April 25, 2023 — NAVALNY: Political Opposition in Russia and the Power of Documentary

In the Oscar-winning documentary NAVALNY, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny works in Berlin with investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Maria Pevchikh to uncover the machinations behind his almost fatal poisoning. Bravely returning home to continue his efforts toward political change, Navalny has been sitting in a Russian penal colony since 2021 with an over eleven year sentence to serve.

From the rise of an oppositional voice to using every means necessary to suppress it, NAVALNY reveals the underbelly of a Russian political environment dominated by deception, fear and state violence. What does it take to capture an investigation of this magnitude and consequence? How can films like NAVALNY inspire change or even save the life of its protagonist? In the war for truth, how do narrative and documentary challenge or disrupt disinformation campaigns?

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center and Institute of Politics, the Harvard Club of Toronto, and Harvardwood co-sponsored a discussion about Navalny’s journey, the making of the film, and the landscape of Russian propaganda and disinformation with Christo Grozev (lead Russia investigator at Bellingcat, who appears in the film), Shane Boris (producer of NAVALNY), and Julia Minson (Associate Professor of Public Policy, HKS), moderated by Ann Cooper (first Moscow Bureau Chief for NPR, Professor Emeritus at Columbia Journalism School, and Spring 2020 Shorenstein Fellow).