Leonid Volkov, the former chief of staff of late Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, was attacked on Tuesday outside his house in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Navalny’s former press person and assistant Kira Yarmysh reported the attack on social media.
“Leonid Volkov has just been attacked near his home. They broke the window in his car and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the attacker began to beat Leonid with a hammer. Now Leonid is at home, the police and an ambulance are on their way to him,” she wrote in a post on X.
A later post on the Team Navalny X handle showed a photo of Volkov being wheeled out of an ambulance.
Сейчас Леонид Волков в больнице
Фото от Ивана Жданова (https://t.co/qaoYuCGYlg) pic.twitter.com/4d0llz0ozK
— Команда Навального (@teamnavalny) March 12, 2024
Volkov, 43, served as Navalny’s chief of staff for his 2018 presidential...
Navalny’s former press person and assistant Kira Yarmysh reported the attack on social media.
“Leonid Volkov has just been attacked near his home. They broke the window in his car and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, after which the attacker began to beat Leonid with a hammer. Now Leonid is at home, the police and an ambulance are on their way to him,” she wrote in a post on X.
A later post on the Team Navalny X handle showed a photo of Volkov being wheeled out of an ambulance.
Сейчас Леонид Волков в больнице
Фото от Ивана Жданова (https://t.co/qaoYuCGYlg) pic.twitter.com/4d0llz0ozK
— Команда Навального (@teamnavalny) March 12, 2024
Volkov, 43, served as Navalny’s chief of staff for his 2018 presidential...
- 3/12/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose attempted assassination was captured in the Oscar-winning documentary “Navalny,” has received a sentence for an additional 19 years in prison.
The updated prison term is due to charges of “extremism,” per Russian media (via Deadline). Navalny is currently serving a nine-year term after accusing Russian president Vladimir Putin of corruption. Navalny shared a statement to a Telegram social media account following the sentencing.
“The term will be long, what is called ‘Stalinist,'” he wrote. “The formula for calculating it is simple: what the prosecutor asked for, minus 10-15%. They asked for 20, they give 18 or something like that.”
Navalny added that he anticipates an additional 10-year sentence for a pending charge of terrorism.
The eponymous documentary “Navalny,” directed by Daniel Roher, charted Navalny’s political movement against the Kremlin and the alleged attempt to poison him with nerve agent Novichok. Navalny became ill in August...
The updated prison term is due to charges of “extremism,” per Russian media (via Deadline). Navalny is currently serving a nine-year term after accusing Russian president Vladimir Putin of corruption. Navalny shared a statement to a Telegram social media account following the sentencing.
“The term will be long, what is called ‘Stalinist,'” he wrote. “The formula for calculating it is simple: what the prosecutor asked for, minus 10-15%. They asked for 20, they give 18 or something like that.”
Navalny added that he anticipates an additional 10-year sentence for a pending charge of terrorism.
The eponymous documentary “Navalny,” directed by Daniel Roher, charted Navalny’s political movement against the Kremlin and the alleged attempt to poison him with nerve agent Novichok. Navalny became ill in August...
- 8/4/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Updated from 10:43 a.m. story with quotes from Navalny director Daniel Roher: Exclusive: Oscar-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher, director of Navalny, is reacting to the 19-year prison sentence against the Russian opposition leader rendered by a court outside Moscow today.
“It’s very upsetting, but very unsurprising,” Roher tells Deadline. “The regime has taken the approach of what I like to call ‘boiling the frog.’ Instead of just throwing a life sentence at Navalny right out of the gate, they have been systematically giving him additional sentences over the course of many years — this latest sentence, which is coming in at 19 years, being the longest and what I think is the most laughable in terms of what they’re accusing him of.
Earlier: The fate of Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader whose story was told in the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny, has become even more grim.
A court...
“It’s very upsetting, but very unsurprising,” Roher tells Deadline. “The regime has taken the approach of what I like to call ‘boiling the frog.’ Instead of just throwing a life sentence at Navalny right out of the gate, they have been systematically giving him additional sentences over the course of many years — this latest sentence, which is coming in at 19 years, being the longest and what I think is the most laughable in terms of what they’re accusing him of.
Earlier: The fate of Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader whose story was told in the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny, has become even more grim.
A court...
- 8/4/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
As Navalny won best documentary feature film at the 2023 Oscars, filmmaker Daniel Roher dedicated the award to the film’s namesake political prisoner and Putin critic while Navalny’s wife told her husband to “stay strong.”
After director Roher took to the Dolby Theatre stage with Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia and his children Dasha and Zakhar on Sunday, he noted to the audience that the Russian opposition leader could not be present at the ceremony. (Navlany, a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2021 and has said he is in solitary confinement.) “I would like to dedicate this award to Navalny, to all political prisoners around the world,” said Roher in his speech. “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all. We cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head.”
Yulia Navalnaya...
After director Roher took to the Dolby Theatre stage with Alexei Navalny’s wife Yulia and his children Dasha and Zakhar on Sunday, he noted to the audience that the Russian opposition leader could not be present at the ceremony. (Navlany, a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2021 and has said he is in solitary confinement.) “I would like to dedicate this award to Navalny, to all political prisoners around the world,” said Roher in his speech. “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all. We cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it rears its head.”
Yulia Navalnaya...
- 3/13/2023
- by Katie Kilkenny
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CNN has scored its first Oscars win: “Navalny,” the harrowing film following Russian dissident and former presidential candidate Alexei Navalny, took the prize for documentary feature film at Sunday’s Academy Awards.
The documentary, directed by Daniel Roher, gained new relevance after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The CNN Films/Warner Bros. documentary is a fly-on-the-wall account of the rousing populist who was once a presidential candidate — and posed such a threat to Putin that Navalny was poisoned in a botched assassination plot ordered by the Kremlin in 2020. Navalny was detained in January 2021 and currently is serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian gulag. He has spent much of the sentence in solitary confinement.
Roher, in accepting the award, dedicated the Oscar win to Navalny and “to all political prisoners around the world”: “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all… We must...
The documentary, directed by Daniel Roher, gained new relevance after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The CNN Films/Warner Bros. documentary is a fly-on-the-wall account of the rousing populist who was once a presidential candidate — and posed such a threat to Putin that Navalny was poisoned in a botched assassination plot ordered by the Kremlin in 2020. Navalny was detained in January 2021 and currently is serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian gulag. He has spent much of the sentence in solitary confinement.
Roher, in accepting the award, dedicated the Oscar win to Navalny and “to all political prisoners around the world”: “Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to us all… We must...
- 3/13/2023
- by Todd Spangler
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix dropped a teaser for the upcoming limited series “Florida Man,” which premieres April 13.
With creator, showrunner and executive producer Donald Todd (“This is Us”), the show depicts an ex-cop (Edgar Ramírez) who has to come home to Florida and find a runaway girlfriend. The quick gig turns into a long journey that uncovers family secrets.
In addition to Ramírez, the show stars Anthony Lapaglia, Abbey Lee, Otmara Marrero, Lex Scott Davis, Emory Cohen, Clark Gregg, Isaiah Johnson, Paul Schneider and Lauren Buglioli. Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan executive produced the series for Aggregate.
Check out the trailer for the seven-episode series below.
Also in today’s TV news:
Programming
E! announced three original romantic comedy films, “Arranged Love,” “Ms. Match” and “Platonic,” will premiere on the cable channel this summer.
“Arranged Love” will follow Meera after she leaves both India and her inheritance behind until she suddenly finds herself...
With creator, showrunner and executive producer Donald Todd (“This is Us”), the show depicts an ex-cop (Edgar Ramírez) who has to come home to Florida and find a runaway girlfriend. The quick gig turns into a long journey that uncovers family secrets.
In addition to Ramírez, the show stars Anthony Lapaglia, Abbey Lee, Otmara Marrero, Lex Scott Davis, Emory Cohen, Clark Gregg, Isaiah Johnson, Paul Schneider and Lauren Buglioli. Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan executive produced the series for Aggregate.
Check out the trailer for the seven-episode series below.
Also in today’s TV news:
Programming
E! announced three original romantic comedy films, “Arranged Love,” “Ms. Match” and “Platonic,” will premiere on the cable channel this summer.
“Arranged Love” will follow Meera after she leaves both India and her inheritance behind until she suddenly finds herself...
- 3/4/2023
- by Julia MacCary and Charna Flam
- Variety Film + TV
“Navalny” is equal parts documentary and political thriller, and director Daniel Roher wanted that way. However, in the process of making this profile of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Roher had very little time to think about how he was going do it, considering that the film begins with Navalny recovering from an assassination attempt and ends with him being arrested by Russian authorities upon returning to Moscow.
However, as Roher argues during an exclusive video chat with Gold Derby (watch above), the process of documenting Navalny left little time for pondering. “Did I ever have doubts that we would pull it off?” he recalls. “To be honest, we didn’t have time to have doubts. The way that this film came together was such a fever dream, lightning in a bottle experience for me.” The film, which debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, recently earned a BAFTA Award for...
However, as Roher argues during an exclusive video chat with Gold Derby (watch above), the process of documenting Navalny left little time for pondering. “Did I ever have doubts that we would pull it off?” he recalls. “To be honest, we didn’t have time to have doubts. The way that this film came together was such a fever dream, lightning in a bottle experience for me.” The film, which debuted at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, recently earned a BAFTA Award for...
- 2/23/2023
- by Tony Ruiz
- Gold Derby
The Banshees of Inisherin director Martin McDonagh has revealed the film’s Irish crew disagreed with the name of a Bafta award category that the movie was nominated for.
The 2023 Bafta Awards were held at London’s Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre on Sunday (19 February), as exceptional films and performances were honoured during the ceremony.
Accepting the Outstanding British Film award for his acclaimed 2022 dark comedy, starring Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson, McDonagh explained that the movie’s Irish production crew was unhappy with the category name.
“The best What award?” McDonagh said, mimicking their reaction to the initial nomination.
Thanking the British crew members, he also quipped: “Thanks to Rosie, our stand-in donkey, who is British. Yes, yes, she’s from Stoke-on-Trent.”
The Banshees of Inisherin is set in 1923 on the fictional island of Inisherin, with the Irish Civil War as a backdrop. It follows the “platonic break-up” of two lifelong friends,...
The 2023 Bafta Awards were held at London’s Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre on Sunday (19 February), as exceptional films and performances were honoured during the ceremony.
Accepting the Outstanding British Film award for his acclaimed 2022 dark comedy, starring Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson, McDonagh explained that the movie’s Irish production crew was unhappy with the category name.
“The best What award?” McDonagh said, mimicking their reaction to the initial nomination.
Thanking the British crew members, he also quipped: “Thanks to Rosie, our stand-in donkey, who is British. Yes, yes, she’s from Stoke-on-Trent.”
The Banshees of Inisherin is set in 1923 on the fictional island of Inisherin, with the Irish Civil War as a backdrop. It follows the “platonic break-up” of two lifelong friends,...
- 2/19/2023
- by Maanya Sachdeva
- The Independent - Film
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev, a key figure in the story of acclaimed documentary Navalny, says he and his family have been banned from attending the BAFTA ceremony on Sunday because he poses “a public security risk”.
Grozev, who is affiliated with the Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat, was part of the team that uncovered the 2020 plot to kill Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny by poisoning.
The journalist tweeted yesterday that he has been banned from Sunday’s BAFTA ceremony where the film is nominated for Best Documentary.
“I was surprised to discover that my whole family and I have all been banned by British police from attending this weekend’s Bafta awards where the documentary #Navalny is nominated. The reason stated: we ‘represent a public security risk’,” he tweeted.
“I understand the need to keep the public safe (although I don’t understand how my son or teenage daughter constitute...
Grozev, who is affiliated with the Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat, was part of the team that uncovered the 2020 plot to kill Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny by poisoning.
The journalist tweeted yesterday that he has been banned from Sunday’s BAFTA ceremony where the film is nominated for Best Documentary.
“I was surprised to discover that my whole family and I have all been banned by British police from attending this weekend’s Bafta awards where the documentary #Navalny is nominated. The reason stated: we ‘represent a public security risk’,” he tweeted.
“I understand the need to keep the public safe (although I don’t understand how my son or teenage daughter constitute...
- 2/18/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Christo Grozev, the investigative journalist featured in the Navalny documentary, has been put on Russia’s “wanted” list.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry’s website, via CNN, Grozev is “wanted under an article of the Criminal Code,” but doesn’t further cite the article.
Grozev took to Twitter and said, “I have no idea on what grounds the Kremlin has put me on its ‘wanted list’, thus I cannot provide any comments at this time. In a way it doesn’t matter – for years they’ve made it clear they are scared of our work and would stop at nothing to make it go away.”
A general comment: I have no idea on what grounds the Kremlin has put me on its "wanted list", thus I cannot provide any comments at this time. In a way it doesn't matter – for years they've made it clear they are scared of...
According to the Russian Interior Ministry’s website, via CNN, Grozev is “wanted under an article of the Criminal Code,” but doesn’t further cite the article.
Grozev took to Twitter and said, “I have no idea on what grounds the Kremlin has put me on its ‘wanted list’, thus I cannot provide any comments at this time. In a way it doesn’t matter – for years they’ve made it clear they are scared of our work and would stop at nothing to make it go away.”
A general comment: I have no idea on what grounds the Kremlin has put me on its "wanted list", thus I cannot provide any comments at this time. In a way it doesn't matter – for years they've made it clear they are scared of...
- 12/28/2022
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
In a bonus clip from “Carpool Karaoke: The Series,” longtime friends Lea Michele and Darren Criss drive through New York City singing holiday songs, including one of Criss’ own from “A Very Darren Crissmas.”
Earlier this month, new episodes of the series premiered on Apple TV+, featuring Sandra Oh and Duran Duran, Nikki Glaser and Wilco, Kevin and Michael Bacon (also known as The Bacon Brothers), Method Man and Chris Redd, the cast of Apple TV+’s “For All Mankind,” Ciara and Russel Wilson and Hillary and Chelsea Clinton along with Amber Ruffin.
“Carpool Karaoke: The Series” is produced for Apple by CBS Studios and Fulwell 73 Productions with executive producers James Corden, Eric Pankowski and Ben Winston.
Check out the clip below.
In other television news today:
Dates
Revolt has launched its first-ever investigative special, “The Real Thirst Trap,” covering Black communities across America battling systematic water pollution. The show premiered Dec.
Earlier this month, new episodes of the series premiered on Apple TV+, featuring Sandra Oh and Duran Duran, Nikki Glaser and Wilco, Kevin and Michael Bacon (also known as The Bacon Brothers), Method Man and Chris Redd, the cast of Apple TV+’s “For All Mankind,” Ciara and Russel Wilson and Hillary and Chelsea Clinton along with Amber Ruffin.
“Carpool Karaoke: The Series” is produced for Apple by CBS Studios and Fulwell 73 Productions with executive producers James Corden, Eric Pankowski and Ben Winston.
Check out the clip below.
In other television news today:
Dates
Revolt has launched its first-ever investigative special, “The Real Thirst Trap,” covering Black communities across America battling systematic water pollution. The show premiered Dec.
- 12/23/2022
- by EJ Panaligan
- Variety Film + TV
Russian President Vladimir Putin is Belarus for talks with one of his few remaining allies, autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko, as his war effort in Ukraine falters badly. The visit comes as talk of coup have been been building in Moscow, according to multiple top Russian journalists.
According to new reports, some of the Russian leader’s most trusted aides may be the very ones conspiring to overthrow him. Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, is said to be despondent over the state of the war.
Putin in Belarus for "talks" with Lukashenko, along with Lavrov and Shoigu. This will be interesting.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) December 19, 2022
Numerous reports have claimed that Putin is suffering from ill health. Some observers believe the strongman has a form of cancer which has caused him to look bloated in recent months.
Evgeny Progozhin, an oligarch sometimes called “Putin’s Chef” and founder of a mercenary group,...
According to new reports, some of the Russian leader’s most trusted aides may be the very ones conspiring to overthrow him. Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, is said to be despondent over the state of the war.
Putin in Belarus for "talks" with Lukashenko, along with Lavrov and Shoigu. This will be interesting.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) December 19, 2022
Numerous reports have claimed that Putin is suffering from ill health. Some observers believe the strongman has a form of cancer which has caused him to look bloated in recent months.
Evgeny Progozhin, an oligarch sometimes called “Putin’s Chef” and founder of a mercenary group,...
- 12/23/2022
- by Max Kerwick
- Uinterview
Navalny has been marketed as an international thriller focusing on the conspiracy to assassinate Russian peace activist Alexander Navalny, but director Daniel Roher says that it was just as important to show him as a human being as it was an icon.
At Deadline’s Contenders Documentary awards-season panel, Roher shared why it was important to include Navalny’s personal life in the film.
Related: The Contenders Documentary – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“By showing his humanity, his family, we were able to illustrate exactly what was at stake for him, and exactly what he was sacrificing for the cause of Russian democracy and the freedom of Russia,” he said. “And that’s why it was paramount to not just have this film be a political film, or not just have this film be the murder mystery, but to really, at its heart, make a film about a family man, make...
At Deadline’s Contenders Documentary awards-season panel, Roher shared why it was important to include Navalny’s personal life in the film.
Related: The Contenders Documentary – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“By showing his humanity, his family, we were able to illustrate exactly what was at stake for him, and exactly what he was sacrificing for the cause of Russian democracy and the freedom of Russia,” he said. “And that’s why it was paramount to not just have this film be a political film, or not just have this film be the murder mystery, but to really, at its heart, make a film about a family man, make...
- 12/4/2022
- by Alex Cramer
- Deadline Film + TV
Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV news producer who staged an anti-war protest live on state TV last March, has escaped house arrest, according to multiple reports. It’s unclear how Ovsyannikova slipped away or where she went, but she apparently has her 11-year-old daughter in tow.
As a result, Ovsyannikova was placed on Russia’s federal wanted list Monday, the Moscow Times reported. The Times said it is unclear whether she has fled the country or not.
Related Story When Marina Ovsyannikova Stood Up To Russian Propaganda On Kremlin-Controlled Russian TV: "They Are Lying To You" — Deadline Disruptors Related Story Mark Hamill Calls Russia "The Evil Empire" As He Joins Ukraine Fundraising Effort As Ambassador Related Story Oscars: Russia Will Not Submit Film For International Feature Race; Local Selection Committee Chair Resigns In Protest
The journalist had been under house arrest since August, according to the Washington Post, as...
As a result, Ovsyannikova was placed on Russia’s federal wanted list Monday, the Moscow Times reported. The Times said it is unclear whether she has fled the country or not.
Related Story When Marina Ovsyannikova Stood Up To Russian Propaganda On Kremlin-Controlled Russian TV: "They Are Lying To You" — Deadline Disruptors Related Story Mark Hamill Calls Russia "The Evil Empire" As He Joins Ukraine Fundraising Effort As Ambassador Related Story Oscars: Russia Will Not Submit Film For International Feature Race; Local Selection Committee Chair Resigns In Protest
The journalist had been under house arrest since August, according to the Washington Post, as...
- 10/4/2022
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Daniel Roher knew little about the Russian political landscape when he started interviewing Alexei Navalny for a documentary in 2020. However, after completing work on the end result — aptly titled “Navalny” — and watching Russia invade Ukraine as the now-imprisoned Navalny predicted, Roher said he was certain about one aspect of the country’s government.
“They’re a bunch of losers,” he said in an interview over Zoom. “They’re disorganized. This is what happens when corruption rots every element of your society.”
That takeaway extends in part from the most explosive sequence in “Navalny,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and recently became available on HBO Max. The movie’s big moment finds its activist subject tracking down the Russian agents who poisoned him and tricking them into confessing over the phone.
That stunning confrontation, shot less than a year before Navalny was arrested while attempting to reenter Russia,...
“They’re a bunch of losers,” he said in an interview over Zoom. “They’re disorganized. This is what happens when corruption rots every element of your society.”
That takeaway extends in part from the most explosive sequence in “Navalny,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and recently became available on HBO Max. The movie’s big moment finds its activist subject tracking down the Russian agents who poisoned him and tricking them into confessing over the phone.
That stunning confrontation, shot less than a year before Navalny was arrested while attempting to reenter Russia,...
- 4/26/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
AMC released the trailer for its upcoming original series, “Dark Winds.” Based on the “Leaphorn & Chee” books by Tony Hillerman, the noir thriller premieres June 12 on AMC and AMC+ with its first two episodes and a new episode each Sunday thereafter.
“Dark Winds” takes place in 1971, on a secluded outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley, Ariz. The series follows Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) as he is overcome by a string of what seem to be completely unrelated crimes. But, as he gets closer to the truth, the more he is visited by the wounds of his past. His new deputy, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), joins him on the journey, and he, too, has scores to settle from his years on the reservation as a young man. The two men join forces in the battle against evil, themselves and their demons as they travel the path to salvation.
“Dark Winds” takes place in 1971, on a secluded outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley, Ariz. The series follows Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) as he is overcome by a string of what seem to be completely unrelated crimes. But, as he gets closer to the truth, the more he is visited by the wounds of his past. His new deputy, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), joins him on the journey, and he, too, has scores to settle from his years on the reservation as a young man. The two men join forces in the battle against evil, themselves and their demons as they travel the path to salvation.
- 4/18/2022
- by Sasha Urban, Carson Burton and Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
Daniel Roher is on a mission with “Navalny,” and it’s one he considers life or death.
The documentary filmmaker, who last directed “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,” believes that the more people see “Navalny” worldwide, the greater the spotlight will be on the imprisoned Russian dissident it is named for, and the more problematic it will be for Vladimir Putin’s administration to kill him. Alexei Navalny, a one-time presidential candidate in Russia, was poisoned with nerve gas in 2020, and although Putin and his government denied it, the poisoning was later linked to the Kremlin. Navalny was detained in January 2021 when he returned to Russia.
“If we can keep Alexei’s name in the headlines it will be harder for the regime to murder him in prison” Roher tells Variety. “My personal mission as the director of this film is to get as many people in...
The documentary filmmaker, who last directed “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,” believes that the more people see “Navalny” worldwide, the greater the spotlight will be on the imprisoned Russian dissident it is named for, and the more problematic it will be for Vladimir Putin’s administration to kill him. Alexei Navalny, a one-time presidential candidate in Russia, was poisoned with nerve gas in 2020, and although Putin and his government denied it, the poisoning was later linked to the Kremlin. Navalny was detained in January 2021 when he returned to Russia.
“If we can keep Alexei’s name in the headlines it will be harder for the regime to murder him in prison” Roher tells Variety. “My personal mission as the director of this film is to get as many people in...
- 4/7/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
More than four weeks into Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine, and just one week after a court sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison, “Navalny” director Daniel Roher made a passionate plea on behalf of the jailed politician in Copenhagen, lashing out at the “murderous” regime of President Vladimir Putin and arguing that filmmakers must “pick a side” in an increasingly fractured and polarized world.
“There’s a right side of politics. And yes, filmmakers pick a side. Because you’re either on the side of morality and justice and rule of law and democracy, or you’re on the side of a murderous dictatorship that launches invasions of sovereign nations and murders children every day,” Roher said on Tuesday at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox).
The director appeared in conversation with Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen, the director of the upcoming documentary “A Storm Foretold,...
“There’s a right side of politics. And yes, filmmakers pick a side. Because you’re either on the side of morality and justice and rule of law and democracy, or you’re on the side of a murderous dictatorship that launches invasions of sovereign nations and murders children every day,” Roher said on Tuesday at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox).
The director appeared in conversation with Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen, the director of the upcoming documentary “A Storm Foretold,...
- 3/30/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Roman Abramovich, a West-leaning Russian oligarch best known for owning the English football club Chelsea, and peace negotiators from Ukraine were likely poisoned during a meeting in Kyiv at the beginning of March, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The negotiators, who had met with Russian counterparts in hopes of charting a path away from war, later experienced debilitating symptoms including “red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands,” the report says. (Abramovich was briefly blinded, though his eyesight has since returned,...
The negotiators, who had met with Russian counterparts in hopes of charting a path away from war, later experienced debilitating symptoms including “red eyes, constant and painful tearing, and peeling skin on their faces and hands,” the report says. (Abramovich was briefly blinded, though his eyesight has since returned,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Tim Dickinson
- Rollingstone.com
Update, 9:51 Am Pt: Marina Ovsyannikova, who burst onto the set of a state-Russian newscast to protest the war in Ukraine, was fined 30,000 rouble, or about $280.
She also pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the charge of organizing an unauthorized public event, according to the BBC. There are still fears that she could face more serious charges related to spreading what the Russian government deems misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova appeared in the background of a newscast on Russia’s Channel One, showing a sign and shouting “don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.” She was then detained. She also recorded a lengthier message that was posted to social media.
According to the BBC, she told reporters on Tuesday that she was questioned for 14 hours but not given access to lawyers or to family members.
Previously: A woman appeared in the background of the...
She also pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the charge of organizing an unauthorized public event, according to the BBC. There are still fears that she could face more serious charges related to spreading what the Russian government deems misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova appeared in the background of a newscast on Russia’s Channel One, showing a sign and shouting “don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.” She was then detained. She also recorded a lengthier message that was posted to social media.
According to the BBC, she told reporters on Tuesday that she was questioned for 14 hours but not given access to lawyers or to family members.
Previously: A woman appeared in the background of the...
- 3/15/2022
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Early in Daniel Roher’s alarming and essential documentary Navalny, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny sits in Germany, having recovered from being poisoned. Asked what message he might leave behind if killed, he resists and tells the director he’d rather have this film be a thriller, half-jokingly saying “If I die you can make a boring movie of remembrance.” The film is anything but––a living work of journalism made by CNN in secret, revealed as a mystery documentary premiere only after Sundance was underway this year. Putin and Sundance have a bit of history: in 2017 hackers briefly took down the festival’s box office after the premiere of the doping-scandal documentary Icarus. Thankfully no such issues were reported this year.
Similar to Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour, Navalny is a living document as Navalny and his publicist team up with Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev to piece together the mystery of his 2020 poisoning.
Similar to Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour, Navalny is a living document as Navalny and his publicist team up with Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev to piece together the mystery of his 2020 poisoning.
- 1/28/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s highest-profile opposition figure, perennial thorn in Putin’s side and currently a guest in state prison, gets a vigorous up-close-and-personal look in this eventful, fest-moving, never-a-dull-moment documentary from Daniel Roher. A collaboration between HBO Max and CNN Films, Navalny, provides a sustained look at a good-looking, articulate and seemingly unafraid family man who came very close to being murdered on August 20, 2020 by what were quite clearly politically hired killers. The privileged access provides the opportunity for an international public to get a handle on a driven personality who consistently said things very few others are willing to risk. Anyone who follows contemporary international politics will eat it up.
“I will be a kind of martyr ‘til the end of my days,” Navalny muses early on in very good English, and he certainly can’t claim that he didn’t know what would happen to him when...
“I will be a kind of martyr ‘til the end of my days,” Navalny muses early on in very good English, and he certainly can’t claim that he didn’t know what would happen to him when...
- 1/26/2022
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s an extraordinary scene in the middle of “Navalny,” a must-watch documentary that tells the story of Alexei Navalny, the vitally popular Russian opposition leader who, as a presidential candidate, became such a threat to Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin tried to poison him. Most of the documentary, which was unveiled as a last-minute “surprise” entry in the U.S. Documentary Competition slate at Sundance, was shot in 2020 in Germany, where Navalny, tall and ruggedly handsome, with piercing blue eyes and a caustic intelligence (he’s like Daniel Craig’s towering boxer brother), holes up after the poisoning and tries to investigate what happened to him.
He teams up with the Bulgarian journalist hacker Christo Grozev, a member of the open-source research group Bellingcat, who in scenes worthy of a “Bourne” thriller is able to suss out the identities of the men who tailed Navalny to Tomsk, all on different flights,...
He teams up with the Bulgarian journalist hacker Christo Grozev, a member of the open-source research group Bellingcat, who in scenes worthy of a “Bourne” thriller is able to suss out the identities of the men who tailed Navalny to Tomsk, all on different flights,...
- 1/26/2022
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
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