Wes Hurley

Wes Hurley, birth name Vasili Naumenko, was born in Vladivostok, Russia in 1981. He grew up in a location where media was under state control and severely limited as a result. The course of his life was forever changed one evening when he discovered a rogue TV channel airing American-made films. Upon seeing the 1980s movie Ghost, Hurley became inspired by the power of moviemaking magic.

Hurley has become a writer and producer of films both short and feature-length. While acknowledging that he has little option but to have a DIY-approach to his workflow, he still has an appreciation for the creativity that comes from that framework. Since his first short in 2007, Bad Things Happen to Good People & Dogs, he has directed 15 films, written 9, and produced 17 in total.

Of all his films his short, Little Potato (2017), is one of his most celebrated. An autobiographical film, Little Potato recounts Hurley’s adolescence. Spoiler alert, the film describes the experience of seeing the infamous third channel that exposed him to American media, how his mother became a mail-order bride to a white, conservative Christian living in Seattle, WA—who later came out as a transgender woman—and what it was like to come out to his mother as a gay man himself. Potato Dreams of America, his feature-length film, is a longer version of his story.

Today Hurley continues to live in Seattle and currently works as a translator of the Russian language. He enjoys the position and the freedom it provides to be creative while also not worrying about overseeing others—the natural stress that comes from being a filmmaker. Nevertheless, his joy for the magic of filmmaking burns bright and plans for the next project continue to move forward.