in an orphanage, but according to his own blogs, Hurley mentions his parents and their influence on his collegiate education. 

In college, Hurley got a Computer Science degree and later landed a stable job in that field. But his love of writing continued to haunt him. So Hurley attended many playhouses, eventually meeting our own Vitaly Sumin through the New Playrights Foundation. They worked together on the script for Notes From the New World, then during production Robert Hurley vanished.

Rumors spread about the script. Crew members left the production after being threatened. Hurley wrote about everything online.

Cults. Prostitutes. The Mafia. Mysterious and strange emails. This story has them all.

And it’s coming out soon on Amazon Prime and the other distributors.

Check it out!

The Strange Case of Robert Hurley & The Missing Screenplay

Because of the strange occurrences that happened on the set of Notes From a New World, we over at VMP have put together a documentary with all the details included. Furthermore, it explores a cult’s potential involvement with his disappearance, and the alleged dubious connection to the mafia.

The film comes out soon, but you still have a chance to be a part of it! Click the photo or this link for more information on how you can start your filmmaking career.

Also featured here is our free E-book with detailed information about Robert Hurley and his disappearance. Check it out here.

Check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads

The post True Crime: Cult-Like Obsession and Real Life first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

VM Productions brings the work of classical authors to life, with films like Shades of Day and Notes From A New World, alongside compelling original work. This is made possible working alongside From the Heart Productions with your (potential) tax-deductible donation!

I previously wrote about Hurley’s strange adaptation, but in exploring his love of classical literature, I found a diverse selection of adaptations, both old and new.

We add our own voice to old work, and through that make new discoveries. Except in today’s landscape of remakes and adaptation, how can we pick out the good from the bad and the bad from the ugly? Our culture eats itself, overindulging on adaptations and remakes, however in the over-saturated market, it becomes difficult to pinpoint the inherent quality provided by adaptations and remakes.

In my exploration, I found three pillars of a good adaptation, displayed in movies like A Clockwork Orange, Pride and Prejudice, and Easy A, to name a few.

Mise En Scene

Firstly, the aspect of color and mise en scene (staging) must accurately depict the emotion and themes of the original work. If the filmmakers understand what the original work conveys, then through the power of color theory and shot composition these ideas can be conveyed visually instead of verbally.

Mise en scene is the art within a scene; the props and set the actor interacts with. By deploying these through calculated means, the adaptive filmmaker can truly make a picture say 1000 words. Each frame tells the story found in the pages of its literary reference.

This deeper understanding gives a more solid stomping ground for creative liberties to take root. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the isolation of religious impropriety and Will Gluck showcases this same feeling via the ostracization of a high-schooler condemned to a similar fate.

It conveys the same ideas through a modern lens. The Scarlet Letter now lives on in that work.

Mise en Sonore

In Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, Alex goes into extensive detail about his obsession with Beethoven. In Kubrick’s version, we get to hear it. The audio aspect of this film creates an immersive soundtrack to the ultra-violence within the story and further emphasizes the themes surrounding the influence of media.

Alex undergoes the Ludovico Technique and through our own senses, so do we, as the audience.

Audio also tells us, the audience, how we should feel and further immerses us into the world of the character. A high quality soundtrack traces us back to the time the book was created and furthers the relationship we can have with historical figures and grounds us in similar woes. Some feelings are universal, regardless of time or background.

Furthermore, the language and diction of the dialogue plays into the works well. Reading leaves room for tonal interpretation, whereas with a film we get the unique experience brought to life in an actor, similar to stage plays, but still more immersive.

Music and communicaion unite us and while these are explored in books, an adaptive filmmaker can take their work a step further. Neither is better, in fact, they build off of one another. Books enriching the mind and movies enriching the heart.

Passion

The final puzzle piece is passion. A good adaptation cares about honoring the work its adapting. For example, Dostoyevsky was not only a talented writer, but was also an intelligent philosopher. You can’t adapt his work with integrity without recognizing the philosophy behind it. At VM Productions, our adaptations strive to do just that.

Robert Hurley saw the value of translating Dostoyevsky’s works into cinema, and after this examination, I can see where he was coming from.

In every man’s memories there are such things as he will reveal not to everyone, but perhaps only to friends. There are also such as he will reveal not even to friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. Then, finally, there are such as a man is afraid to reveal even to himself, and every decent man will have accumulated quite a few things of this sort.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes From Underground

He took on adapting Notes From Underground with us at VM Productions, but he allegedly wrote what he knew, which includes: the Russian mob, Satanic cults, and mysterious prostitutes. He introduced a deeper world of intrigue to Dostoyevsky’s classic masterpiece, and now VM Productions is hard at work to find him after he tragically vanished.

VM Productions is passionate about honoring classic literature with their films. The next installment of their Dostoyevsky Project is Crime and Punishment, LA and following this: The Idiot, the former of which is in active development. If you’d like to be a part of these high-quality adaptations, join our newsletter and donate today!

Follow us through our social media on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and Goodreads.

_{Featured image: Sonia (Natasha Blasick) by the window of the Underground Man (Steven) – Notes From the New World}

The post Your Adaptation Sucks! (And How to Make it Better) first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

Blending Classic Stories with Modern Ideas

To start, VMP Films’ new projects combine classic themes with today’s ideas. Inspired by timeless literature, these stories focus on struggles that still feel relevant. This approach keeps each project fresh, while also connecting it to tradition. Through this fusion, VMP Films shows that, although times change, human experiences stay the same. By mixing familiar and modern elements, they create a bridge between past and present storytelling.

A Peek at VMP Films’ Upcoming Projects

Next, let’s explore these new projects from VMP Films. Each one brings together original ideas with bold adaptations, creating unique, engaging stories. Here’s what to expect:

1. “Why Dostoyevsky Reimagined is a Must-Watch for Today’s Audience“: This project draws on Dostoyevsky’s themes of morality and psychology. By reimagining his characters in today’s world, VMP Films brings timeless questions to life in a modern way. This adaptation is ideal for fans of literature-inspired cinema who want stories that are thoughtful yet deeply emotional.
2. “The Experimental Narrative”: Additionally, VMP Films combines storytelling, visual art, and immersive technology in this project. This unique approach allows the audience to join the story instead of only watching. As a result, VMP Films invites viewers to connect on a deeper, interactive level.
3. “The Idiot” is a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky about innocence, morality, and human nature. It follows Prince Lev Myshkin, a kind and compassionate man with epilepsy. Seen as naive, or an “idiot,” he returns to Russia after years in a Swiss sanatorium. There, he faces intense social dynamics in St. Petersburg. Myshkin’s honesty and compassion lead him into complex situations, especially with Nastasya Filippovna, a troubled woman, and Aglaya Epanchin, a young woman from a wealthy family.

VMP Films’ Vision and Influence

Overall, VMP Films creates films that are both thoughtful and moving. Each project invites viewers to reflect on themes like values, identity, and humanity. By merging classic stories with modern themes, VMP Films continues to lead in independent filmmaking, inspiring audiences to think and feel deeply. Moreover, they encourage viewers to connect emotionally with each story.

What’s Next for VMP Films?

Looking ahead, VMP Films promises to engage and inspire audiences with these unique projects. For those who love films that explore life’s big questions, these projects are sure to leave a lasting impact. To learn more, visit the VMPFilms New Projects page or their official website for updates. For further details on their latest releases, check out Shades of Day, dedicated to one of their most celebrated works.

Follow us through our social media on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and Goodreads.

The post VMP Films: Awaken to Love and Transformation first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

Ever since film developed its voice as a medium, literature provided a never-ending catalog of work begging to be displayed on the silver screen. Characters that existed for decades (and sometimes centuries), were finally represented in a visual medium. We as an audience are thrust into familiar worlds with familiar characters in order to discover something new.

Robert Hurley loved writing. He also loved classical literature, namely works by author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Through the resources at VM Productions, Hurley’s love of writing was nurtured and celebrated. VMP is an LA-based multi-award winning company that strives to create high quality art-haus film and seeks to adapt works of classic literature. Through Our Method of Producing, you can also get involved in the creation of these films. Donations can be made tax-deductible via From the Heart Production. VMP can get your film career started, just like how they did for Hurley.

Hurley’s love of writing and affinity for Dostoyevsky propelled him to write Notes from a New World with VM Productions. Based on Dostoyevsky’s novella, Notes From Underground, the film amassed great success and earned many awards. Robert Hurley sought a great adaptation, and in doing so, he left behind a great mystery.

Why Adapt?

Learning more about Hurley forced me to ask: why should we adapt these (or any) books? These classics existed in a time when none of us were alive, do they still matter? With the changing climate in filmmaking, many audiences also beg the question: is originality dead with ongoing remakes and sequels? (And do adaptions contribute to this phenomenon?)

Well, yes and no. Robert Hurley loved the classics. Myself, I’ve read them. They’re old and incredibly dense, and, according to the Atlantic, many of my generation is not willing to invest in them.

Robert Hurley saw the value in their density, so he set out to use his creativity to adapt the classics, starting with Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Moreover, he loved the process it took to find the modern story, Notes From the New World.

Many films are actually adaptations, some of which are more sneaky than others.

When adapting one piece of media, in order to do it well, an artist has to alter the original work to fit the new medium. For example, films are much shorter than books or novellas. These alterations made the new piece valuable since the artist’s interpretation of the original becomes different once translated to the new medium. This translation is unique to the artist, and therefore can tell us, the audience, something new. That new idea is a reason why we adapt.

Creation and Adaptation

The mission at VMP took root in both adaptation and original art-haus cinema. As a film school graduate and avid reader, this drew me to the company. Their high-quality projects made me stick around.

In adaptation, VMP Films took on the ambitious Dostoyevsky Project, wherein they will adapt four of Dostoyevsky’s works. The first of this undertaking was White Nights, a novella exploring love against the contrasting background of poverty and isolation. This novella is deep and psychological as it explores the complexity of the human condition and unrequited love. VMP’s film Shades of Day dives into these themes through the main character, Linda, set in modern LA. The nature of the novella explores the fleeting nature of emotional intensity and the blending of the real with the imagined. Shades of Day dives into these themes, constantly blurring the line between tragedy and comedy. The film is available for rent or purchase on Amazon.

Although not an adaptation, the most current project in development, Nancy’s Game, is a film exploring a woman who writes a book, but needs to perform a real-life experiment in order to test her theories. Human nature is explored and tested in this bone-chilling thriller. Anybody can get involved with this film via this page and donations are made tax-deductible with From the Heart Production.

Robert Hurley’s Adaptation

The Dostoyevsky Project continues in the film Notes from the New World. Robert Hurley and Vitaly Sumin based the screenplay on Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, a darker story that explores the behavior of the underground man. He distrusts humanity and acts irrationally.

Hence, VM Productions’ Notes from the New World features the story of a man pursuing his dreams in Los Angeles. He faces lies and an inexplicable tie to the Russian Mafia, subsequently leading to his dreams getting confronted with the harshness of reality. 

Once production began on this project, strange things began to happen. Already reclusive, Robert Hurley began to hide away even more, leading to his disappearance. Some theories and rumors suggest that the film not only adapted the work of Dostoyevsky, but also Hurley’s life. For more details into his disappearance, check out this post on the subject.

VMP’s most recent project, An LA Story, caught live footage leading up to his disappearance.

Robert Hurley’s life was wrought with intrigue, so it only made sense that it bled into his work.

The Search Continues

Directors and writers, like Hurley and Sumin, take the time to honor and explore the themes of world literature in their own unique ways, so that wider audiences may find them. Adaptations inspire audiences to seek further truths and appreciate the classics for the drama they are (stay tuned for a future post that dives more into the adaptations themselves!) The hard work and diligence of filmmakers like those at VM Productions reflects this inspiration and appreciation.

Robert Hurley was a passionate writer and unapologetically loved classic literature. The search for him continues, as those at VMP work around the clock on both their films and his case. Stream Notes From a New World today, available for purchase or rent on Amazon, to see the adaptation itself. The thrilling behind the scenes documentary, An LA Story, releases soon, so if you want to get involved and start your film career today with a tax-deductible donation, be sure to check out dostoevsky-bts.com and dostoevsky-bts.com/rewards-for-support.

Thank you for taking the time to support literature, independent artists, and our missing screenwriter, Robert Hurley. Our method of producing provides anyone with the chance to get involved. If you’d like to learn more, sign up below and check out our free e-books today!

Follow us through our social media on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and Goodreads.

The post The Curious Case of a Missing Screenwriter and His Adaptation first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.

AMERICAN PREMIERE OF “NOTES FROM THE NEW WORLD“

Welcome fellow film fans to our deep dive into the movies that speak to us on multi-layered emotional levels. Today we’re going to be focusing on the artful comparison between the retelling film Notes From the New World by Vitaly Sumin and the book it is retold from Notes from Underground, a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. That being said, this will be an artful analysis of a well written film and its comparison to Dostoevsky’s book. You can currently find Notes From the New World with the New Director’s Cut released in 2023 on Amazon!

Notes On The Plot

Steven and Irina performing the play

The Film Notes From the New World is a relatable film that portrays life as art, and art as reality. Steven, our main character, and a few others are creating a play to represent Dostoevsky’s work and viewpoint on life. To capture a sense of realism for the play, the creators have cameras all over the theater.

In the span of one day Steven meets Sonia, who follows him home after she sees him on the street. After arriving home, Irina shows up at his door, hired by the other creators to interact with him on camera. Wanting more from their lives both women, in spite of their differences, inadvertently fall for Steven and the ideals he represents. Nevertheless, his worst problems aren’t the two girls, but instead the mafia who is keeping a very close eye on him.

Reflections On New World Art

Notes From the New World has many talented actors such as Rebecca Light, Natasha Blasick and Nathaniel Theisen. They truly mirror the characters within the book “Notes from Underground.” Within the film, the characters decided to intertwine themselves with the fictional characters from Dostoevsky’s work. They use these facades to help them deal with real world issues and consequences they face. Steven, played by Nathanael Theisen, and a few others are creating a play to represent Dostoevsky’s work to its fullest. Each are a reflection of Dostoevsky’s characters in “Notes from Underground.”

Steven is a man who revels living in pain and sorrow. Rebecca Light plays Irina, a woman trapped by the mafia because of previous choices she made to make more money than she could as an actress. Similarly to the character Liza in “Notes from Underground,” a woman treated as a whore by everyone around her, but still aches for a semblance of kindness from a man. Then we have Natasha Blasick as Sonia, considered to be “the angel” within the film, she sees Steven as her savior, and becomes devoted to him. It is hard at times to even realize when someone within the film is behaving as themselves or their “Notes from Underground” counterpart.

A Retelling of “Notes From Underground”

Our main characters all represent our modern world where people face hardships from their failed dreams. Relentlessly putting on facades to imagine a better, or different world for themselves. The theater group tends to consistently praise “Notes from Underground” in an artful comparison to the play they are creating. They see the problems of the world through Dostoevsky type glasses; the emotional suffering and war that reverberates through everyone. The inaction of change, but the worship of one way to accomplish it. Both Vitaly and Dostoevsky succeed in creating world’s with ideological discourse.

I hope you enjoyed today’s breakdown of the artful comparison between two incredible works, and the relatability to real-world issues. More posts are yet to come where I will be going further in depth to Vitaly’s charismatic films. For now, if you haven’t watched “Notes From the New World” you definitely should now. Let me know in the comments your opinion towards the film and any interesting thoughts you had!

Link to “Notes From the New World”: Watch on Amazon

To know more about how Notes From the New World was created watch the video below.

Want to know about VMP Films and about the films we make? Want to participate in our projects? Sign up to get tickets to the premiere of our movie (currently in post-production), AN LA STORY-BTS and grab our FREE e-books!

Follow us through our social media on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and Goodreads.

Edited by VMP Films

The post The Artful Analysis of “Notes From the New World” first appeared on Dostoyevsky Reimagined: Blogs.