Two-time Oscar nominee Shane Boris on his Fire Of Navalny Love experience and how a sandwich changed the course of his career

Oscar voters scanning their final ballot may get a double impression when they get to Best Documentary: The name Shane Boris really appears twice in the same category.

Boris has been nominated as a producer for both National Geographics fire of love and CNN movies’ NavalnyA rare feat in documentary film that puts him alongside the likes of Walt Disney, who was nominated for two non-fiction shorts in 1942.

“As long as we have two [nominations]…man, I feel happy and grateful,” Boris tells Deadline. “More than anything, I feel this gratitude and camaraderie for everyone who made this possible … for everyone who works with me on the teams.”

This modesty is one of the qualities that makes Boris one of the most successful producers in non-fiction films. Often a producer must accept a certain level of restraint in order for a project to realize its potential.

“I think a producer’s job has so much to do with intuitively trying to understand what the director’s vision is and how to execute and implement it,” he explains. “And you have that process of kind of selflessness as an actor in that encounter.”

For fire of loveAmong others, Boris collaborated with director Sara Dosa and co-nominated producer Ina Fichman on the story of scientists Maurice and Katia Krafft, a couple whose passionate study of volcanoes ultimately led to their deaths in a 1991 eruption. NavalnyMeanwhile, Boris teamed up with director Daniel Roher and nominated producers Odessa Rae, Diane Becker and Melanie Miller. It concerns Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who became the target of a near-fatal poison attack because of his criticism of Vladimir Putin.

The varied nature of the films demonstrates Boris’ range as a producer – one is a past tale of doomed lovers, the other unfolds largely in the present.

“My way of working is definitely not a film factory,” he says. “Really, each project is its own very delicate, very important being that I try to communicate with, listen to and understand and develop processes with them in real time.”

Despite obvious contradictions between fire of love And NavalnyBoris notices some similarities.

“I was very aware of a thematic relationship between them…a shared embodiment of fearlessness in the protagonists of both films,” he notes. “They have Alexei fearlessly in the face of authoritarianism and a kind of struggle for a better political and social future for his country. And then of course Katia and Maurice, fearlessness in the face of existential uncertainty and the forces of creation and destruction. And when it is present in a person, you can achieve extraordinary results – the life they lead becomes a place of inspiration and deserves and deserves attention.

Boris got into film production by accident. “I went to graduate school in New Delhi, India. I studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University,” he says, aiming for a career, possibly “in academia or as a diplomat.” Once he booked a flight to India which ended up being cancelled. Angry passengers, he recalls, took out their frustration on the gate agent.

“I think his name was Ramon, if I remember correctly. He looked completely beleaguered and was just shocked at what he was dealing with. So I bought him a sandwich. It was the only thing I could think of,” he says. Ramon later rewarded this act of kindness by upgrading Boris to business class. On the rescheduled flight, the graduate sat next to a film producer.

“He wanted to make a film called before the rain in southern India,” recalls Boris. “He showed me a script he was working on and when we stopped in Frankfurt I told him what I was thinking and he just said, ‘You should come on set and follow me around and see what this movie business is all about. . about. about.”

Boris did not immediately focus solely on film production, but he supported creative endeavors in a variety of fields.

“I had all these different jobs, but I ended up spending most of my time talking to friends about their jobs and helping them think about what they needed to do to do their jobs at a higher level,” he says. . “I’ve helped people start medical technology companies or I’ve helped conceptual artists with their pieces. I’ve helped musicians strategize their careers or write lyrics for their songs. Whatever world I was in, whoever I was interacting with creatively, I would simply be a partner to them in their creative process and their strategic process.”

These skills have become very useful in documentary film production, which requires the ability to move between creative and technical demands.

“It’s a balance of creatively going down every rabbit hole as far as necessary…finding the portals to new territory, while also being intentional and efficient in your work, making sure that things go as far as is necessary, but not further than is necessary.” go out and get creative so it doesn’t go beyond what can be done on budget, or it doesn’t burn everyone out so they can’t be effective the next day,” he says. “There’s a real two-sided mind and heart [dynamic] where it’s all for the creatives, and then making sure it can happen on a logistical level.

Boris received his first Oscar nomination in 2020 for producing the documentary by Petra Costa The edge of democracy and has now tripled his nomination total fire of love And Navalny. He says his “film families” get along well despite what appears to be a rivalry on paper.

“We coined the term ‘Fire of Navalny Love’,” he says, “but that says something about the relationship we have between the teams. And I have no reason to believe that it will be until the last minute and after that it will not be different.”