DAU Director Defends Currentzis at Venice Premiere — SkimNews
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- Director Ilya Khrzhanovsky told reporters at the Venice Film Festival that 'everyone pays for his own choice' when asked about lead actor Teodor Currentzis's refusal to condemn Russia's war in Ukraine, comparing Currentzis's position to his Landau character's reluctant capitulation in the film.
- Ukraine's ministry of foreign affairs criticized DAU's inclusion in the Venice lineup in part because Athens-born Currentzis continues to live and work in Russia and has never publicly denounced Putin's war.
- Khrzhanovsky, who renounced his Russian citizenship over the full-scale invasion and lives in exile in Germany, said he wished 'peace and success for the Ukrainian government to succeed in the best possible way, to save the country and to win this war.'
- Currentzis, a Greek-Russian star conductor described by the director as 'one of the greatest conductors of our time,' did not attend the Venice premiere due to a 'last-minute emergency'; Khrzhanovsky said he remained in touch with his lead.
- DAU was shot between 2008 and 2011 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, growing into an experimental performance-art project with 400 principal roles and approximately 10,000 extras that critics have likened to a 'Stalinist Truman Show.'
- Allegations of misconduct have dogged the project for more than a decade, including reports that on-set 'KGB officers' — played by real-life ex-KGB officers — were allowed to control and punish the rest of the cast, prompting journalist Michael Idov to describe Khrzhanovsky as 'unhinged' in a 2011 GQ article.
Why it matters: The director's refusal to distance himself from Currentzis hands Ukraine's foreign ministry fresh ammunition in its campaign to isolate cultural figures who continue working in Russia. Filming the 700 hours of footage in Kharkiv — a city now heavily targeted by Russian strikes — gives the controversy a specific Ukrainian geography that other Russia-culture clashes lack.
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