Meet Dimitri Dyó

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dimitri Dyó a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Dimitri with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

The answer to that question changed in the last few years.

Originally, my work ethic stems from the experience of moving to Germany just around the age of elementary school enrolment. My parents taught me—and came to the same conclusion after my first student-teacher interactions—that my fellow immigrant classmates and I would need to work harder than the German-born students to prove ourselves. Even as attitudes toward immigrants improved I kept onto that mindset.

As of late, however, I have found that you are more successful when you fight for someone else rather than yourself. As part of different film productions, where people have to rely on you, I am now able to work just that little bit harder because I know that it will not just benefit me.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Ever since my family emigrated from Ukraine to Germany and I was able to learn the new language by watching local TV, I have appreciated cinema’s ability to permeate cultural and linguistic barriers. Film is a truly universal language, and as a film producer, I always strive to become more eloquent in that language.

After studying English and history in Germany, and teaching it at a secondary-school level for a while, I completed a Master of Fine Arts program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where I met most of my current recurring collaborators. At the time of writing, I am working in film marketing with Winston-Salem-based production company Speaks Entertainment and consulting on the marketing and potential film adaptations of book manuscripts for the publisher Woven Lines, while working on a few independent productions. (To name one example, I am coproducing a TBA musical film with stage actor Jeremiah James.)

As a storyteller, I enjoy assuming an outsider perspective and presenting daily life through a warped look, so the films I direct tend to have a very stylized look. One of my recent projects, which I plan to release online within the coming months after its festival run, is “Spitting Image.” In this dark comedy (made possible by many generous donations on Indiegogo and by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute, as well as the dedicated work of the cast and crew), I got to combine my twin passions of horror and comedy for a darkly funny coming-of-age story.

Outside of film, my main art forms are drawing and graphic design, examples of which I regularly post on Instagram.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The first advice I would give people is to accept a certain level of risk. While I built a safety net for myself before committing to a career in the arts, we are living in a constantly evolving world and waiting until you are ready can trick you into delaying your dreams indefinitely.

The three main skills that helped me on my journey are:

1.) Curiosity (useful for any artist, but interest in the people around you helps you be a better communicator and person)

2.) Adaptability

3.) A stubborn commitment to see things to the end.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

Try to travel more, try to help people more, finish all projects no matter the quality.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dimitridyo/

Image Credits

Credit for “Spitting Image” photos: Erwick D’Souza

Credit for “UNCSA-IFS”-related images: Ciro Cappellari