Director Khrzhanovsky Defends Lead Actor Currentzis
Film director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, speaking at the Venice festival, declined to denounce his Greek-Russian lead actor Teodor Currentzis for not condemning
Director Ilya Khrzhanovsky has refused to condemn his lead actor's stance on the war in Ukraine. Speaking at a press conference for his film DAU at the Venice film festival, Khrzhanovsky addressed criticism of Greek-Russian star conductor Teodor Currentzis, who lives in Russia and has not publicly denounced the invasion.
"It's his choice," Khrzhanovsky said. "But I think everyone is paying for his own choice, his own life, his own destiny." The director, who has renounced his Russian citizenship and lives in exile in Germany, drew a parallel to his film's narrative. He noted that the protagonist, Nobel prize-winning physicist Lev Landau, is pressured into working on the nuclear bomb and pays for that decision.
Ukrainian Criticism and Director's Stance
The Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs had heavily criticised the film's inclusion in the Venice lineup. This criticism focused partly on Currentzis's continued residence and work in Russia without condemning President Putin's war. Currentzis did not attend the Venice premiere due to a last-minute emergency, but Khrzhanovsky stated he remains in contact and called him "one of the greatest conductors of our time."
When asked his own position, Khrzhanovsky told reporters his wish was for "peace and success for the Ukrainian government to succeed in the best possible way, to save the country and to win this war."
The Controversial DAU Project
DAU was a controversial undertaking long before the 2022 invasion. Initially conceived as a conventional biopic in 2006, it was shot in Kharkiv, Ukraine, between 2008 and 2011. The project ballooned into a massive experimental performance art piece involving 400 principal roles and approximately 10,000 extras. Some critics have compared the resulting environment to a "Stalinist Truman Show."
Allegations of on-set misconduct have persisted for over a decade. Reports indicated that real-life ex-KGB officers, playing KGB officers in the film, were permitted to control and punish other cast members. Journalist Michael Idov, who visited the set, described director Khrzhanovsky as "unhinged" in a 2011 article for GQ.
From Footage to 'Mother Film'
Khrzhanovsky revealed in Venice that he left the 700 hours of footage shot in Kharkiv untouched from the end of filming until 2023. During that period, he focused on related DAU art-project offshoots. Two experimental films, DAU. Natasha and DAU. Degeneratsiya, were screened at the Berlin film festival in 2020.
The director described the three-hour feature presented at Venice as the "mother film" of the entire DAU project. It premiered with Currentzis playing the eponymous lead, a role that has now become entangled with the real-world political choices of its performer.
