Dau. Katya Tanya Jun 2026

Khrzhanovsky famously filmed his actors for years, pushing them through real physical and emotional duress to achieve "authentic" reactions. In Katya Tanya , you are not watching acting; you are watching endurance. When Tanya forces Katya to a specific, deeply degrading act (the film’s infamous climax involving a Christmas tree decoration), Katya’s tears are real. Her breakdown is not performed. You become an accomplice simply by watching.

The premise is deceptively simple. Two young women, Katya (Ekaterina Gulyanich) and Tanya (Tatyana Polozhina), share a cramped communal apartment room in the closed "Institute" of the DAU universe. They are not scientists or secretaries; they are bodies. Outside, the KGB (the "Regime") conducts arbitrary searches. Inside, the women play a private game. DAU. Katya Tanya

: Their burgeoning lesbian relationship represents a "domestic normalcy" that stands in direct opposition to the Institute's rigid social structures. Khrzhanovsky famously filmed his actors for years, pushing

The film uses a variety of cinematic techniques to portray women's emotions under surveillance. Morley points to the film's unique cinematic grammar of female desire, a key part of co-director Jekaterina Oertel's feminist filmmaking approach: Her breakdown is not performed