Method & about
Patience before the
camera is the method
Interviews in sensitive contexts are not made on the shooting day — they are made in the preparation. My working method is a four-step process that protects the people and safeguards your institution.
The four steps in detail
Understanding what your institution needs
Audience, framework, funding logic, deadlines. You receive a roadmap and — if desired — calculation blocks for your funding application. No costs until the framework stands.
Before the shooting day
On request I hold an advance conversation with the interviewees — by phone or in person. What is told is decided by the person. Relatives are included, consents are documented — with scope: exhibition, web, social media, duration.
A calm set, a small team
Directing, camera and sound in one hand — no strangers in the room. Breaks whenever they are needed. Subtitles as a standard. Accessibility from location to final version.
A handover that lasts
Documented files (person, place, date, occasion, rights note), documented handover, durable short addresses for your collection on request. Your institution will still be able to quote in twenty years without calling me.
About Ilja Kagan
Ilja Kagan is a filmmaker and photographer. Born in St. Petersburg, he has lived in Düsseldorf since early childhood and has run his own production company, Draw-A-Change, there since 2014. More than 600 projects have been created since then, mainly for Jewish communities, organisations, museums and memorial sites in North Rhine-Westphalia — among them the State Parliament of NRW, the NS Documentation Centre Krefeld / Villa Merländer, the Jewish Museum Westphalia in Dorsten, Maccabi Germany and the Jewish Community of Düsseldorf. Together with the LWL Mediacentre for Westphalia, he co-directed a film about Dorsten.
His work focuses on conducting interviews in sensitive contexts and on delivering the material in archive-ready form. He works in German, Russian, English and French, and speaks Italian and Hebrew at conversational level. Interfaith dialogue matters to him personally — in his work and beyond.
Principles of this work
· The perspective belongs to the portrayed, not to me.
· No sentimentality cuts, no urgency on grief.
· Consents with documented scope.
· Material is documented, not just delivered.
· Privacy-conscious hosting and delivery on own servers in Germany.
· Interfaith dialogue: formats that build bridges.
Let's get to know each other
A 20-minute phone call is enough to assess whether and how your project works — without obligation.