Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera has publicly defended the selection of Russian filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky's film DAU, rejecting weeks of criticism from Ukrainian officials and activists over its inclusion in the festival's main competition. In a lengthy Instagram post, Barbera called Russia's invasion of Ukraine "bloody and cruel" but insisted DAU was not "pro-Putin propaganda", describing it instead as a denunciation of totalitarian regimes made by a Russian dissident who has opposed the war since it began.

Barbera's statement came after Ukraine's foreign and culture ministries, along with its embassy in Italy, issued a joint statement expressing "deep concern" that a prestigious platform was being offered to a project they linked to the Russian state. Barbera dismissed the criticism as "petty and unacceptable", arguing detractors were attacking the Biennale with claims based on "lying premises" despite not having seen the film. DAU follows a Greek-born physicist in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1968 who is drawn into helping build a devastating weapon for the state, and is set to premiere in Venice on 9 September.