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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2025
6.30 PM
BLACK BOX, PALAZZO DIEDO

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Running time: 1h 25m
The film is screened in Russian with English subtitles. Free entrance until capacity is met.
The event will be followed by a talk between the director and producer of the film, Mark Franchetti and Professor Matteo Bertelé.

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The Bolshoi Ballet — a symbol of Russia and one of the world’s greatest cultural treasures — remains a place of mystery and allure. Yet in recent years, the company has made headlines for scandal rather than artistry. The 2013 acid attack on artistic director Sergei Filin, along with internal intrigue and leadership upheavals, have cast a shadow over its legendary name.

The film grants to the audience unprecedented access to the company’s inner world by giving a platform to dancers and staff who are rarely heard. Blending grand themes with deeply personal stories, and historical spectacle with unseen struggles of pain and triumph, the film reveals the hidden drama behind every celebrated performance.

Bolshoi Babylon, which was produced for HBO and the BBC, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in more than 20 countries.

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Mark Franchetti is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. He worked 23 years as a reporter and foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and was based in Moscow for a long time.

He has written extensively about Russia, the former Soviet Union and covered the wars in Chechnya, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, and Ukraine. He has also reported on the Italian mafia.

He has been awarded the British Press Award for his coverage of the Moscow Theatre siege as well as a Foreign Press Association award for his front-line report on the death of Iraqi civilians at the hand of US troops during the Second Gulf War.

Matteo Bertelé is professor in Contemporary and Russian Art History at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His interests deal with Russian, Soviet and socialist art and visual culture, the exhibition studies and the cultural dimension of the Cold War.