Kirill Serebrennikov‘s last three films, “Leto,” Petrov’s Flu,” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” all competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Sadly, it doesn’t look as though his latest, “Limonov,” will be going to the Croisette as rumors are pointing towards it having a world premiere at this coming February’s Berlin Film Festival.
In December of 2021, Serebrennikov started shooting “Limonov” in Moscow, right before Russia's war in Ukraine broke out. Then filming stopped due to the war. Serebrennikov managed to escape to Berlin, the sets were rebuilt there and production finally wrapped last summer.
Ben Whishaw will play radical Russian poet and dissident Eduard Limonov and Viktoria Miroshnichenko (“Beanpole”) his wife Elena. “Cold War” and “Ida” filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski is credited as the co-screenwriter (he was originally set to direct).
Serebrennikov has become a very big filmmaker in Europe. However, none of his films have really cracked the American market, or critical consensus, and that hasn’t really changed with last May’s Cannes competition title “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” which premiered to big shrugs from US critics.
The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival will take place from February 16-26, 2023.