The podcast for the people

Halloween Filmsuck! We interview Slavic languages scholar Sophie Pinkham, whose New Left Review piece “Nihilism for Oligarchs” got us interested in the scary, crazy, hard-to-classify set of Russian films called Dau. Financed by an oligarch, these films represent the efforts of thousands of mostly non-professional actors who spent years in period costumed, performing in character as oppressed Soviets living in an elaborate scientific institute set based on the one occupied by real-life physicist Lev Landau (nicknamed “Dau”). Lurid rumors of despotic directorial control, sexual assault, exploitation and animal cruelty have made these films highly controversial.

You can watch the films here:

https://www.dau.com/en

And here is Sophie's article behind the paywall. Our patrons will get it in the pdf format.

https://newleftreview.org/issues/II125/articles/sophie-pinkham-nihilism-for-oligarchs