Daniel Roher has just knocked Putin off his high horse, dedicating his Oscar to political prisoners around the world.
On Sunday night, after winning the documentary Oscar for “Navalny,” director Daniel Roher used his acceptance speech to blast Russian President Vladimir Putin: “And there’s one person who couldn’t be here with us tonight. … Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition, remains in solitary confinement for what he calls, ‘Vladimir Putin’s unjust war of aggression in Ukraine.’
“Alexei, the world has not forgotten your vital message to all of us. We cannot, we must not be afraid of opposing dictatorships and authoritarianism. Wherever it rears its head,” Roher said at this year’s 95th Academy Awards, which Jimmy Kimmel hosted live from Hollywood’s Dolby Theater.
Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife who also appears in the documentary, attended the Oscars in her husband’s place, along with their children Dasha and Zahar. She joined Roher onstage and delivered an emotional speech.
“My husband is in prison, just for telling the truth. My husband is in prison, just for defending democracy, ”he said. “Alexei, I am dreaming of the day when you will be free and our country will be free. Stay strong my love.”
Other nominees for Sunday’s documentary included “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” “All That Breathes,” “Fire of Love” and “A House Made of Splinters.”
“Navalny” chronicles the investigation into the near-fatal poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The lawyer and activist spoke openly about Kremlin corruption, would not give up the fight for democratic reform, and was prepared to challenge Putin for the Russian presidency.
In August 2020, Navalny was poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent during a hotel stay. The documentary was filmed while he was recuperating in Berlin.
Navalny suspected the Kremlin of being responsible for the poisoning that nearly killed him, and he, Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, and Russian activist Maria Pevchikh set out to prove it through a series of investigations shown in the film.
The explosive moment that made “Navalny” so electrifying was when Putin’s prominent critic decided to call the men involved in his assassination attempt to confront them. The men quickly hung up, so Navalny switched to a smarter approach: He posed as a Kremlin official asking for a report on why the poisoning failed.
In January 2021, Navalny returned to Moscow, and cameras caught the crowd of supporters waiting for his return and the moment he was detained by police, sparking widespread protests across Russia. Last year he was reportedly transferred to a maximum security IK-6 prison in the village of Melekhovo, in the Vladimir region, approximately 155 miles east of Moscow.
Shortly after the film’s release, Russia invaded the Ukraine.
“I hope that Navalny, through the film, can remind the world that an alternative vision of what Russia can be is possible,” Roher told The Times in November, “…but ultimately, I hope that the film help keep Navalny alive.”
