by Fedot Streletsky
| See more about the aftermath of the Venice Film Festival here. |
It all began with dissatisfaction among progressives about the lack of gender diversity. It turned out that of the 21 films in the main competition, only one was directed by a woman. This led to an open letter with the premise that if female directors weren't "good enough" for the competition, the problem wasn't with the women, but with the selection criteria.
To which festival director Alberto Barbera responded: the only criterion is quality, and selecting based on gender is nonsense. And, in fact, since 2000, Venice has awarded first prizes to more women directors than Cannes or Berlin.
Be that as it may, the main prize ultimately went to the only film in the competition directed by a woman, Danish filmmaker Mai El Touky. Characteristically, it was titled "The Unknown Woman." It's also worth noting that this year's jury was also chaired by a woman: Maggie Gyllenhaal.
But this was only a teaser, a warm-up for truly powerful storms. One of which was triggered by the inclusion of Ilya Khrzhanovsky's film "Dau" in the program. But first, it's necessary to at least briefly explain or remind those who have forgotten what this even is.
Broadly speaking, "Dau" is a socio-cinematic experiment consisting of several separate films, the goal of which was to create a biographical drama about the Soviet physicist Lev Landau. To this end, considerable resources were deployed, and a massive model of a Soviet research institute was built in Kharkiv, where everything was subject to the laws of a totalitarian dystopia.
Filming continued for several years, during which all sorts of rumors circulated about the abominations taking place on set (violence, debauchery, and other immoral practices). When the results of this long work were finally revealed to the public in 2019, the rumors were confirmed.
Particularly strong reactions were provoked by the scene in which the Nazi Maxim Martsinkevich (also known as Tesak), who confessed to murder, deals with a pig, and the scene in which the main character, whose actress Khrzhanovsky called "just a prostitute," is raped with a bottle - without editing or special effects.
All this and much more provoked not only debates about ethical boundaries in art but also the initiation of actual criminal cases. Among other things, these cases involved the exploitation of child labor. Khrzhanovsky himself either denied it all or justified it by claiming it was part of his creative method and necessary to expose the "horrors of the Soviet system."
It's telling that the international trade press, thoroughly hyped by the pompous conceptual presentations, was generally delighted and approved of the creative approach. How, then, can the "horrors of the Soviet system" be exposed without rapes by the bottle and the brutal slaughter of animals, demonstrated in detail on camera?
Now, at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, the project's main film, the very reason for the whole thing, has been shown. Consequently, debates about ethical boundaries have flared up again, but less heatedly. The film itself was generally well-received—because it deals with Soviet totalitarianism and has the right kind of allusion. And Khrzhanovsky was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director.
In response, he said the "right" words from the stage, dedicating his victory to Kharkiv and the Ukrainians. Even though those same Ukrainians were fundamentally opposed to the Russian Khrzhanovsky ("good" or "bad"—as they've long known, it makes no difference) and his "Dau" participating in the festival. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture announced this in advance in a joint statement.
Khrzhanovsky had to write an explanatory note in three languages, including Russian for some reason, and refute in detail every accusation brought against him (that DAU was financed by the Kremlin, serves as an instrument of Russian cultural policy, and other similar accusations).
In any case, the impact of this ponderous pseudo-biopic about the misery of fictional people in a fictional USSR is incomparable to the furor created by the premiere of NAZA's film. After the screening, the audience gave it a standing ovation for 25 minutes. In other words, everyone loved it (so much so that the jury awarded it a special prize). Except for the Israelis and their sympathizers.
The thing is, NAZA isn't exactly a film. It's more like a journalistic investigation.
| Like being the key word, because what it actually is is slick exercise in anti-Israel propaganda. |
| …which equally hates Israel, America, and the common people of a Britain, except when exploring their more picturesque native customs… |
The acronym used for the title is a military term used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and means "collateral damage." This is the subject of an investigation that concludes that the Israeli military is indeed aware that its strikes are killing innocent people, including children.
| Because innocents have never, ever been harmed in the entire history of war. Especially when Hamas, the elected government of Gaza, deliberately employs human shields. Ugh. |
But everyone is interested in other questions. For example: what to do with the authors of NAZA now? Their names, by the way, are Yuval Abraham and Rachel Shor. And they are Israeli citizens. But this will likely not last long. Because Israeli Culture Minister Micky Zohar has already initiated proceedings to revoke their Israeli passports.
"I also demanded an investigation: how the materials were obtained, who was behind them, and whether the actions taken to obtain or publish them constituted aid to the enemy during wartime," Zohar added. He also added much more, including accusing the authors of "treason against the state."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, was deeply upset. "We're fighting global incitement to anti-Semitism, and yet two Israeli filmmakers are portraying the Israel Defense Forces as war criminals and drawing applause in Venice," he fumed.
The IDF itself also commented on the situation. They said it was all a lie. Moreover, all the testimony presented was anonymous: the speakers' faces were obscured and their voices altered, making it impossible to identify them. Therefore, perhaps they weren't actually Israeli soldiers, but anti-Semitic troll provocateurs.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir even instructed the Military Attorney General to "thoroughly examine the matter and propose possible measures regarding the film and those involved." Despite the fact that the Military Attorney General's authority extends exclusively to the armed forces.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the barricades, people weren't sitting idle either. Some of the world's creative elite spoke out against Israeli lawlessness and the Palestinian genocide, organizing the Venice4Palestine campaign. It was joined by musician Roger Waters, actor Guy Pearce, and more than 200 other prominent figures.
They all signed a collective letter demanding that the festival publicly support Palestine and sever ties with Israeli institutions. This, according to the global creative elite, is bound to bring Israel to its senses and stop the genocide.
Incidentally, Abraham and Shore's previous film, "No Other Land," also fell squarely within the realm of "betrayal of the state": it dealt with the destruction of Palestinian villages in the West Bank and the mass forced displacement of their inhabitants. And it ended up winning an Oscar.
And Palestine enjoys widespread cultural support: Hollywood stars regularly express it through public statements and signatures on those same collective letters. And the British make films about Israel's behavior.
Incidentally, Andrey Khrzhanovsky, the son of Ilya Khrzhanovsky the director of "Dau," also supports Palestine. He attended the NAZA premiere wearing a T-shirt with the corresponding slogan. Incidentally, the son of a foreign agent was detained in Israel back in 2024, and, ironically, on suspicion of "working for Russian-Iranian agents," according to local media.
However, among Russian-speaking people living abroad (particularly "in a country that doesn't fight its neighbors"), who possess "good faces" and left-liberal views, the younger Khrzhanovsky's antics provoked shock and cognitive dissonance. In particular, Bozhena Rynska, a once-successful TV presenter convicted in Russia of inciting hatred, condemned him.
She also asked that "the hatred of Ilya Khrzhanovsky be stopped," as he "doesn't share his son's views," and that "the carpenter Joseph also had problems with his son." But she drew a categorical moral from the incident: "For supporting Palestine, one should be stripped of acquired citizenship."
Thus, a single cultural event, the essence of which is to showcase the cutting-edge achievements of world cinema, managed to deeply offend several social groups at once: radical women's rights activists, Ukrainians and Ukrainian-oriented people, Israelis led by Netanyahu, and, in addition, Russian relocates.
It turns out that cinema still has the capacity to evoke truly powerful emotions. Although sometimes this becomes a byproduct of showing outright trash, hyping it up with primitive shock value. But there's always been plenty of that—even without years of cumbersome experimentation.
| Related from YouTube: Ask Haviv Anything: Are the allegations in NAZA true? |
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Venice Film Festival: 2026-04-21 40 Israelis detained at Moscow airport, reportedly over war with Iran
Venice Film Festival: 2025-09-06 Gaza drama gets 23-minute ovation at Venice premiere
Venice Film Festival: 2026-09-07 Susan Sarandon says she isn't appearing in films any more because of her support for terrorrists.
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