Tina Kakadelis
SXSW Film & TV Festival is known for showcasing the strange and weird. Usually, that’s reserved for genre horror or maybe a dystopian folk rock opera. Spreadsheet Champions also exists on the fringes, but instead of horror and monsters, you’ll find pivot tables and formulas. This yearly championship for the best of the best in the Microsoft programs and the young people who compete are athletes in their own rights. Director Kristina Kraskov weeded through the hundreds of participants to create Spreadsheet Champions. Ahead of the film’s premiere at SXSW, Kristina sat down with Film Obsessive News Editor Tina Kakadelis to discuss finding weird stories, building trust with your subjects, and the heart underneath it all.
Film Obsessive: Kristina, your filmography is a fascinating list of mullets, local celebrities, road train driving, and more. How do you find these stories? What draws you to these subjects?
Kristina Kraskov: Essentially, if I hear about it, if it’s a bit weird, and if it makes me ask a lot of questions. Then, when I do ask those questions and find there’s a bit more depth and heart there, that’s what I go for. I love things that are a bit unusual, but I think a lot of weird people can teach us a lot of wonderful things.
So how did you hear about the World Championships of Microsoft Excel?
I read an article about six years ago that said this kid is brilliant, he’s the best in the country, and he’s heading off to compete in the World Championships of Excel. I was like, what? I had so, so many questions and I wanted to watch a film about it.
I looked everywhere online and there was no film. Then I remembered that I was a filmmaker (laughs). So that’s what happened.
Was that kid in the Excel program?
Yeah, he was. I think Excel made it stand out even more because it’s considered the hard and prestigious category.
Was there ever a moment where you were like, I want to tackle every aspect of this championship? The Word and the PowerPoint competitions?
I think we thought about it for a little bit, but Excel is, and this is a little bit divisive, but most people say it’s the hardest test, and you get the most competitive real, real extreme athletes in it. That really made it stand out. From a storytelling perspective, I guess you want the competitors to be competing against each other as well.
I thought I knew a lot about Excel, and then I watched this and I was like, oh, I know nothing. One of the, I guess you could say, problems that comes up is that since this is such an important yearly event, the test is so well guarded. You guys didn’t actually get to shoot any of the test itself. Did that feel like a bit of a barrier for people in that it might be hard for them to understand what these kids are doing on the computer?
Yeah, definitely. Bing is so serious about security, and they do a lot to keep it safe because it can mean a lot for a country for their student to win. It took a really long time to gain Bing’s trust to even let us in the room and let us know the questions as well.
And is this Bing’s full-time job? Creating this test?
He also does other things within a company that are really complicated. He explained it to me once and it was a lot. He spends a lot of time on this test though. He didn’t want us having any copies of questions that could ever be used again for security purposes. He’s very hardcore.
Do you know roughly how many students participate every year?
It does change. Basically, nearly 100 countries attempt to qualify, but not all of them can afford to send students. All of them have to get visas. I think it ranges in the Excel competition from around like 60 to 100-ish, sometimes 120 competitors.
Of that 60 to 120, you pick your six. How did you first land on the number six?
We wanted to get a wide variety of competitors with really different personalities, cultures, geographies, support systems, and strengths and weaknesses. We pre-interviewed them all, and the six we ended up going with were just so unique from each other. I think we nailed it. I think it’s a good spread.
They’re a fun group of kids too. I liked the one girl who, as soon as the test ended, said, “I’m so glad it’s over. I’m going to go listen to One Direction now.”
We went to school with her, and she was cool and popular. It was so unexpected. I just couldn’t believe it. Her friends didn’t make fun of her. Everyone just loved her.
It’s so great. I love that. Maybe the kids are all right. In documentaries especially, you have to build trust between the filmmakers and the subject. I feel like it’s even more true when you have young people involved. What are the safeguards that you put in place for sharing these stories? Did they get any say in how the edit went?
So we chatted to them early on and then, obviously, some of them are minors. So we had the parents around on all those chats. Then, when we went to meet them, we pretty much told everyone what we were going to be doing and asked them, what’s normal for them to be doing that we could film. What’s realistic? We gave them the areas we would talk about and some pre-questions, and I think that helped make them a bit more comfortable.
We showed them all a final cut. Just asking, does this represent you and your journey? They all absolutely loved the cut. So that was great.
Did you ever think about making a more intense version of the documentary where you get really in the weeds of the Excel part of it?
I mean, definitely it was a battle of how much to put in about the story versus the technical side. It was really about the competition, but for me, it was more about the human journey and the human side of it. I think there are a lot of hardcore Excel fans who will want that film. Unfortunately, I’m not qualified enough in Excel to be the one to do that. But you know, I never say never.
So SXSW, are you excited? What are you looking forward to? I feel like there’s a huge Australian showing at the festival this year.
A record year for Australia, which is cool! I’m so excited. I’ve been to Austin before, but I’ve never been to South By. I don’t know what to expect, but I’m excited to go to the screenings and get everyone’s reaction to the film.
Okay. My last question for you. If you absolutely had to compete in one of these challenges, are you picking Word, Excel, or PowerPoint?
I think there’s a little bit more room for creativity in PowerPoint. That’s my strong suit. So unfortunately, I would have to say that. With the Excel competition, there are hundreds of formulas, but 450 or so functions. What they kind of do is find the most obscure combinations of those. So if you really know it inside and out, you’re safe. But otherwise, you’re not at all. And I’d say it would be the same for PowerPoint and Word as well.
Thank you so much, Kristina. Maybe our paths will cross in Austin, but I hope you have the best time down there.
Thank you so much. And yeah, say hello, if you do come across us!
