DAU. Degeneratsiya I & II
DAU. Degeneration I & II | 2020 | 369min
The story of a secret Soviet research institute that aims to produce the perfect human being, but in the end is crushed by an unholy alliance of the secret police and nationalist troops who will stop at nothing to achieve their ideals.
directors ILYA KHRZHANOVSKIY & ILYA PERMYAKOV | producer SERGEY ADONYEV | director of photography JüRGEN JüRGES | editors LING LEE & ARTTU SALMI & MARIANNE KUOPANPORTTI-FENNELL | sound designers ROB WALKER & STEFAN SMITH & ALEX JOSEPH
“…it is fluid, furious and, despite its 355-minute running time, constantly absorbing.”
“As excellent as “Natasha” is, this is the “DAU” film that should have been shown in competition. A more courageous curator would have programmed it.” -NY Times
“It is commonplace to say that some films are scary and mad. But this really is scary and mad.” - The Guardian
“It is auteur cinema on a massive and mindbending scale.” -Sight and Sound
“The (DAU) movies… are truly an achievement. They’re intimate, hypnotic, discomfiting, sweet. And they raise uncomfortable questions about consent.” -NY Times
“Yes, (DAU.)Natasha was a startling introduction–as provocative as it was fascinating – but Degeneration is something else: the first DAU epic novel and, perhaps, the first masterpiece of the series. - - Khrzhanovsky’s project might not be for this world. However, it remains that rare thing: an artwork with the capacity to tap into our fears and even our hatred; to live in the imagination and to astonish. A shock of the new.” - The Film Stage
FESTIVALS:
WORLD PREMIERE at the 70th Berlin Int. Film Festival 2020. SPECIAL programme. (Placed 2nd highest on the critics’ ranking of the festival.) | GRAND PRIX at the 26th Festivala Autorskog Filma | São Paulo International Film Festival 2020 | 12th Ostrava KAMERA OKO Film Festival 2020 | Taiwan Int. Video Art Exhibition 2020 | NOMINATED for BEST FILM and BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN at the International Cinephile Society Awards 2021 | D’A Film Festival 2021 (Barcelona) | The 70th Berliner Festspiele
