The first of June's two Awesome Ottawa awards goes to Magill Foote to support a short video about a Russian film called by some the most insane such project ever undertaken.

“Nearly a decade ago,” explains Magill, “a Russian filmmaker named Ilya Khrzhanovsky began shooting a highly ambitious biographical film about physicist Lev ‘Dau’ Landau. Most of the filming was done on a 12,000 square meter recreation of a 1940’s Russian city, complete with a functioning newspaper and university. Over 300,000 extras were employed to live on the set and be filmed with hidden cameras. Fines were imposed for anachronistic items, clothing, and language. Pre-production for the film took two years, and filming lasted for three.”

Although the film was originally set to be released in 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival, it has not yet seen the light of day. Recent reports suggest that the film could finally be released as soon as this summer. “My project is an informative short video,” says Magill, “that uses kinetic typography and 1940's-era Soviet iconography to educate the people of the world about this fascinating film project, which has gone largely unreported outside of Russian media.” He shared a short preview to whet appetites.

Magill is an independent filmmaker based in Ottawa.