This spring, the Venice Biennale faced harsh criticism for allowing Russia to use its pavilion for the first time since 2022, despite Russia continuing its large-scale war in Ukraine.
Before the Venice Film Festival, which is the cinema section of the Venice Biennale, began, S. Loznica stated that he himself would “never, never” go to the Russian pavilion. However, according to him, the controversy distracts from the European Union’s own failure to apply more effective economic sanctions on Moscow.
“I ask myself: can the existence of this Russian pavilion stop this war or not?” said S. Loznica, known for the 2014 documentary film “Maidan” and last year’s Soviet-era drama “Two Prosecutors.” This year, his latest film “Imperium” is being shown in Venice outside the main competition program.
The director drew attention to Russia’s gas imports to Europe.
“I only know that in the second quarter of this year, European companies imported gas from Russia in unprecedented quantities, and all that money directly turns into bombs falling on Ukraine,” he said.
According to the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, imports of liquefied Russian gas increased by 17 percent compared to the same period in 2025. A complete EU ban on importing Russian gas is expected to take effect from 2027.
“This is a much more serious problem than the question of whether there is a Russian pavilion in Venice or not. Cutting funding for the biennale is like a punishment in kindergarten,” said S. Loznica.
Cutting funding for the biennale is like a punishment in kindergarten.
The film festival also lost funding
The exhibition “The Tree is Rooted in the Sky” held in the Russian pavilion was only accessible during the days of the vernissage before the opening and was closed to visitors from May 9.
Despite this, the European Commission confirmed last month that it is terminating a 2 million euro multi-year grant to the Venice Biennale Foundation.
This decision now threatens to affect the Venice Film Festival as well. Although it has some institutional independence from the biennale, the funding cut will directly impact it.
The biennale administration stated that the terminated grant was used to finance the activities of the cinema section’s “Biennale College” and “Venice Production Bridge,” so its loss will affect “activities and the section that have nothing to do with Russia’s participation in the Venice Art Biennale.”
Before announcing this year’s program, Venice Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco sharply criticized the European Commission’s decision and said: “They are leaving us to our fate today.”
According to him, the biennale does not engage in politics but conducts “international research in the field of art.”
However, this year’s Venice Film Festival program stands out for its political themes and significant focus on Russia and countries within its sphere of influence.
Besides S. Loznica’s “Imperium,” the festival features the geopolitical disaster film “Jupiter” by French director Alexandre Smia. It depicts the Russian president surviving an assassination attempt, which he blames on Ukraine, and seeking revenge.
Belarusian director Andrei Kucila’s animated documentary “Letters from the Silenced Country” tells about political repression in Belarus.
Julia Loktev, born in Russia but working in the USA, presents a five-hour documentary “My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile.” It tells the story of journalists from the independent Russian TV channel “TV Rain,” forced to leave the country after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The film blurs the line between art, journalism, and propaganda. In one scene, “TV Rain” journalists are criticized for continuing to say “our army,” even though the TV channel is now registered in Latvia.
“This is a film about what it means to take responsibility when your country is doing terrible things. How, as a citizen of your country, do you talk about the horrible actions and crimes your country is committing?” said J. Loktev.
How, as a citizen of your country, do you talk about the horrible actions and crimes your country is committing?
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Ukraine criticized another Russian project
Another film project related to Russia, Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s “Dau,” also received criticism from Ukrainian authorities.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “great concern” about the film, which tells the story of a Soviet physicist who unwillingly contributed to the creation of the first atomic bomb.
“Russia has long used culture as a tool of state policy and hybrid warfare,” the ministry stated.
According to the Ukrainian MFA, the “Dau” film project, once called the “Stalinist ‘Truman Show,'” was financed by Russian businessman Sergei Adonyev, who is sanctioned by the US and Ukraine.
The prototype of the main character, Teodor Currentzis, born in Greece, has accepted Russian citizenship granted by Vladimir Putin.
However, Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera rejected the claim on social media that “Dau” is a “Kremlin-funded project.”
“It is not a Russian film and it is not pro-Putin propaganda. It is a film condemning totalitarian regimes and their interference in citizens’ lives to restrict their freedom,” he said.
Unlike the art biennale, directors participating in the film festival do not represent specific countries. “Dau” was financed by Germany, France, and Sweden, “My Undesirable Friends” was made in the USA, and S. Loznica’s “Imperium” was financed by Germany, Italy, France, and Lithuania.
Loznica’s film – about the blind spots of Soviet propaganda
S. Loznica’s comments on the Venice Biennale conflict stand out also because his own film shown at the festival critically examines the contradictions of Russian imperialism, the role of cultural propaganda, and how the West, especially Italy, viewed the Soviet Union during the Soviet era.
The three-hour “Imperium” was made entirely from archival footage filmed in the Soviet Union between 1970 and 1973 by a group of Italian filmmakers. The group, blessed by the Italian Communist Party, traveled to the Soviet Union three times, but filming was strictly supervised by KGB representatives.
The creators had to show the unity of the Soviet empire – red flags fluttered on the streets of Moscow, and patriotic song “Wide is My Homeland” played from loudspeakers.
But the further the film crew traveled to the most remote regions of the Soviet Union, the more ambiguous the images became. Local traditions – throat singing, reindeer races, or village wrestling competitions – emphasized the differences in Soviet culture rather than its supposed unity.
In the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, local residents watch with obvious skepticism the parade of young Russians from the city marching through the streets with guitars and violins.
I wanted to show that the Soviet Union collapsed not only for economic reasons.
“I wanted to show that the Soviet Union collapsed not only for economic reasons but also because it was impossible to keep so many different cultures under one roof,” said S. Loznica.
In the director’s film, the Moscow propaganda mechanism, which many still see in current Russian cultural policy, appears almost ineffective.
In one scene, the camera captures a small tractor carrying portraits of Politburo members through the dirty and bleak landscape of Dagestan.
“It somewhat resembles the current Russian pavilion in Venice. As propaganda, it’s all just ridiculous,” said the director.
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