Daniel Roher’s feature documentary Navalny, about the investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was named Best Documentary at the 2023 Baftas, held February 19 in London. The film headed off strong competition from Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes, Laura Poitras’ All The Beauty and the Bloodshed, Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love and Brett Morgen’s Bowie doc, Moonage Daydream.
Alexei Navalny is currently serving a 9-year sentence in a Russian prison after a sham trial in 2021. His health is deteriorating as he is continually put into solitary confinement for minor infractions of prison rules.
As director Roher told Business Doc Europe in January 2023, he hopes that the documentary will keep Navalny’s name in the limelight.
“All of the awards and the recognition that comes with winning awards is, more than anything, a marketing exercise. In this case, what I am doing is marketing the plight of the world’s foremost political dissident who today is locked up in perpetual solitary confinement because he is the number one anti-war activist in Russia…that’s why they’re injecting him with unknown medications,” he said.
Navalny is very much in the running for Best Doc at the upcoming Oscars (March 13), where it will be once again joined nominees All That Breathes, All The Beauty and the Bloodshed and Fire of Love, as well as A House Made of Splinters by Simon Lereng Wilmont.
