Navalny: The Russian Dissident Who Shocked The World

 By José Alberto Hermosillo

“Navalny” is an intense, astonishing, and shocking political thriller! It is a leading-edge Academy Award-winning jaw-dropping documentary, exceptionally made, with trustworthy first-hand information and unexpected twists and turns that follow the attempted assassination of former Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020.

Navalny’s ordeal started when he felt sick from drinking poisoned tea on an airplane from Moscow to Siberia and had to be diverted to Omsk. Navalny’s case continued under the reflector lights of the world’s newscasters to another hospital in Germany. 

While planning his return to Russia after 32 days in an intensive care facility in Deutschland, he recovered, regrouped, and started his quest to unmask the corrupt and anti-democratic Russian gubernatorial system.

Navalny needed more than a new Perestroika to win the elections against Putin and reform the country’s political system. His people supported him, but the Russian secret agents severely impacted his life and his family’s safety. 

Therefore, Navalny’s ideology vanishes before his eyes over his imperative need for survival. Nevertheless, starting with Alexei’s case, he organized the “Navalny’s Anti-corruption Foundation” to prosecute Putin’s agents who participated in disappearing adversaries, dissidents, and Loud protestors in and outside the former Soviet Union. The vicious internal acts of repression happened as a prelude to the Ukraine War in 2022.

Screening of "Navalny." Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. FestivalinLA ©2023

The investigation turns complex when documentarians follow the trends of the story before Navalny’s poisoning by the Russian secret service. At the same time, it parallels Navalny’s inquiries about the overwhelming evidence of his executioners over the phone, in real-time, and disclosing those incriminating testimonies with the proper authorities and on social media.

Director Daniel Roher., “Navalny.” Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. FestivalinLA ©2023

When Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher (‘Once Were Brothers”) was working on a different project in Ukraine, he had to go to Vienna but could not return to Ukraine to continue his work. It was when his American producers brought up the subject of the Russian dissident. Daniel and his crew went immediately to Germany to interview Alexei Navalny and set the story right.

The documentarians gathered over a month of recordings, with 4,000 pages of transcripts, pictures, videos, and other materials. The first cut of the documentary ended as an extensive 15-hour project, the product of four cameras rolling simultaneously during the last interview. Before locking down the intense 1 hour 39 minutes final cut, they reviewed all the vital information and added it to the film’s final discussion. 

During the process, the crew communicated with the security code LP9 (Love Pushing 9) to prevent any information from being leaked to the Russian Secret Service.

“Navalny” director Daniel Roher, cinematographer Niki Waltl, and Alexei Navalny

Finishing the film was impossible because new events developed daily. Still, Daniel Roher was determined to follow the story until Navalny’s nine-plus-year sentencing in a maximum-security penal colony after being found guilty of large-scale fraud and contempt in the Moscow courthouse. 

In his acceptance speech at the 95th Academy Awards, Daniel Roher passionately stated, “Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition, is in solitary confinement for what he calls Vladimir Putin’s unjust war in Ukraine.” The director wanted to dedicate the award to all political prisoners worldwide. 

Alexei Navalny is a politician with millions of YouTube followers. He reaches the masses online through social media with his slogan, “Do not be afraid.”

Panel with "Navalny" director Daniel Roher. Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. FestivalinLA ©2023

Now, the young documentarian Daniel Roher can deliver more than a promise to Alexei Navalny, who was hoping to get an Academy Award nomination and, why not, an Oscar win. More importantly, the awards are shown broadly in Russia and the world, and he knows that people in his country will be watching. That will keep his name and intention to become Russia’s next president relevant at the highest stage during the Awards ceremony, like a message hidden inside a Trojan horse. The award means the world to everybody – the director, the idealist, the family, and the followers.

Daniel Roher knows that his provocative documentary will not show in a multiplex in Moscow anytime soon. But the director’s dream is to show his project to Alexei in a movie theater in The Golden Domed City. That moment will be remembered as epic as winning the Oscar for Navalny’s cause.

"Navalny" director Daniel Roher & film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. FestivalinLA ©2023

                                                        Navalny - Official Trailer

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Gunda: An Emotional Journey of Pigs, Chickens, and Cows

By José Alberto Hermosillo

“Gunda” is a fascinating and minimalist depiction of the tranquil life in a farmhouse, where pigs, chickens, and cows take center stage. “Gunda” is one of the best documentaries of the year!

Gunda director Victor Kosakovskiy. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2020

Victor Kosakovskiy (“Aquarela,” ¡Vivan las Antipodas!”) is an accomplished Russian documentarian. 

In “Gunda,” he takes us into an observational passage with stunning cinematography, perfect use of a nonintrusive camera, and crystal-clear sound. The film is captivating audiences and has received awards—at the Berlin and Stockholm film festivals—for being nominated for Best Documentary at the European Film Awards and an IDA Award. Many may find the pace gridlocked yet compelling and thought-provoking.

Gunda, executive producer Joaquin Phoenix. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2020

Joaquin Phoenix, an animal rights activist, serves as the film's executive producer. As he did in his acceptance speech at the Oscars 2020, when he won Best Actor for “Joker,” his advocacy pleads for love and compassion for other species and how we can balance the food chain intelligently and humanely.

The documentary raises awareness about how domestic animals show emotions through behavior. We see a mamma pig caring for her piglets, caged chickens experiencing freedom for the first time, and cows running without restrictions on the fields. 

“Gunda.” Photo courtesy of NEON.

The film opens with a steady shot of the exterior of a barn. Inside, a mother pig is giving birth to about a dozen piglets. It is a miracle of life. As every little pig comes to the exterior, we fall in love with them. They are adorable! – it is also what the protective mother pig thinks. The day passes, and the entire pack goes out for a stroll to discover the delights of the dirt in their vast universe.

When a flock of caged chickens slowly and cautiously moves out, the physical damage suffered for an entire life in captivity is noticeable. One chicken is without a leg, and others miss many feathers, all disoriented.

The fascinating trend continues with a gorgeous display of big, healthy cows interacting and running freely in the open. Those images make us think about all sorts of things, such as how valuable life is for everybody in the field, even those domestic creatures we cage, kill, and consume in our daily diet.

When Kosakovskiy decided to make a white silent film, he wanted the audience to experience, in first person, a glimpse of life on a farm. He knew he needed to spend months with the best equipment possible—the best camera and sound, no music sugar-coating, and plenty of inspiring images of nature.

For years, Kosakovskiy needed help raising the budget to make this film, and pitching a black-and-white trinity movie with pigs, chickens, and cows as the main stars was hard. To convince producers to invest in his project, he referred to other similar successful films like “Ida,” “Cold War,” and “Roma.” Now, he is glad the producers could see his vision and the intention to shoot a naturalistic film.

“Gunda.” Photo courtesy of NEON.

The small camera crew worked tirelessly from noon until sunset to capture the animals’ actions and reactions. Those long working hours were nothing compared with the precious moments they captured, which dramatically enhanced the story.

Kosakovskiy’s experience working in cinema made him make the right decisions, using long lenses not to distract the animals. For that, he needed the best steady cam operator to keep the proper distance between the camera and the subject, avoid being invasive with the animals, or alter the natural outcome. To photograph the living beings from far away was not an esthetic choice but a moral one. 

In a movie set, the director is always in control of every given situation. In this documentary, the director had to be patient and not dictate something he couldn’t control, such as animal behavior, weather, and human challenges. To make “Gunda,” the filmmakers traveled to animal sanctuaries in Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. 

Hollywood Legion Theater Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo, Festival in LA ©2020

Kosakovskiy said after a drive-in screening at the Hollywood Legion Theater, “Making this movie changed the way I see life.” The whole intention was to show life on a farm without saying anything and understand what a mother pig feels: seriousness, sadness, and hopelessness. 

“Gunda.” Photo courtesy of NEON.

He continued the conversation. “All those creatures have a soul, and discovering those emotions is moving. The pig compellingly talked to us. In the very last scene, the pig’s behavior looks scripted. It was a miracle; the team cried.”

The film helps us determine the similarities between animal and human behavior.  

After admiring such a marvelous work of art, I decided to eliminate “Lechón Asado” from my Cuban diet. I am not Cuban; I am just a lover of the world’s cuisine. I am also becoming more appreciative of my Mesoamerican culture, which is based on vegetables and insects.

As an agent of change, I will continue loving eating my greens, as much as this documentary made me care for the voiceless creatures of every farm in the world because sustainable farming is possible. 

 

GUNDA official trailer

 

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