‘Navalny’ Receives World Premiere, John Early, Kogonada, Lisa Joy, Donald Elise Watkins, Daniel Roher, Lily Mcinerny Participate in Day Six of Sundance Film Festival’s Programming

Sundance Film Festival completed the sixth day of its online festival programming featuring conversations with Daniel Roher, John Early, Kogonada, Lisa Joy, Donald Elise Watkins, Lily Mcinerny, and more. Of note, Sundance Film Festival was home to the World Premiere of Navalny on the very same day that Russia added Alexei Navalny to their terror list. Never before in the history of Sundance, has a film and real-life circumstances been more timely.

After a surprise announcement yesterday, today’s sixth day of the Sundance Film Festival saw the debut of the mystery film, Navalny, on the very same day that Russia added the Putin critic and subject of the documentary, Alexei Navalny, to their ‘terrorist’ list. In conjunction with this explosive moment, today the United States denounced this act and called for his immediate release. Never before in the history of Sundance has a film's real-life circumstances reverberated so strongly in the culture and conversation of the day.

Additionally, the festival continued to showcase exciting discussions, featuring some of the most notable visionaries in independent film, new media, and culture at-large, including: Alexei Navalny, John Early, Kogonada, Lisa Joy, Donald Elise Watkins, Daniel Roher, Lily Mcinerny, and more.

Each year, Sundance serves as a cultural launchpad, helping to expand audience horizons through film and the conversations that occur the minute that credits roll. Continuing to foster this spirit of discussion into 2022, Sundance Film Festival programs a series of panels across discipline and topics to keep the conversation going.

DAY 6 HIGHLIGHTS

NAVALNY Panel

DANIEL ROHER (Director) on the best case scenario this film could have on Navalny’s release: “I want every single human being on the planet earth to know the name Alexei Navalny. I want that name to be associated with a grotesque injustice being perpetrated by the Russian state against a man who survived a murder attempt and then was arrested for merely surviving. I want there to be a global outrage and outcry because of Alexei’s detainment, and I want people to stop doing business with the Russians, and I want there to be reasonable expectations for Navalny’s release.”

CHRISTO GROZEV (subject/CEO Bellingcat) on how he wants the world to treat President Putin: “I want the whole world on a daily basis to be confronting President Putin and treating him in no way different than say the president of North Korea. This is not a civilized country, this is not a civilized establishment. Just think of the glaring irony that on the day of the release of the film that discloses how Alexei Navalny was poisoned by his government – his government branded him a terrorist. The people who are the terrorists brand him as a terrorist. This is something that should sink in and be remembered by as many people as possible on a daily basis.”

MARIA PEVCHIKH (Executive Producer) on making the film accessible to Russians: “We are doing everything possible, and then a little bit more on top of it, to make it accessible to the Russian audience because we are convinced that they deserve it more than anybody else.”

DASHA NAVALNY (Subject/Alexei’s Daughter) on how her family is doing: “we are doing good, considering everything. Our primary thinking with this movie coming out is that we want Alexei to be released. My dad is doing okay, but excited to see the movie if he ever gets to.”

DANIEL on scribbling in his notebook ahead of the premiere: “On the eve of the premiere, I wrote Alexei a letter that I hope I could give to him one day. It goes like this: ‘Navalny, when I told you I was the guy to make your documentary, I had no fucking idea what I was getting myself into. You know what they say, ‘Fake it til you make it.’ Thanks for letting us in. I wish you could be here with us as we show this film to the world. I am planning the sequel already. Stay warm out there. Hope to see you soon, Daniel.”

ODESSA RAE (Producer) on the origin of the secret title for the film: “LP9 actually comes from Christo Grozev, who was doing his investigations and he discovered that the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) had a codename for novichok (the nerve agent the Russian government used to try to kill Navalny), and that was Love Potion #9.”

CINEMA CAFÉ:

Fresh Faces

DONALD ELISE WATKINS (Actor) on undoing some of the traditions of filmmaking: “I feel like it’s more of the vibe of the individual. When you have someone who is willing and open to collaborate and it doesn’t matter where the idea comes from. That is really what we are in service to: these characters and the story….when you have someone who steps in and is the figurehead, ideas trickle down from there.”

DONALD ELISE WATKINS (Actor) on an “Aha” moment of transitioning from theater to in front of the camera: “I am on set and I am trying to project and they were like ‘We don’t need all this. Less is more.” Figuring out how to scope and let the camera do the work. The camera is your best friend. I am talking to all the theater kids…it’s OK you get away from that feeling of like “I didn’t do enough.’”

JOHN EARLY (Actor) on how he felt on a set as an actor: “It’s so artificial. Your experience of it never matters. It’s always important to remember that you are a prop. You have your own agency and you bring your own ideas to, but you have to remember you have to hit your marks and embrace the artificiality of the set experience.”

DONALD ELISE WATKINS (Actor) on how he feels his representation matters: “It doesn’t matter what I do, I am always going to be a symbol of something. Here’s an aha moment: realizing I am black in everything I do. It doesn’t matter, I could be flipping a burger but I am a black burger flipper flipping the best in the world. It’s always going to be that. There are certain aspects of this film where we aren’t trying to answer any questions. We are trying to start a conversation.”

LILY MCINERNY (Actor) on separating herself from her character: “I knew from the get go I had to separate my opinions on their relationship from my characters. Although I recognize their relationship for all the disturbing manipulation that goes on. The whole point is coercion is powerful and it’s not consent…I could never judge Leah for the choices she was making in real-time and I hope the audience didn’t either.”

THE BIG CONVERSATION

Machine Yearning Panel

KOGONADA (Director, After Yang) on how the surge of interest in AI technology can coincide with art: At its best, art can present questions. The significance of science feels more critical than ever, but the role of art I don’t think should propagate its own idea or message without some complexity. But I do think probing and questioning things about society and humanity, it’s why art exists.”

LISA JOY (Co-creator, Co-showrunner, Executive Producer, Westworld) on why so many compelling narratives in our canon include exploration of AI and robot life: “I think the reason so much fiction anthropomorphizes artificial intelligence, you know gives them a human body and face and affect, is because we’re really examining human nature itself, less so than robot mechanics a lot of the time.”

CYNTHIA BREAZEAL (Professor, MIT Media Lab) on how art and future technologies like robotics and AI converge: “I love the opportunity in art to both explore the utopian and the potential dystopian outcomes or unintended outcomes. I do think that when the art we make is somehow grounded in the realities of technologies, the maturities of technologies, the potential and the grand challenges we have left - I think that can really help.”

ABOUT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer Of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape.

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