You couldnt take it for more than two weeks. Its against the law.
Now back to the important questions at hand.
How has the US filmcrew that worked on a documentary about lovers who died in a vulcanic erruption, which was in austria by accident, where they were just finishing another project, managed to get into the Schwarzwald and talk to Navalny (whos behind security detailing at that point), and convince him that - and I quote “the documentary will be your insurance policy”, to subsequently participate in the sundance film festival (AGAIN?! Die “gewonnenen Awards” von 20 Days in Mariupol wurden in den letzten Monaten aufgehübscht. Die beste Doku des Jahres! Sagt das Sundance Film Festival. Und die Docudays UA (Ukraine), und das DocAviv Festival in Israel. Und das Festival der Cinema for Peace Foundation in Berlin. Und CPH:DOX (Jurypreis! Aber ernstzunehmendes Filmfestival) und natürlich das Cleveland International Film Festival mit seinem berühmten Greg Gund Memorial Standing UP Award!) - and only shortly after the documentary premiered at sundance -- hundred-thousands, if not millions of people already saw it online. And from social media monitoring we even know, that it drew traction in russia.
Which is obviously the answer to the moderator of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School asking the panel twice - how that documentary has been received in russia, how wide spread its recognition was, and what its impact has been.
You know following the usual publishing schedule of “we release it for free in the second week after it premieres at sundance”, and then have people at a Kennedy school panel pronounce proudly, that as soon as one server in russia was taken down, another one popped up, because this was so crowd sourced.
The Sundance Premiere was on January 25th 2022, the first torrents released 8 days later on February the 3rd. (see: click)
AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 042 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 2 000 kb/s
Width : 960 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Which was before the imdb page of the film was even crawled by google, which happened on the 29th of February 2022.
Specified as a Webrip. So not as a screener. Which is rather odd, because the Wikipedia page of the movie doesnt mention any webrelease back then…
In fact the first documented scene release (with an actual .nfo file) happened three months later on the 29th of May 2022, the source then was being indicated as HBO Max. Which funnily enough had released the film for streaming on 26th of May 2022, with the only prior airing being on CNN on the 28th of April 2022, according to the films wikipedia page.
Also, Meduza reported this in March 2023:
Anti-Corruption Foundation employees share free pirated version of ‘Navalny’ documentary
11:33 am, March 14, 2023Source: Meduza
Several top employees of Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) shared links to a free and presumably pirated online version of the film Navalny, which won the Academy Award for best feature documentary on Sunday, on Twitter and Telegram.The version of the film available on the site linked by the activists includes the original English-language audio with Russian subtitles. There’s currently no legal way to watch the film in Russia.
In the posts where they shared the link to the film, the FBK employees jokingly feigned frustration that the film had been “leaked” by “pirates.” Alexey Navalny’s press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, has not responded to Meduza’s questions about whether the Anti-Corruption Foundation is associated with the site, though she also shared the link on Twitter.
src: click
Which is also great, because the Anti-Corruption Foundation employees coincidentally “found” the movie about one year after its initial leak online, and then reshared it, just in time, after it won the Oscar.
Great publisher, btw, that sees all that and just isnt in it for the money… Warner Bros. btw.
Of course the film makers were touched and their bussom swole with pride, when Navalny told them, that he decided to move back to Russia again, where “they arrested him before he even got his passport back”. [Bad research on part of the Moderator by the way - because the more noteworthy aspect was, that they rerouted his flight to another airport so media and the public wouldnt interrupt the arrest too much…], and then they already got their second Oscar nomination, and subsequent win - the next year, so everything worked out well.
Nevermind what happened to Navalny. The panel of course indicates that his spirits are still high and his will is unbroken, which can be gleaned from his “15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country” (see below).
The film producer won an Oscar three years prior of course, for a documentary about Brasil, a country on the edge of democracy.
So it really was good luck, that the Filmcrew was already in Austria, when Navalny was in Schwarzwald.
And who is that in the same panel? Oh, its Christo Grozev! Who runs bellingcat! Which in Grostevs own words is not the Anti-Wikileaks, its really so much more responsible (responsible disclosure) than Wikileaks ever was.
It already stopped taking funding from the U.S. government’s National Endowment for Democracy last year.
So any potential associations with Wikileaks founder Assange are just entirely misplaced.
Very bad, that solitary confinement, very bad.
In Russia it normally wouldnt even be legal for more than two weeks in a row. But do you know the trick the russians use to get around that?
The Harvard Kennedy Center for Politics will tell you! In this video.
Just stay with it - at least until the moment the filmmaker explains to you his “container of meaning” concept of documentary filmmaking.
edit: Everyone on the panel also was nothing but impressed by Navalnys
15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country
- of course:
On the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, I have summarized the political platform of mine and, hopefully, of many other decent people.
15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country.
What was all this about and what are we dealing with now?
President Putin has unleashed an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts. He is desperately trying to make this a “people’s war,” seeking to turn all Russian citizens into his accomplices, but his attempts are failing. There are almost no volunteers for this war, so Putin’s army has to rely on convicts and forcibly mobilized people.
The real reasons for this war are the political and economic problems within Russia, Putin’s desire to hold on to power at any cost, and his obsession with his own historical legacy. He wants to go down in history as “the conqueror tsar” and “the collector of lands.”
Tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been murdered, and pain and suffering has befallen millions more. War crimes have been committed. Ukrainian cities and infrastructure have been destroyed.
Russia is suffering a military defeat. It was the realization of this fact that changed the rhetoric of the authorities from claims that “Kyiv will fall in three days” to hysterical threats of using nuclear weapons should Russia lose. The lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were needlessly ruined. The ultimate military defeat may be delayed at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands more mobilized soldiers, but it is generally inevitable. The combination of aggressive warfare, corruption, inept generals, weak economy, and heroism and high motivation of the defending forces can only result in defeat. The Kremlin’s deceitful and hypocritical calls for negotiations and ceasefire are nothing more than a realistic assessment of the prospects of further military action.
What are Ukraine’s borders? They are similar to Russia’s - they’re internationally recognized and defined in 1991 [this includes Crimea, which is a reversal of position by Navalny on the day of the release of the 15 theses]. Russia also recognized these borders back then, and it must recognize them today as well. There is nothing to discuss here. Almost all borders in the world are more or less accidental and cause someone’s discontent. But in the twenty-first century, we cannot start wars just to redraw them. Otherwise, the world will sink into chaos.
Russia must leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the way its people want. Stop the aggression, end the war and withdraw all of its troops from Ukraine. Continuation of this war is just a tantrum caused by powerlessness, and putting an end to it would be a strong move.
Together with Ukraine, the U.S., the EU and the UK, we must look for acceptable ways to compensate for the damage done to Ukraine. One way to achieve this would be lifting the restrictions imposed on our oil and gas, but directing part of the income Russia receives from hydrocarbon exports towards reparations. Of course, this should only be done after the change of power in Russia and the end of the war.
War crimes committed during this war must be investigated in cooperation with international institutions.
Are all Russians inherently imperialistic? This is nonsense. For example, Belarus is also involved in the war against Ukraine. Does this mean that the Belarusians also have an imperial mindset? No, they merely also have a dictator in power. There will always be people with imperial views in Russia, just like in any other country with historical preconditions for this, but they are far from being the majority. There is no reason to weep and wail about it. Such people should be defeated in elections, just as both right-wing and left-wing radicals get defeated in developed countries.
Does Russia need new territories? Russia is a vast country with a shrinking population and dying out rural areas. Imperialism and the urge to seize territory is the most harmful and destructive path. Once again, the Russian government is destroying our future with its own hands just in order to make our country look bigger on the map. But Russia is big enough as it is. Our objective should be preserving our people and developing what we have in abundance.
For Russia, the legacy of this war will be a whole tangle of complex and, at first glance, almost unsolvable problems. It is important to establish for ourselves that we really want to solve them, and then begin to do so honestly and openly. The key to success lies in understanding that ending the war as soon as possible will not only be good for Russia and its people, but also very profitable. This is the only way to start progressing toward removal of sanctions, return of those who left, restoration of business confidence, and economic growth.
Let me re-emphasize that after the war, we will have to reimburse Ukraine for all the damage caused by Putin’s aggression. However, the restoration of normal economic relations with the civilized world and the return of economic growth will allow us to do so without interfering with the development of our country. We have hit rock bottom, and in order to resurface, we need to bounce back from it. This would be both ethically correct, rational, and profitable.
We need to dismantle the Putin regime and its dictatorship. Ideally, through conducting general free elections and convocating the Constitutional Assembly.
We need to establish a parliamentary republic based on the alternation of power through fair elections, independent courts, federalism, local self-governance, complete economic freedom and social justice.
Recognizing our history and traditions, we must be part of Europe and follow the European path of development. We have no other choice, nor do we need any.
src: click
Now go and watch the documentary.
