Controversial Director ilya Khrzhanovsky on Failing at Venice, Getting Banned in Russia, Ordering 70 Tons of Cabbage, and Casting Criminals as Judges

Russia-Born Director and Artist ilya khrzhanovsky Will Receive The Honorye Heart of Sarajevo and Is The Focus of A Curated Retrospective of His Filas at 31st Edition. But Dringing a Sarajevovo Masterclass on Wednesday, He Ga Gave Some Insights Invo His Wild World of Creatcy and Controversial DAU Project, All The Way to Ordering 70 tons of Cabbage Heads to His Set and Casting Criminals As Judges.

Born in Russia, Khrzhanovsky Graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). Has Spoken Out Against Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Last Year, The Russian Ministry of Justice Added Him to It List of Foreign Agents, and He Renounced His Russian Citizenship.

His DEBUT FEATURE 4 Won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2005 after Falling Flat at the Venice Film Festival a Year Earlier. His films DAU. Natasha an DAU. Degeneration Screwed at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020. The Former Won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to Cinematography That Year.

His FIRST Feature 4 Premiered in 2004 at Venice, But It Wasn’t the Instant Hit That Director Had Hoped For. “In Venice, WHEN I SHOWED The MOVIE, IT WAS A REAL FAIL. MOST OF THE AUDIENCE LEFT,” KHRZHANOVSKY RECALLED ON WEDNESDAY. “IT WAS A Kind of Shock, Because and Was Sure I Had Done Something Unique, Great, and Now All The World Wound Celebrate It screenings, and they Canceled One. ”

After his return to Russia, “this movie was Immedialate Forbidden,” the Director Contin. “And the minister of culture told me what i should Cut Out – It Was 40 Minutes. And I SAID, ‘NO, I WILL NOT CUT IT’.” HE RECALLED THE FEELING AT THAT STAGE THAT 4 WAS AN “Absolute Failure.”

But then Rotterdam Film Festival Selectors watched the Movie and Decides to Screen It in Competition. “And then every everything was Opposite to Venice in Rotterdam,” Khrzhanovsky Emphasized. “IT was a real Success. All the screenings were sol Out. There were extra screenings.… And then i just started to get prizes. It was a good lesson that festival.

For the Past 15 Years-Plus, The Creative Has Been Focusing on His Expansive DAUOriginally concentrated as a biopic of nobel prize-winning soviet fitting lev landau, nicknamed dau, before mutating into a vast immersive artwork, inclitation First Film That Came Out in 2019.

In 2009, After Building A Huge Recreation of A Secret Stalin-Aera Science Institute in A Former Sports Arena in the Ukrainian Town actors to live and work on set, with some effectvely staying in Character for as long as Three Years. With Roving Cameras Potentially Recoding Every Conversation, The Experience Was Licked to A “Soviet Truman Show.” And it Led Some Insiders to Complain of Mistreatment on Set, Including Graphic Violence and Allegations of An Oppressive Environment for Women. Khrzhanovsky denied the allegations.

Khrzhanovsky Illustrated his Ambition for the Project and His Aim to “Create The Feeling of Another Type of Reality” with a little surprising anetes on wednesday. For Example, He Turned Audence Heads WHEN HE Shared Matter-of-Factly: “I Cast 352,000 People.” ALSO, FOR ONE SCENE, HE RECALLED, “We Brough in 70 tons of Cabbage and Put Some Concrete on Them.”

But is not all about superlating for the creative. “IN SOVIET CURTS, ACTUALLY IN RUSSIAN CURTSS as Well As We Can See, All The Decisions Were [court] Process Started, “Khrzhanovsky SAID.“ SO, I DECIDED TO INVITE POOPLE WHO KNOW A LOT About Court – Criminals – To Play Judges ”in the Immersive DAU Experience. He THEN SHOWED Some Photos, Explaing: “They Are Criminals. This Guy, For Example, His Nickname Is Butcher. For Three Hours of Material Should be, What Kind of Decision they would make. ”

Describing the size of the immersive experience, Khrzhanovsky Mentrated an Area of 13,000 Square Meters, “Probably The Biggest Set in Europe,” Explainer: “Four War,” For. If You Decided to Go There, You would Probably Keep Your Name and Your Profession, But Your Biography Wound Go Back in Time for Like 50, 60 Years. ”

For example, there was a pleaning lady. “She just pleted the Floor. Of Course, She used not contemporary chemicals, But Old Chemicals,” The Artist Said. “And she earned the salary in soviet Rubles, Because We Wanted to have All the Elements of Real Life. And if You Wanted to Have A Better Salary or Haveec Party.