Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou appeared on the red carpet at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival for the premiere of DAU.
Nafpliotou chose an elegant outfit for her appearance in the Italian city on Wednesday, September 9. She wore a long petrol-colored dress featuring a fitted top with long sleeves that flared out toward the hem, paired with gold jewelry.
Nafpliotou features in DAU, the cinematic project directed by Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky. The film was selected for the official competition program at Venice, where it premiered on September 9 and is vying for the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion. The Venice International Film Festival, held annually on the Lido in Venice, Italy, is one of the world's most prestigious cinema events.
Cast and international production
Conductor and musician Teodor Currentzis stars in the leading role of Soviet physicist Lev Landau, who was widely known by the nickname Dau. The ensemble cast also includes Radmila Shchegoleva, Anatoly Vasilyev, Vladimir Azhippo, Dmitri Tcherniakov, and Nafpliotou. Currentzis, an acclaimed orchestra conductor, makes a rare screen appearance portraying the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist.
According to the official Venice festival listing, the feature is an international co-production between Germany, France, and Sweden. The spoken dialogue throughout the film includes Russian, English, and Greek.
Plot and historical setting
The narrative follows Landau's life in the Soviet Union across four decades, spanning from 1928 to 1968. It focuses on his career as a scientist alongside the personal and moral conflicts he encountered within a tightly controlled totalitarian environment.
The storyline connects his scientific research with his complex relationship with the Soviet state, while simultaneously documenting his turbulent personal life. Landau was a prominent figure in Soviet science whose work in theoretical physics earned international acclaim.
Two decades of development
The film represents the culmination of an expansive artistic project that Khrzhanovsky began nearly two decades ago. Originally conceived as a conventional biographical film about Landau, the initiative gradually evolved into a much broader artistic enterprise.
A significant portion of the footage was shot between 2008 and 2011 on a massive custom-built set in Kharkiv, Ukraine, which was constructed to replicate a secret Soviet scientific research institute. After shooting wrapped, the recorded material remained archived for several years.
Khrzhanovsky said the passage of time over those years influenced the way he approached and edited the material when finally completing the film.
