Dau director Ilya Khrzhanovsky: my ‘pornographic propaganda’ recreating the USSR is more important than ever

When Khrzhanovsky’s colossal immersive project on the horrors of the Soviet Union launched in 2019, it caused uproar in east and west alike. Now, he plans to release its ‘mother film’, to expose the ‘huge danger’ the world faces todayIn late July this year, a few days before his 50th birthday, the exiled Russian film-maker Ilya Khrzhanovsky was landed with a 50,000 rouble (£450) fine by the Presnensky District Court of Moscow. This punishment was ostensibly for a Kafkaesque administrative offence relating to “procedures for the activities of foreign agents”. Khrzhanovsky himself thinks it was a symbolic birthday warning from the Russian authorities that he is still on their radar.“It’s clear it is absolute nonsense,” Khrzhanovsky says. “I will not pay it. I am not a Russian citizen and I don’t want to pay any money to the Russian state.” He renounced his Russian citizenship last year, and is now a British, German and Israeli citizen. Continue reading...

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Strictly 2025 ones to watch revealed by Oti Mabuse

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Strictly 2025 ones to watch revealed by Oti Mabuse

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