2023 Oscars Challenge: [16] “Navalny” (One Nomination)

February 15, 2023 / Leave a Comment

by Christopher Haskell

FILM #16

OF 39

95TH ACADEMY AWARDS | 2023 OSCARS CHALLENGE
“NAVALNY”
FEBRUARY 15, 2023
HBO MAX

DAY 23

OF 48

Best DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Produced by Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

The political documentary “Navalny” plays out like an espionage thriller. What director Daniel Roher and his team capture on film is nothing short of history-making. Alexei Navalny is a Russian political figure opposing current leader Vladimir Putin. Navalny is a character in and of himself, posting YouTube videos and appearing to be what Russia needs to enter into the present century. But if there’s one thing we know about Putin, he’s a real-life villain. What follows is an open-and-shut-case of how terrible Putin is.

Someone poisons Alexei, and Russian officials and doctors try to cover it up. But Alexei endures and gets out of the country. After recovering, he goes on a mission to prove that it was Putin and his men that tried to poison him. And what gets documented for all to see couldn’t have been written any better.

But the real kicker to the “Navalny” documentary is that, technically, it is still going on. Not to ruin the film’s ending, Alexei continues to deal with the repercussions of opposing Putin today. As with any documentary, one hopes that the more people see it, the more that might get done to push the needle in the right direction. Personally, “Navalny” is my favorite documentary of the year, and I will be rooting for it to win because it’s a situation that has kept me up at night since I first overlooked it last year.

PREVIOUS NOMINATIONS

Daniel Roher

First-time nominee

Odessa Rae

First-time nominee

Diane Becker

First-time nominee

Melanie Miller

First-time nominee

Shane Boris

92nd Academy Awards (2019)

Best Documentary Feature

“The Edge of Democracy”

Nominee

Follows the man who survived an assassination attempt by poisoning with a lethal nerve agent in August 2020. During his months-long recovery he makes shocking discoveries about the attempt on his life and decides to return home.

Directed by Daniel Roher
CNN Films + Warner Bros. Pictures + HBO Documentary Films
April 11, 2022
98 minutes

ACCOLADES

BAFTA Awards — Best Documentary [Winner]
American Cinema Editors Awards — Best Edited Documentary (Nominee)
Australian Film Critics Association Awards — Best Documentary (Intl) (Nominee)
Chicago Indie Critics Awards — Best Documentary Film (Nominee)
Cinema Eye Honors Awards — Audience Choice Prize [Winner]
Cinema Eye Honors Awards — Outstanding Nonfiction Feature (Nominee)
Cleveland International Film Festival — Best Documentary [Winner]
Columbus Film Critics Association Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
CPH:DOX Awards (Nominee)
Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards — Best Political Documentary [Winner]
Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards — Best Documentary Feature (Nominee)
Directors Guild of America Awards — Directorial Achievement in Documentary (Nominee)
DiscussingFilm Critics Awards — Best Documentary Feature (Nominee)
Docville Awards — ConScience Award (Nominee)
GALECA: Society of LGBTQ Ent. Critics Awards — Documentary of the Year (Nominee)
Georgia Film Critics Association Awards — Best Documentary Film (Nominee)
Houston Film Critics Society Awards — Best Documentary Feature (Nominee)
Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
Latino Ent. Journalists Ass. Film Awards — Best Documentary Film (Nominee)
North Carolina Film Critics Association Awards — Best Documentary Film (Nominee)
Producers Guild of America Awards — Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures (Nominee)
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards — Best Documentary (Nominee)
Seattle Film Critics Society Awards — Best Documentary Feature (Nominee)
Sundance Film Festival — Audience Award/U.S. Documentary [Winner]