Focusing on the forces of dark and light making a truce – the light has the day, the dark the night – and the policing that comes from making sure neither side breaks the truth – NIGHT WATCH is a breathtaking character study that drops you into a world unlike any that has seen before (especially considering the movie was made for roughly $4 million and easily looks ten times that amount).

Currently residing in Los Angeles after finishing up post-production on the follow-up DAY WATCH (which has already premiered in Russia) and now meeting with potential screenwriters for the third installment DUSK WATCH (which will film in America), Bekmambetov spoke with iF MAGAZINE about his franchise as well as his journey to becoming a filmmaker (and don’t be surprised if the name Roger Corman doesn’t pop up somewhere along the way).

TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV: I like it because it’s a city of filmmakers. There’s creativity, business -- everything.

BEKMAMBETOV: I was a student, 18 or 19 years old, in Moscow at the beginning of the 70s and there was a small cinema for art house movies in Moscow and I went to see a movie called DILLINGER IS DEAD (DILLINGER É MORTO). After this movie, five minutes after it finished, I wanted to be a filmmaker. The movie is great. There are no words for that hour and half. It’s so powerful.

BEKMAMBETOV: Traditionally, Russia has had a big and very strong film industry until the beginning of the ‘90s. There was a huge distribution system. There were 5,000 screens, and 600 movies a year. It was a big film empire. And, then, during Perestroika, when socialism fell, and disappeared, the film industry disappeared too. I think the film industry needs an ambition of the country. If the country has ambitions, the film industry will immediately appear. Film industry represents the ambitions of the country and as Russia now becomes more ambitious, people are thinking more positive, and now we see how the filmmakers become more involved and the film industry appears again.

BEKMAMBETOV: It was the beginning of the ‘90s, when there was a moment where anybody who had a little bit of money could start a film project. And my friend, his name is Gennadi Kayumov, he found the money and said "let’s make a movie." It was like $60,000 and we made a movie called PESHAVAR WALTZ about the war in Afghanistan. And we took a lot of prizes with this movie from festivals. It was an art house movie, very dark and aggressive. This movie was very successful in festivals, but there was no distribution system in Russia and nobody saw it. It was an unsuccessful project, but aesthetically it was very interesting. Then during the ‘90s, I made commercials in Russia. I was the first Russian director who was making commercials and it helped me create a crew, good company and to learn how to use different techniques, and how to tell stories. It helped me a lot.

BEKMAMBETOV: During the ‘90s I was busy with commercials and the end of the ‘90s, I understood it was a time now to get back in the film business and I received a proposal from Roger Corman to direct this funny movie. It was a remake of the old Pam Grier movie. It was very, very unsuccessful because of money. There was a very small budget and our ambitions were huge, at the same time it was very, very helpful for us, because it was a good education. It was very important to relate with the "Roger way" of how to make movies.

BEKMAMBETOV: 20 days, maybe more.

BEKMAMBETOV: Actually ESCAPE FROM AFGHANISTAN is PESHAVAR WALTZ. Roger Corman took this movie from me and released as a different movie. It was a good trick. He said, "we’ll release it, give me your rights to release it and I gave it to him."

BEKMAMBETOV: It was a project that came from my friends, they are producers. They originally invited me to co-produce and direct a movie for four TV episodes. Originally it was a TV mini-series and I said "no, it’s not interesting for me. I will be glad to direct movie for theater." So they said, "okay, let’s make a TV series and you will make a movie from the same material." They found this book, this writer, and we start. We started to do this, it was 2002 maybe. And then it becomes one of the first materials. And now, they already know, this movie will never be broadcast on TV. It’s only in the theaters.

BEKMAMBETOV: Roger Corman taught us how to do this. He gave us the secrets.

BEKMAMBETOV: It’s very simple, to be creative and if you don’t have money, be creative. That’s it. Be creative and to like your audience and to love your audience and love filmmaking, which is important itself. Then, you don’t need a lot of money. If you don’t have enough ideas, then you need a lot of money.

BEKMAMBETOV: We decided if we needed subtitles, we didn’t have to be ashamed we have subtitles. We have to be proud we have a chance to make subtitles for a movie and it was a progression. You have to fall in love with things and with your business. If you like subtitles, you will make it as something unique. And we understood that subtitles will help us tell the story and to entertain audiences with it.