Remembering Denis Ten

[sweetwater]

 

https://kazakh-tv.kz/en/view/culture/page_204262_almaty-will-host-friends-of-denis-ice-show

 

[ralucutzagy]

 

 

[sallycinnamon]

There is a Denis Ten Memorial exhibition in Seoul until today, with many pictures of him, his costumes, skates and medals.

Yuna Kim also visited it last week.

 

 

[sweetwater]

 

[Fay]

Yesterday Denis Ten would have turned 27. Shae Lynn Bourne put out a fragment of his would be program just now 

 

[Fay]

It’s a sad anniversary of Denis Ten’s death. He would have been 27 by now... 

[sweetwater]

 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

Alexander Majorov replied to a tweet by Denis's fan about the Winter Universiade 2017 held in Almaty 

 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

6 hours ago, turquoiseblue said:

Alexander Majorov replied to a tweet by Denis's fan about the Winter Universiade 2017 held in Almaty 

 

 

Sasha posted a message on his Instagram story, too 

 

[sallycinnamon]

7 hours ago, turquoiseblue said:

 

Sasha posted a message on his Instagram story, too 

 

 

It's really sad that they planned to record a song together which didn't happen. 

 

Remembering Denis these days because Pyeongchang 2018 was his last competition (he didn't go to Worlds after it). He didn't qualify for the free skate as there were some mistake in the short program, but I remember his beautiful performance of Tu Sei. RIP Denis.

[sublimeskating]

Denis was really special.

I still feel very upset to think how far too soon he was taken away from the world.

So much Goddamn injustice in this world...

[VicXs]

Almost 4 years later, his death still traumatized me  I wish it was a dream so I could like meet him. But for now, long live Denis 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

Denis Ten’s Movie ‘Blind Love’ to Premiere This Week, Four Years after His Tragic Death
The Astana Times
19 July 2022

 

Quote

The movie, which was produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Denis Ten’s mother Oksana Ten, will be available in movie theatres in Almaty and Nur-Sultan from July 28.

 

The movie tells the story of two lonely young people with speech and visual impairment. The pen-pals fall in love with each other, however, they feel ashamed of their impairments and hesitate to declare their feelings. Filming took place in Hollywood, Los Angeles in 2019.

 

The producers kept Ten’s original script written in English and did not make any edits. The songs and music featured in the movie were also composed by Ten.

 

The movie was directed by the Venice International Film Festival laureate South Korea’s Chuck Chae, while Kazakhstan’s Igor Tsay acted as an executive producer.

 

In 2018, Denis Ten wrote the script and submitted his application to the Screenlife Contest organized by Timur Bekmambetov’s Bazelevs Production.

 

A month after winning the competition, on July 19, Denis Ten was attacked with a knife by two car thieves in Almaty. The 25-year-old athlete was taken to the hospital and later succumbed to his injuries.

 

Here is a trailer 

 

[Guest turquoiseblue]

Film director Timur Bekmambetov talks about Denis and "Blind Love":

 

"Его креативности было тесно в спорте". Тимур Бекмамбетов рассказал о встрече с Денисом Тен
Tengrinews
27 July 2022

 

DeepL Translate

Quote

According to Bekmambetov, his first acquaintance with Denis took place when the script for Blind Love was already in the semi-finals of the Bazelevs competition.

 

"This was the first time we had screenplay selection in a screenlife format: when the action of a film unfolds entirely on computer and mobile phone screens. The competition was a closed one: we judged only ideas. The semi-finalists included a story about a girl and a young man who correspond on social networks and fall in love with each other. They don't know how to talk about their difference: she is hearing-impaired and he is blind.

 

For me, it was important that the narrative format itself - on mobile screens - was fundamental to the story, and in Denis's idea this principle worked: smartphones became a tool for communication between the two characters. The good thing about screencast is that it is a new format and not much has been said or done yet. And such a story of two lovers was interesting for me to see. But I learnt about the fact that Olympic medallist figure skater Denis Ten wrote the script for Blind Love, when the project was already among the best. And a week after that meeting Denis tragically died," said the director.

Quote

Denis himself, after suffering an ankle injury in 2017, was able to find many new hobbies thanks to the time freed up from his numerous training sessions. When asked if Denis could become a professional filmmaker in the future, Bekmambetov said that Denis was certainly a multi-talented person.

 

"It was immediately apparent, and that appealed to me. It was obvious to me that his creativity was cramped in sport. He was passionate and hungry for creativity: he recorded music quite professionally, he was into photography. I liked the way he combined this creative vision and sportsmanship - the habit of winning. That would definitely have come in handy in the film industry as well," said the director.

Quote

Among the contestants from Bazelevs were both newcomers to directing and young people with experience. It begs the question: how was an athlete able to beat their more experienced competitors?

 

"The competition was for young authors who understand technology and social media and are interested in our lives unfolding on phone and computer screens. But many had professional experience under their belt, at least from film school or even their first serious projects. Denis had no such experience, and in his case this only worked to his advantage. His script was very sincere. And this purity and sincerity took precedence over experience and sophistication," admitted Timur Bekmambetov.

Quote

As a result, there were almost no edits to the script in the making of the film. Bekmambetov noted that no one wanted to change the script without Denis' participation. If necessary, the filmmakers only consulted with Denis' mother Oxana Ten.

 

Since the action of the film in a screencast format unfolds on the screens of devices, shooting, according to Bekmambetov, cost much less than traditional films.

 

"That's the advantage of the format for young authors. We didn't want to create a commercial product: after all, Denis's script is a short form, the film is only 32 minutes long, so it's great that cinemas supported this work, which means they believe their audience will love the film. We wanted to help realise the vision of a talented man who was one step away from realising it," he said.