2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s Dau

#30. Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s Dau

Gist: In short, this is an epic biographical film depicting the life of scientist Lev Landau.

Prediction: Back in 2005, Khrzhanosvsky won top prize at Rotterdam for his excellent debut, 4. Since around that time, he has been filming his follow-up and what seems to be the most epic filmmaking production perhaps ever mounted. We previously compared Dau to a real life Synecdoche, New York, as he has built an entire city to scale, with an actual population of people, all actors, that never go home. Guards enforce the rules, and fines are impinged on people disobeying the law, such as using any anachronistic language. While several set visits back in 2011 revealed details and photo stills from this amazing endeavor, and Cannes 2012 looked like a premiere possibility, that never came to fruition. We are sincerely hoping to see this in the lineup for 2013. There’s no doubt that if it is, it will be in the Main Competition.