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Russian film director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, the author of one of the most controversial and sensational art projects of the last decades, will be the special guest of the 19th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, organizers said on Wednesday.

In 2007, Khrzhanovsky began filming DAU, which became a multidisciplinary anthropological art project, consisting of 14 feature films with a total runtime of more than 700 hours. The project was shot at the now-legendary "Institute", which was created from scratch, becoming the largest film set ever built in Europe.

Two of the 14 films, "DAU․ Natasha" and "DAU. Degeneration", had their premieres at the 70th Berlinale. "DAU․ Natasha" was awarded the Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution.

During DAU's endless production period, celluloid film was almost phased out and FUJI had to produce an enormous amount of 35mm film stock specifically for the DAU project.

Besides famous conductor Theodore Currentzis (starring as Nobel Laureate Lev LanDAU), many outstanding artists took part in the DAU project including Marina Abramovich, Gerard Depardieu, Willem Defoe, Charlotte Rampling, Isabelle Adjani, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Romeo Castellucci, and many others.

In 2005, long before DAU resonated, Khrzhanovsky's debut feature film "4" won the Silver Apricot Special Award at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival.