Are Russian Filmmakers Finally Coming in From the Cold?

Despite the controversy around a competition berth for Ilya Khrzhanovsky's "DAU" in Venice, top film festivals have increasingly welcomed back Russian filmmakers while the war in Ukraine drags on

By Christopher Vourlias

Christopher Vourlias

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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.

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