“Navalny”, Daniel Roher’s film dedicated to Russian adversary Alexei Navalny, won the Oscar for best documentary at dawn this Monday at the 95th edition of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards in the United States.
Daniel Roher, accompanied by Alexei Navalny’s team and wife, Julia Navalnaya, when he received the Oscar, recalled the condition of the prisoner who opposes Putin and condemns the invasion of Ukraine, stating that “we should never be afraid to to take on dictators”.
Julia Navalnaya said her husband is “under arrest for defending democracy and dreaming of freedom” and the day when Russia will be free.
Roher dedicated the award to Navalny and “to all political prisoners” in the world.
“Alexei, the world has not forgotten your essential message to all of us: we cannot, we must not be afraid to oppose dictators and authoritarianism wherever it may arise.”
“Navalny” wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.#Oscarshttps://t.co/OizA2V1EIT pic.twitter.com/XKW3M1wJjR
– ABC News (@ABC) March 13, 2023
The documentary follows the story of Alexei Navalny, as he was hospitalized in serious condition with suspected poisoning on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow in August 2020.
The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Siberia, due to deteriorating health conditions. Two days later, Russian authorities authorized his transfer to Germany, where he was treated for 32 days at the Charité University Clinic in Berlin for neurotoxic poisoning.
After spending some time in Germany, he returned to Russia in January 2021, but was arrested upon arrival in Moscow. The lawyer and politician, whose name Putin avoids pronouncing, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for alleged fraud.
Last Friday, the Council of Europe renewed its call on Russia to release Alexei Navalny and abide by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in this case.
The other nominees for Best Documentary were Shaunak Sen’s “All Those Breathes”, Laura Poitras’s “All the Beauty and the Carnage” about Nan Golding (who won the Golden Lion last year in Venice), Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” and “A house made of splinters” by Simon Leerg Wilmont.
The Academy Award for Best Short Film went to “An Irish Goodbye” by Tom Berkeley and Ross White.
The German film “Nothing New West”, also nominated for Best International Film, won the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
The Oscar for Best Characterization went to “The Whale” and Best Costume for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever After”.
The Oscars celebrated their 95th edition at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, with a ceremony in which João Gonzalez’s “Ice Merchants” is also nominated for Best Animated Short Film.
“Ice Merchants” is the first Portuguese film to be nominated for the Hollywood Oscars.
This year, “All at the Same Time in Every Side,” an independent production by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, is leading the race, with 11 nominations, bringing together the Best Picture and Director categories as well as the acting categories.
Also nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture are “The Spirits of Inisherin” (Martin McDonagh), “The Fablemans” (Steven Spielberg), “Tár” (Todd Field), “All New West” (Edward Berger), “Top Gun : Maverick” (Joseph Kosinski), “Elvis” (Baz Luhrmann), “Avatar: The Way of Water” (James Cameron), “The Voice of Women” (Sarah Polley) and “Triangle of Sadness” (Ruben Ostlund).
Source: DN
