VM Productions/Filmmakers - Meet People Behind the Scenes!

Sumin’s award-winning short film "From Womb To Tomb," which he wrote, directed edited, and produced, made a world tour of important festivals. Following that initial success, Sumin's path diverged slightly - from filmmaking to game development. In 1988, he received a US patent #4,784,394 for "The World Belongs To You!" - an interactive tourist game (including video, reality TV and other versions).

Resuming his film pursuit, Sumin attended the Sorbonne in Paris under a study grant. His script "The Idiot", which recast Fyodor Dostoevsky novel as a contemporary international thriller, received a development grant from The Warner Bros Fund. Later Sumin moved to Los Angeles, California, and created VM Productions to develop and produce quality films based on original stories and masterpieces of world literature.

2006: Shades of Day, - the initial offering of VM Productions' the ambitious Dostoevsky-LA Project. This film was selected by the Rutgers University’s professor Gerald Pirog for his course in cinema along with classic works by Bertolucci, Kurosawa, Bresson, Scorsese, Shrader, Von Sternberg... (click for more info) http://www.shadesofday.com/critics.htm

2010-2011- Notes From The New World - the second installment of the Dostoevsky-LA Project. (click for more info)

2020-2022 - VMP Films is currently developing a package of four feature-length films, with Sumin slated to direct: Idiot-LA, Shades of Blood, Crime and Punishment-LA, and Love Game (click here for more info)

2021-2022 - Nick Investigates Robert Hurley's Disapperance (animated feature) - In Production ! (click here for more info)

2022 - An LA Story - feature length documentary - final cut completed! - Shades of Day - new director's cut!

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, PRODUCTION AND POST- PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

In a recent email to a co-worker, Vitaly Sumin stated the following: “We couldn’t be where we are now--as far as the production values and all the related complicated technicalities (editing, transfers, sound, etc., as well as even the initial PR stuff)--without the constant 24/7 assistance and great help of an ANGEL. He came to us in the earlier stages of pre-production of Notes from the New World—and he generously remains with us up to these very days.” That angel is TAESUNG YIM--writer, director, producer, and editor.

After graduating from film school, Taesung wrote and directed several short films, including the award-winning “Two of Many.” He also worked on full-length features in various capacities, including editor, sound effects editor, and associate producer. Taesung went on to write and edit two women-in-prison films, Caged Hearts and Under Lock and Key, and to direct and edit three episodes of the TV series Life, Love, and Hollywood. And as attested to above by director Sumin, Taesung’s hard-won skill, range, and versatility were indispensable to the successful production of Notes from the New World.

CINEMATOGRAPHER

GUS BLAUDZIUNAS received his Master of Fine Arts in film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He has shot scores of projects for Universal Pictures, HBO, BBC, Hearst Entertainment, Studio 2 (NYC) and many other companies. Gus has received awards for cinematography from the New York University Film Festival and the Oberhausen International Film Festival in Germany.

RICHARD CRATER was graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied Theatre Arts Performance and Management. His twenty-seven years in show business includes experience in the creative, administrative, technical and financial areas. Richard is proficient in negotiating with agents and possesses knowledge of and access to performing talent at all levels.

DAN MARCUS is a creative/marketing consultant and copywriter specializing in film and music. He’s been with VM Productions since Shades of Day (2006), the initial chapter of its Dostoevsky-LA Project. For the company’s film, Notes from the New World (2011), he advised on editing and sound issues during post-production. Prior to release, he wrote the press kit, the tag line, and advised on the film’s poster graphics and DVD packaging. More recently, Dan worked on the new album, Bill Tapia--Live from the Warner Grand: the 100th Birthday Concert (Paniola Productions, 2011). He scripted two promotional films for the project, created the text for marketing materials and the CD packaging, advised on the graphic presentation, edited the album’s booklet, and wrote one of the featured articles, “Bill Tapia: An Appreciation.” Dan is also active as an editor and consultant in the publishing industry. Books he’s edited include The Body in Motion: It’s Evolution and Design (North Atlantic Books), The Adventures of Grammar Girl and Genius Boy (Grammar Nation), The Lesson Plan (Treble Heart books), and Elements of Skill (North Atlantic Books).

JON DEER is the lawyer, producer and screenwriter living in Los Angeles and the the son of nationally recognized film scholars Irving and Harriet Deer. He holds degrees in philosophy (cum laude) and law (with honors). His studies emphasized post-modernism in various areas including film. Jon has worked in development, business affairs, and as a screenplay analyst for companies including Turner Pictures, New Line Cinema, and producers affiliated with Twentieth Century Fox and Disney, as Director Of Film Operations for The Trump Organization/Trump Wilshire Associates, and as an associate producer with VM Productions.

VM Productions' Staff