Zombot Pictures partners Anya Remizova ’06 (left), Adriana Mather and James Bird share a moment at the L.A. Skins Fest, a Native American film festival.
The struggle between your parents’ hopes and your own dreams is one Anya Remizova ’06, ’10 knows firsthand. Remizova wanted to pursue music. However, her parents hoped she would study business and one day take over the family’s thermal insulation business. After receiving two bachelor’s degrees from Shenandoah University, she was able to reconcile her parents’ desires with her own and achieve more than she ever dreamed.
A resident of Los Angeles, Remizova is a movie producer, composer and co-owner of Zombot Pictures, an independent production company. She is proud to put her degrees in business administration and music production and recording technology to good use.
“I gained a lot of experience while studying music and business, and I ended up using both as a producer and a composer,” she said. “I didn’t really envision things happening that way back in the day, but I’m really grateful for the unexpected path my career has taken.”
A native of Russia, Remizova initially came to Shenandoah as an exchange student studying business. However, one of the reasons she chose Shenandoah was for its conservatory, as she intended to quietly take music classes while attending the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business. A few music classes eventually evolved into auditioning for Shenandoah Conservatory, and Remizova began working on a second degree.
Remizova moved to LA following her last semester at Shenandoah to complete an internship requirement for her music production and recording technology degree. She interned with Epitaph Records, one of the country’s largest independent record labels, enjoying the creative atmosphere of LA. Once her internship ended, she decided to stay.
Despite facing a harsh job market, Remizova eventually found her career passion alongside a few close friends.
“I couldn’t find a job, and for a year I didn’t know what to do with myself until I met James Bird and Adriana Mather, and we decided to do films together.”
All three felt like outsiders from the established studio system, so they decided to start making films on their own.
“We wanted to do something, and we didn’t want to wait for other people to provide us with an opportunity to do it,” said Remizova. To date, the trio has made three films, two of them under the banner of their production company, Zombot, which they started in 2012.
Their first company film, “Eat Spirit Eat,” was financed by Remizova’s father as a show of support for his daughter. Her father, who was battling cancer, sadly passed away during the filming.
“It was a really difficult experience for me and for my friends. We overcame a lot in that process of making that film and dealing with all these things. What happened to my dad actually inspired us to make our third film, ‘Honeyglue.’”
Along with producing, Remizova served as composer for both “Eat Spirit Eat” and “Honeyglue.” While composing a film score seemed a daunting task at first, once she got into it Remizova says it was a great experience.
“I had this idea in my head that you have to be this person with an orchestra to make a movie score,” said Remizova. “I was scared at first because I didn’t know how to approach the whole process. But I learned it as I went along, and it was actually really fun. I think what came out was really good.”
Looking back at what she’s accomplished in the last few years, Remizova credits her professors at Shenandoah University with teaching her she is capable of anything.
“I have a lot of respect for people who teach the arts,” she explained. “It’s a very strange and difficult thing to teach. A lot of creative people are sensitive and kind of insecure, so to teach them to express themselves and give them support, that’s a really difficult thing to do. In the beginning, I didn’t have much confidence or experience, but Shenandoah University gave me the chance to do something and prove that I could do it.”
— Hilary Legge ’14