Al Dubinsky

Check out the full interview with Al Dubinsky below...

Not new to New York City apartment rental laws, I was friends with the owner of the house which had everything in The Redeemables occur. The film is based on a true story which happened to my friend Steven Epstein who is portrayed by Alexander Reed as Marty. He met a woman on social media who moved in as soon as he gave her a hint that she was welcomed and in turn started renting out every room to anyone she would meet without his permission.

I immigrated to Brooklyn, NY when I was a teenager from the former soviet union what is now Odessa, Ukraine, In Ukraine we had this one movie theater across the street from me, called Kino Rodina, and they would show American subtitled films. I grew up in poverty, in the soviet era, and to get away from family problems, fights, arguments I would go to this theater as a form of therapy, to get away from everything. The First film I saw was in the theater was Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and to this day I believe she was the most beautiful woman in the world. To this day, when there are problems in my life I turn to movies. After working in various professions throughout my life, I became a professional stand up comedian in New York City which led me to acting training, writing and filmmaking eventually, it’s been a wonderful journey and I am grateful for the opportunity and the ability to make perform and make films. I always loved telling stories about my past in Ukraine and growing up in NYC, so during the pandemic when everything shut down including acting work I picked up a camera and started learning.

I cant really say what would be my favorite movie, because there are so many of them that would be my favorites, but if I had to pick one it has to be Stanley Kubrick because I have watched and rewatched Spartacus since I was 8 years old, and The Shining since I moved to America when I was 12.

I have always loved telling stories, and always imagined myself making a film, but financially could not attain it and was afraid of it because I felt to make such a great movie like I wanted I needed a lot of money.

Pretty much financial, locations are expensive, crew is expensive, deciding on proper color grade, and I could not get an editor because I did not have much of a budget so I learned and edited it myself.

If you are at a low budget, you are going to have to do the roles yourself, if you cant afford a PA, use a slate and order in, if you cant get an editor because of your budget. Then you have to learn editing. Casting was never an issue because I was an actor so I recruited actors Ive worked with to work on the film, so I was lucky in that way.

I believe a filmmaker should bring a great story, and if they have a great story only then can they decide to go original or stick to classic but cinema style. This is a great question and really depends on deadlines and budget.

I believe film festivals are the most important role in filmmaking right now, as a low budget indie filmmaker with NO connections the only way to get seen I believe is through film festivals. The way I would get the most out of them would be to submit to as many as possible and fix your finished film based on that.

I have 2 shorts and one pilot already scheduled to shoot by summer of 2023, so this production and ones I shot after have significantly helped me get future projects which was my goal, to get better and make better films.

Thank you for this inspiring interview and for taking the time to honestly answer all the questions. The BIA team wishes you great success with your next projects!