The Venice Film Festival found itself under fire in the weeks leading up to opening night over the inclusion of “DAU,” by Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky, in the main competition of its 83rd edition.
In a joint statement released on Aug. 17, the Ukraine Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture and the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy criticized the prestigious fest for selecting what they claimed to be “a project linked to the Russian state and its networks of influence,” maintaining that the decision helped to “restore respectability” to Putin’s pariah state.
The pushback was swift. In an Instagram post responding to the criticism, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera insisted that “‘DAU’ is not a Russian film; it is not pro-Putin propaganda.” Meanwhile, Khrzhanovsky took to Facebook to refute allegations that the latest installment in his long-running project was backed by Russian financing or is “an instrument of Russian state cultural policy.”
Speaking to Variety on the eve of the festival, the director — who renounced his Russian citizenship in 2024 — doubled down, saying: “Since the war started, there was no question of what side I am on, because I am on the side of Ukraine.”
