Two days ago, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture, as well as the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy, released a statement condemning the Venice Film Festival for including — OH MY GOD — a Russian movie in competition!
The condemned film is Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s “DAU,” which will compete for the Golden Lion next month on the Lido. The 3h15-minute film follows the release of “DAU. Degeneration” (2019) and “DAU. Natasha,” which won the Silver Bear in Berlin in 2020.
By the way, it’s not like Khrzhanovsky has any ties to the Kremlin. He’s actually a Russian dissident who ended up on the regime’s blacklist as a “terrorist and enemy of the state.”
This pushback against “DAU” has now led Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera to take to social media on Wednesday, via his Instagram, to fight back against criticism of the inclusion of a Russian filmmaker in this year’s edition.
Barbera wrote in an Instagram post that “to build a web of accusations based on false premises and the manipulation of reality in order to attack the Biennale and a film invited to compete is a petty and unacceptable act. ‘DAU’ is not a Russian film; it is not pro-Putin propaganda. It is a film that denounces totalitarian regimes and their intrusion into citizens’ lives to restrict their freedom.”
Principal photography for the “DAU” project took place between 2008 and 2011, well before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The project actually received partial funding from the Ukrainian State Film Agency in 2012. Filming took place in Kharkiv, where a large closed set was built and populated by around 400 non-professional actors, many of whom were cut off from the outside world during production. Hundreds of hours of footage were recorded, eventually producing two released films. The goal is to create 14 (!) movies from the footage shot.
This latest headache for Barbera comes just a few weeks after online backlash over there being only one female director in competition, to which Barbera responded that he’s more interested in the quality of a film than in any imposed quotas.
Side note: we’re still waiting for the announcement of the surprise film that’s supposed to be added to the competition lineup at Venice. Something is definitely getting added, but as I previously mentioned, “security issues” are currently preventing confirmation. I have no idea what this movie could be.
Mann brought his new "Director's Final Cut" to Beyond Fest in L.A. last night. Mann stayed for a Q&A afterward. Suffice it to say, the cut certainly has people talking, and mostly not in a good way.