1) What inspired you to make a documentary on Nikola Tesla so many years after his death?

Deeply engaged with the challenges and transformations shaping humanity today, I became increasingly aware of how Nikola Tesla’s life, work, and legacy appear in our educational systems — whether in formal curricula or informal learning. Recognizing the extraordinary scope and lasting influence of this visionary inventor on the modern world, I felt compelled to create this documentary film. In many ways, the project echoes Tesla’s own words: “I am working for the next hundred years.” His ideas continue to shape our daily lives, yet his story remains underrepresented. The year 2026 marks the 170th anniversary of Tesla’s birth, offering a meaningful moment to honor his genius through a series of commemorative initiatives—this film among them.

2) How much time and effort went into researching and producing this documentary?

 

The truth is that I entered the world of Nikola Tesla at the age of sixteen, and for the past thirty‑eight years I have been exploring archives around the globe that preserve materials and documentation about Tesla—his life, his personality, and his work. Over time, I have also built a substantial personal archive, which meant that the greatest investment of effort went into selecting the most meaningful material and shaping the narrative structure of the film. Another significant challenge was the absence of any video or audio recordings of Tesla himself, even though he passed away in 1943 in New York. This lack of direct audiovisual material made it especially demanding to sustain the film’s narrative energy and keep viewers fully engaged throughout.

3) The film uses archival footage and photographs to represent the past, while the present is conveyed through a female narrator. What was the creative reasoning behind this choice?

To answer this question, I turn to a passage from Nikola Tesla’s 1926 interview for Collier’s magazine, titled “When Woman Is Boss.” I reference it here because it reflects Tesla’s own understanding of the creative balance between masculine and feminine principles—a harmony essential to human progress. Tesla says: “This struggle of the human female toward sex equality will end in a new sex order, with the female as superior. The modern women, who anticipates, in merely superficial phenomena the advancement of her sex, is but a surface symptom of something deeper and more potent fermenting in the bosom of the race. It is not in the shallow physical imitation of men that woman will assert first their equality and later their superiority, but in the awakening of the intellect of woman. But the female mind has demonstrated a capacity for all the mental acquirements and achievements of men, and as generations ensue that capacity will be expanded, the average woman will be as well educated as the average man, and then better educated, for the dormant faculties of her brain will be stimulated to an activity that will be all the more intense and powerful because of centuries of repose. Woman will ignore precedent and startle civilization with their progress.

4) You have a personal connection to the Nikola Tesla International Foundation. In December 2024, you established strategic cooperation with the Swami Vivekananda and Nikola Tesla International Foundation and inaugurated the seventh TESLA SQUARE in the world. You also served as a guest lecturer at Greenfield School in New Delhi. How was that experience for you?

 

It was an enchanting and truly unique experience. Although my work takes me around the world, the profound spirituality of the Indian people—especially the youth—moved me deeply. I was equally impressed by their knowledge of Tesla’s patents and by their awareness of the historically significant relationship between Swami Vivekananda and Nikola Tesla, who met in New York and continued their encounters between 1893 and 1896. Their connection played an important role in enriching global education, fostering respect for diversity, and deepening the spiritual dimension of scientific inquiry. Together, we reflected on how visionary, spiritual, and creative these two remarkable figures were. The first Energy Conference in New Delhi, organized by the Swami Vivekananda Nikola Tesla International Foundation under the leadership of its founder, Manash Deka, and held under the auspices of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivered a powerful message to participants from diverse professions and faiths: spirituality within science is a vital driving force for the healthy development of future humanity.

5) Who was the intended audience for this documentary?

 

The primary audience is young people between the ages of 10 and 30, though in reality the film is intended for anyone who wishes to learn more about the life, work, and legacy of Nikola Tesla—a man whose inventions bridged three centuries and two millennia. Because the name “Tesla” is so often associated today with the car brand, we frequently highlight our guiding message: Tesla is not (just) a car—Tesla is a man. It was Nikola Tesla who inspired Elon Musk to name his company in Tesla’s honor.

6) Was the documentary self-financed, or did it receive support from external sponsors or institutions?

My standing within the global Tesla community made it possible to secure the support of a private investor, and for that I am deeply grateful to the film’s co‑producer, Milorad Marinović.

7) The title of the film is Nikola Tesla: The Mind That Rules the World. What does “a mind ruling the world” signify to you in Tesla’s context?

 

We should recognize that the modern functioning of industry, the global economy, medicine, space communications, wireless technology, robotics, and many other fields highlighted in the film is possible today largely because of Nikola Tesla’s patents. It is astonishing to realize that as early as 1926, Tesla was already describing concepts such as the mobile phone, drones, robots, X‑rays, plasma fields, and ether technologies—ideas that he not only envisioned but also grounded in concrete patents and devices that paved the way for the technologies we know today. I would also like to share one of my favorite reflections on Tesla, written by Hugo Gernsback in The Electrical Experimenter in 1919, then one of the world’s most influential engineering magazines. Gernsback wrote: “Nikola Tesla, in the opinion of authorities, today is conceded to be the greatest inventor of all times… His basic, as well as revolutionary, discoveries for sheer audacity have no equal in the annals of the world. His master mind is easily one of the seven wonders of the intellectual world.”

8) The music stands out as one of the film’s strongest elements. What inspired your choice of the soundtrack?

 

Music gives essential depth to the imagery and narrative of any film. For me, the compositions from the G. I. Gurdjieff – Thomas de Hartmann album offered a kind of refuge, resonating within a harmonic frequency range of 369–963 hertz that feels profoundly balanced and restorative. Many viewers have told me that while watching the film they felt “as if wrapped in a cloud” and experienced it “in a single breath,” which speaks to the atmosphere the music helps create.

9) Do you feel the documentary covers every major aspect of Nikola Tesla’s life and legacy? If not, what remains unexplored?

 

Yes, I can confidently say that the film encompasses all the key domains of Tesla’s creative work, along with the essential elements of his biography. At the same time, the archives are only now beginning to “speak,” and we are witnessing increasingly surprising situations worldwide in which important documents and materials related to Nikola Tesla are being uncovered today. I am convinced that much remains to be explored — especially regarding solutions to modern challenges in which Tesla’s influence is unmistakable. This includes areas such as the application of plasma and ether technologies in defense systems and, of course, the most significant of all: free energy wireless transmission.

10) Finally, could you tell us about your next project? And congratulations on the success of this documentary.

 

Thank you for the support and attention you have given to me. In that same spirit, I continue to develop my authorial concept – Algorithm T.E.S.L.A., a unique framework for a Culture‑Led Society Development Strategy. In an era increasingly shaped by Algocracy (use of algorithms and AI to influence or govern different sectors of society), this is my response—a human‑centered counterbalance rooted in Tesla’s vision. The guiding idea is clear to me, reflected both in Nikola Tesla’s name and in the extraordinary achievements he left to humanity: Algorithm T.E.S.L.A. = Technology. Education. Science. Love. Activism.