One of this year’s Berlinale selections has already sparked controversy as the festival comes to a close this weekend. “Dau. Natasha,” the sophomore feature from Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, is a harrowing film experiment in which the director built a vast 42,000-square-foot set in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and cast some 352,000 people to live 24 hours a day in a meticulous rendering of a Soviet science institute. Ordinary people are asked to live in full character and hold normal jobs — even if that means facing repercussions from authorities if they wander from their routine. The movie, which won a cinematography prize out of the Berlinale on Saturday, culminates in a queasy scene of sexual assault that has led a group of Russian journalists to question the ethics of including the drama at all among the competition titles. In tandem, the director is tangling in his own share of controversy over the ambitious film.
- 2/29/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
A group of Russian journalists at the Berlinale have published an open letter to festival leadership, questioning their selection of controversial Russian film “Dau. Natasha” during a period “marked by the struggle against the culture of violence and abuse in the film industry.”
The post, published Saturday on Russian feminist film website Kkbbd.com and signed by five accredited journalists, takes aim at the alleged violence, both psychological and physical, towards cast members in the making of the Russian epic, which was largely shot on a sprawling Ukrainian set over several years, with cast and crew completely immersed throughout the period.
Directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky and Jekaterina Oertel, “Dau. Natasha” is one instalment of a planned series of films culled from more than 700 hours of footage. A second film, “Dau. Degeneration,” premiered out of competition in the Berlinale Special selection Friday.
Addressed to Berlinale creative director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariette Rissenbeek,...
The post, published Saturday on Russian feminist film website Kkbbd.com and signed by five accredited journalists, takes aim at the alleged violence, both psychological and physical, towards cast members in the making of the Russian epic, which was largely shot on a sprawling Ukrainian set over several years, with cast and crew completely immersed throughout the period.
Directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky and Jekaterina Oertel, “Dau. Natasha” is one instalment of a planned series of films culled from more than 700 hours of footage. A second film, “Dau. Degeneration,” premiered out of competition in the Berlinale Special selection Friday.
Addressed to Berlinale creative director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariette Rissenbeek,...
- 2/29/2020
- by Manori Ravindran and Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
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