Eduard Limonov was a poet, a punk, a Russian “émigré” and provocateur whose anti-system politics eventually saw him embrace fascist tendencies. Filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov tells Olivia Salazar-Winspear why he chose to make a “ballad” of Limonov’s life and not a biopic, revealing that British actor Ben Wishaw even had the Russian crew members fooled with his impressive embodiment of the character. Serebrennikov tells us how Limonov’s political arc follows the far right movements within contemporary Russia and mirroring the geopolitical situation around the world. And, as an immigrant himself, the award-winning director tells us why he thinks Moscow’s attempts to silence Russian artists means the government has little influence over those who criticise it.