By C.J. Hirschfield
(January 17, 2023)
Two years ago, an extraordinary documentary on Russian opposition party leader Alexei Navalny was recorded. The film has just been released; he has not. Having been charged with everything from fraud to having created an extremist group “with the purpose of inciting hatred toward officials and oligarchs,” he currently is imprisoned in solitary confinement, facing up to 20 years in a Russian penal colony. Navalny is on the Oscar shortlist for best documentary feature, and I attended a screening followed by a panel that included the film’s director, Daniel Roher, producer Shane Boris and Christo Grozev , the lead Russia investigative journalist for Bellingcat, whose remarkable work utilizing open source digital tools tracked down the Kremlin’s team that poisoned and nearly killed Navalny. (Watch the conversation below) Continue reading