Documentary Feature Film «Navalny» Wins an Oscar

At the Academy Awards this Sunday, the documentary feature "Navalny" took home the Oscar. This film, directed by Daniel Roher and presented by CNN Films and HBO Max, details the attempted assassination and subsequent incarceration of Russian anti-corruption campaigner and former presidential candidate Alexey Navalny. It chronicles his political ascent, as well as the investigative efforts of CNN's Clarissa Ward and journalist group Bellingcat, who worked hard to unmask those responsible for the attempted murder.

The critically acclaimed "Navalny" was released at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2022, winning a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary in February. This is the first Academy Award nomination for CNN Films, initially called in for five.

A vocal dissenter of the Kremlin, Navalny is presently serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum security prison east of Moscow. His daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, shared with CNN's Erin Burnett that her father continues to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict in Ukraine. She proclaimed, “We will not cease fighting until the war is over and my father is released.”

In 2020, Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent known as Novichok. This attack was openly blamed by several Western officials and Navalny himself on the Kremlin, who denied any involvement. Following months of recovery in Germany, Navalny returned to Moscow, where he was swiftly arrested for breaking the probation conditions of a 2014 embezzlement case which he believes was politically-motivated.

Dasha Navalnaya declared that the purpose of her father's activism and anti-corruption foundation is to make Russia a free country with democratic elections, freedom of press and freedom of speech, and to join the Western world's democratic community. Initially, Alexei Navalny was handed a two-and-a-half year sentence, which was later increased to nine years due to his alleged embezzlement from the organization.

Masha Kholodnaya, the daughter of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, expressed her worries on Thursday about her father's wellbeing in jail. She said her family has had limited access to him, and his attorneys are only allowed to see him “through a guarded veil.”

Kholodnaya further stated that she and her family have not seen Navalny in person for over a year and she is concerned about his health deteriorating in prison.

"It's quite concerning considering his health is getting worse and worse," she said.