Dau-film about Russian physicist Lev Landau 1908-1968

[marcus]

Dau--film about Russian physicist Lev Landau 1908-1968

The film-maker is Khrzhanovsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Khrzhanovsky

Here is the Cannes Film Festival page about the Landau film ("Dau")
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/cinefoundation/ficheFilmAtelier/id/4347979/year/2006.html

The latest information I have is that the film is not finished yet, or in any case not released.

Dau was Landau's nickname, the the other physicists called him. He was an interesting character---extremely brilliant and creative and perhaps a bit eccentric. It was an interesting time for Russian physics too---the 40s and 50s---Stalin---the bombs---the contrast of the sheltered life within the "Academy" compared with life outside.

Landau was awarded the 1962 physics Nobel prize for his work in condensed matter.

Does anybody know anything more about this film, or about Landau, or the director Khrzhanovsky (who won a lot of international prizes for his 2005 film "4")?

 

[marcus]

I guess it is possible that the film "Dau" will be released this year because this
page says it is expected to enter the 2011 Cannes Film Festival

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/id/5802/top-100-most-anticipated-films-of-2011-ilya-khrzhanovskys-dau

Here are some links about Landau himself, not the movie:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1962/landau-bio.html

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1962/
(he did a lot of different research but what he got the prize for, it says, is theoretical work on condensed matter "especially liquid helium."

Landau was not able to go to Sweden in 1962 to attend his Nobel prize award ceremony.

 

[marcus]

IMDB has some general information about "Dau"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1728616/

and also a short news article here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1728616/news

The book the film is based on "How We Lived" was written by Landau's wife Kora.
People writing about the film seem to think it is now finished and expected to be released this year. I would guess that if it is released in 2011 it will be in May, at the Cannes festival.

Here is the book "Academician Landau: How We Lived" on line:
http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/LANDAU/landau.txt
It is in Russian. AFAIK the book has not been translated into English. The Wikipedia article gives a lot of information about Landau's life:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Landau