Navalny’s director Daniel Rohr (left) and Alexei Navalny.Niki Waltle
Director Daniel Lauer navalnywon the 2023 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
My wife woke me up at 4 o’clock. I want to give you some news. News I thought I was ready for.
My friend, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was murdered in prison.
I spent two months with Alexei Navalny in the winter of 2020-21. We went for runs together, discussed politics, including the state of Canada’s fishing industry, and made documentaries. The film follows Alexei’s recovery from chemical poisoning with a Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok, his surprising investigation into would-be assassins, and his fight against Vladimir Putin and the removal of rebels from within the country of his birth. It features Alexei, who bravely returned to Russia to lead.
For those who are familiar with his story or have seen the film, the news of Alexei’s death must have come as no surprise. But actually, I was shocked. I still am. How do you deal with what you can’t deal with? In my heart, Alexei’s story will continue. The Russian people will overthrow Mr. Putin. Alexei will be released from prison. And through free and fair elections, he will become the next president of Russia. My dream was to visit this beautiful future Russia, Moscow and screen our film for Alexei. A movie he never got to see.
I’ve always imagined making a sequel to this.
Alexei Navalny has never bothered anyone in the Kremlin
Instead, savage people finally did it. Alexei is gone. I’m devastated. The potential future I dreamed of seems more like a fantasy, but I know that this is not the end of Alexei Navalny’s story. His spirit will live on. The opposition movement he led and the organizations he built will continue the fight for a democratic Russia without war, without Vladimir Putin, and without corruption.
Alexei won’t be starring in the sequel, but who will take over the role and lead the Russian rebels into this future? It seems impossible, but Alexei tried again and again to do what was possible and encouraged us to do the same.
Despite my grief, I found solace in his spirit, joked with him until the very end, wrote a Valentine’s Day message to his wife Yulia, and encouraged Russians to vote for everyone in the upcoming elections. I felt solace in the fact that I was there. Except for Vladimir Putin. Alexei had an indomitable spirit and inspired all of us to not be deprived of our humanity, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
As waves of nationalism and authoritarianism continue to wash over our countries around the world, we must all stand up for our democratic values. We cannot allow anti-democratic forces to come to power, and we cannot allow them to silence the strong pro-democracy movement that still exists in Russia.
If Alexei were still with us, he would roll his eyes at the sound of crying and tell us to drink a glass of vodka and get back to work. Democracy is fragile and the battle continues.