Dimitri Venkov
Directing
Biography
Dimitri gained initial recognition with his debut film, "Mad Mimes," in 2012. His subsequent work, "Krisis," was selected for the Oberhausen Film Festival and featured in Documenta 14. In 2018, Dimitri's film, "The Hymns of Muscovy," received accolades at international film festivals, was broadcast on TV and streaming platforms, and found its place in prominent institutional and private art collections. Dimitri has participated in biennials in Moscow, Bergen, Goteborg, Wroclaw, among others. His works have been showcased at esteemed galleries such as Whitechapel and Hayward, and he has held personal exhibitions at MHKA, Nassauischer Kunstverein, CCA Winzavod, and Manezh. Dimitri's contributions have garnered attention from both Russian writers, including Anna Tolstova, Alexandra Novozhenova, Boris Klushnikov, Andrey Shental, Gleb Napreenko, Alexander Evangely, and international figures such as Kate Sutton, Simon Mraz, Yin Xiuzhen, Nagihan Haliloğlu, and Davide Deriu.
Known For
Would it be correct to suggest that none of it happened?
America
A group of artists set out on a quest of organising their own biennale in Istanbul.
Long Encounters Quick Farewells
A family of British descent settled in the Russian countryside is investigating its grandfather's mysterious death. One small step for men, women, children, dogs, and pigs - one giant leap for humanity.
We Are Your Grandfather
An anthropological study of a cargo cult in a fictitious self-marginalized commune, which existed next to the Moscow Ring Road - a highway that marks the boundaries of the Russian capital - and survived mainly on roadside trash. Although the road provided for their basic needs, the existence of the commune was extremely precarious and highly dependent on the roadway's fluctuations. This dependency led them to develop a cargo cult of the road.
Mad Mimes
An immigrant in Istanbul, the Russian filmmaker finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, his legal status becomes uncertain amid the turbulence of Turkish presidential elections, on the other hand, the crackdown on dissent in Russia makes his return impossible. In these circumstances he turns to the legacy of Moscow conceptualism, an art movement, which existed under the radar of Soviet authorities, to make a film that would convey his sentiment yet pass through the needle’s eye of censorship.
Nothing Happens
A day in a Hyatt suite gone weird
Hot And Cold
Dimitri Venkov’s Krisis is based on a Facebook discussion on December 8, 2013, the day on which pro-European demonstrators in Kiev started to demolish statues of Vladimir Lenin. The film reenacts debates between Russian and Ukrainian artists during the protests, revealing deep aesthetic, historical, and political divisions.
Krisis
The Shining Will Come Crashing Down
The Shining Will Come Crashing Down
An allegorical three-part film about three types of utopia
Like the Sun
The film is a trip to the planet Muscovy - an upside-down twin city of Moscow in space. As the title of the work suggests, the journey also takes us back in time. Gliding over the surface of the planet, we look down and see historic architectural styles fly by - the exuberant Socialist Classicism, aka Stalinist Empire, the austere and brutish Soviet Modernism, and the hodgepodge of contemporary knock-offs and revivals of the styles of the past. An essential companion to this journey through time and space are Hymnic Variations on the Soviet anthem.
The Hymns of Muscovy
Multiple ex-boyfriend haunts a pretty woman