DAU. Degeneration

DAU. Degeneration.
Cinematography by: Jürgen Jürges | Directed by: Ilja Chržanovskij | Russia | 2020 | 355 min

It is the final, 13th part of the DAU epic, simulating a socialist dictatorship in the Soviet Union. The series began 15 years ago on the streets of Moscow and made in a way so authentic that no one could tell the difference, in particular in the premises of the Soviet Research Institute led by Nobel Prize winner Lev Landau (nicknamed Dau). Actors and non-actors were filmed day and night, hundreds of hours of material were filmed, often very sexually and violently explicit. Tens of thousands of people participated in the project. It is a strong authentic experience of a stylized “reality-show” for the brave, which premiered at this year’s Berlinale and garnered highly controversial responses.