One of the most riveting, essential documentaries at Sundance Film Festival was a late, mid-fest addition, perhaps due to fear that Putin’s thugs may take down the virtual festival. Daniel Roher’s Navalny explores the attempted assassination of Russian anti-corruption campaigner and former presidential candidate, Alexey Navalny. Ahead of a premiere on CNN and streaming release on CNN+ on April 24 at 9pm ET––arriving with sadly even more relevance than its premiere just a few months ago––the first trailer has been released.
John Fink said in his review, “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.”
See the trailer below.
