research: Awards for documentaries in the last year
Navalny's life and future death captured in Oscar-winning documentary
By George Wright
BBC News
The film follows Navalny as he and his team unravel a plot to poison him with deadly nerve agent Novichok.
In August 2020, he had collapsed on a flight over Siberia and was rushed to hospital in Omsk - an emergency landing that saved his life. Russian officials eventually allowed him to be airlifted to Berlin for treatment.
The German government revealed that tests carried out by the military found "unequivocal proof of a chemical nerve warfare agent of the Novichok group".
The Kremlin denied any involvement and rejected the Novichok finding. Many were sceptical, including Navalny himself, who embarked on his own investigation with a team of journalists.
IMAGE SOURCE,CNN FILMS
Image caption,
Daniel Roher, left, with Navalny and his wife Yulia, on the film set
In one extraordinary scene in the film, Navalny dupes an FSB agent into admitting over the phone that the chemical weapon had been doused on Navalny's underwear at a hotel in Tomsk.
The agent, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, said that had the plane not made an emergency landing, Navalny would have died. The fate of the agent is not known.
"We were all completely stunned," said Shane Boris, a producer on the film.
"When the team started that interview I don't think anyone expected the calls to yield any sort of result like that."
The film follows Navalny as he recovers from the poisoning and spends time with his family. It documents his return to Russia, where he is arrested on arrival.
He would never walk free again.
Mr Roher says he and Navalny became close during the two months of filming, but the subject matter meant it was not all plain sailing.
"There were moments that were quite tense, where I had to ask him uncomfortable things. Even the first question in the movie … that's a very uncomfortable line of questioning, but I'm there first and foremost to make a movie," he said.
Mr Roher said he and Navalny exchanged letters after he was imprisoned upon returning to Russia.
"I'm very pleased to have them to this day. I put them in my office and I'll cherish those forever," he said.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Daniel Roher and Yulia Navalnaya embrace at the 2023 Oscars
The prospect of Navalny's mortality is a thread that runs throughout the film.
In one scene, between interviews, one of Navalny's team asks him if he's getting irritated by questions about his past.
Navalny says he is not, but adds: "It's just that I realise that he's filming it all for the movie he's going to release if I get whacked."
In reality, the film was released before his death and won widespread international acclaim. The Guardian said it was "one of the most jaw-dropping things you'll ever witness", while the Times called it "undoubtedly one of the most thrilling documentaries to be released this, or any, year".
Many are now watching the film in a new light.
"Alexei, if you are arrested and thrown in prison, or the unthinkable happens and you are killed, what message do you leave behind for the Russian people?" Mr Roher asks in the final scene.
Navalny briefly responds in English, before the director suggests he revert to his native tongue.
He finishes in Russian: "We don't realise how strong we actually are. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
"So don't be inactive," he says, before giving a knowing look to the camera.
IMAGE SOURCE,CNN FILMS
Image caption,
Roher says the film changed his life
Mr Roher says that making the film has changed his life.
"It had such a profound impact on me as a human being," he said.
"When I think about his life, it will remind me that no matter what situation life throws at you ... if you have levity and you do not lose your humanity - keep laughing, keep writing your wife's Valentines Day messages - everything will be better.
"Everything isn't going to be okay for Alexei as we know, but his life is a masterclass in courage and resilience, and light in dark."
OSCAR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE WINNERS
2022: Navalny
2021: Summer of Soul
2020: My Octopus Teacher
2019: American Factory
2018: Free Solo
2017: Icarus
2016: O.J.: Made in America
2015: Amy
2014: Citizenfour
2013: 20 Feet from Stardom
2012: Searching for Sugar Man
2011: Undefeated
2010: Inside Job
2009: The Cove
2008: Man on Wire
2007: Taxi to the Dark Side
2006: An Inconvenient Truth
2005: March of the Penguins
2004: Born into Brothels
2003: The Fog of War
2002: Bowling for Columbine
2001: Murder on a Sunday Morning
2000: Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
1999: One Day in September
1998: The Last Days
1997: The Long Way Home
1996: When We Were Kings
1995: Anne Frank Remembered
1994: Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
1993: I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School
1992: The Panama Deception
1991: In the Shadow of the Stars
1990: American Dream
1989: Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
1988: Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
1987: The Ten-Year Lunch
1986: Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got and Down and Out in America
1985: Broken Rainbow
1984: The Times of Harvey Milk
1983: He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'
1982: Just Another Missing Kid
1981: Genocide
1980: From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China
1979: Best Boy
1978: Scared Straight!
1977: Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?
1976: Harlan County, USA
1975: The Man Who Skied Down Everest
1974: Hearts and Minds
1973: The Great American Cowboy
1972: Marjoe
1971: The Hellstrom Chronicle
1970: Woodstock
1979: Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life
1968: Journey into Self
1967: The Anderson Platoon
1966: The War Game
1965: The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
1964: Jacques-Yves Cousteau's World Without Sun
1963: Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World
1962: Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler
1961: Le Ciel et la Boue (Sky Above and Mud Beneath)
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