Ukraine concerned about the inclusion of the film DAU in the competition of the Venice Film Festival — the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement

The inclusion of Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s film "DAU" in the main competition of the 83rd Venice Film Festival, where it will compete for the "Golden Lion," is a cause for deep concern. This is stated in a joint statement by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, UNN reports, citing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, is one of the world’s most influential cinematic platforms, and that its decisions carry significant weight in determining what the international cultural community recognizes and legitimizes.

That is precisely why the inclusion of Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s film "DAU" in the main competition of the 83rd Venice Film Festival, where it will compete for the "Golden Lion," is a cause for deep concern. At a time when russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, systematically destroying our cities, cultural heritage, and national identity, granting one of the most prestigious cultural platforms to a project connected to the russian state and its networks of influence sends an extremely alarming signal. We deeply respect the festival’s curatorial independence and its artistic decision. At the same time, culture cannot be viewed separately from politics or assessed exclusively according to artistic criteria, regardless of who finances it and whose interests it ultimately serves, the statement said.

The ministry added that russia has long used culture as an instrument of state policy and hybrid warfare. For the kremlin, culture is a way to restore respectability to sanctioned individuals who lost it because of political decisions; legitimize its presence in places its tanks cannot reach; and appropriate the history of the very lands it seeks to erase. Every prestigious platform that accepts a project financed by the kremlin becomes a kind of test for moscow—how far international institutions are prepared to tolerate russia’s crimes and what exactly they are willing to call "neutral" while the war of aggression against Ukraine continues.

Together with its international partners, Ukraine has consistently drawn attention to this reality, including in March, when we expressed concern over russia’s return to the Venice Biennale. Subsequent developments have only strengthened our position. On July 21, 2026, the European Commission stressed that cultural events financed by the EU "must ensure respect for democratic values, which are not respected in present-day russia."

A careful analysis of the background of the film "DAU" confirms our position. It is worth recalling that the project was financed by russian businessman Sergey Adonyev, who is under sanctions imposed by the United States and Ukraine and has confirmed ties to putin’s regime. The film’s director, Ilya Khrzhanovsky, headed a cultural project financed by russian oligarchs linked to the Kremlin, which was widely criticized by Ukrainian and international intellectuals. The film’s lead actor, Teodor Currentzis, accepted russian citizenship granted by vladimir putin and developed his musical career with funding from sanctioned russian state-owned banks and state cultural institutions. These ties have already led a number of European cultural institutions to cancel his performances and end their cooperation with him. It should also be noted that "DAU" was filmed in Kharkiv in 2008–2011, but the Ukrainian city is depicted in the film exclusively through a Soviet lens, without regard for its own history and identity. This approach reflects the same imperial narrative model that russia continues to impose through its war of aggression against Ukraine 

The diplomatic service emphasized that it is especially painful that the film was made by a director from the aggressor state, while its filming location was a city that is now subjected to constant russian missile, drone, and bomb attacks. Therefore, by choosing to screen this work, the festival risks indirectly legitimizing Russia’s attempts to erase and appropriate Ukraine’s history and cultural identity.

We are not calling for the censorship of culture or artists. We call on the Venice International Film Festival and the broader cultural community to recognize how Russia turns culture into an instrument of its hybrid warfare, and to stop treating Kremlin-backed cultural projects as politically neutral. We also call on all reputable international cultural platforms to conduct due diligence so that the cultural instruments of a state that continues to wage a war of aggression against Ukraine are not legitimized under the guise of the principle of freedom of art