Was there any official permission obtained, or any dialogue with the Russian state?
There was none, because they’d never allow me to go. Even the state-funded media that the government trusts, very few go to the front and when they do it’s very managed. I had been working at the CBC, and then they got kicked out of Russia in the summer of 2022. So I didn’t have a press card. I was self-employed. I couldn’t have even applied for official accreditation..
Before the CBC, you worked for the Russian state-controlled media company RT, which is banned in Canada. Naturally, this has cast a propagandistic shadow over your new film.
I worked for RT Documentary, not RT News. RTD is a sister channel of RT. When I worked there from 2014 through 2020, my focus was on the Middle East. I had an obsession on all topics concerning ISIS. Originally, I put forth two conditions on my employment: I’ll never have any narration in my films, and there will never be any correspondents. I would never have someone saying, “We’re on the border of Iran and Syria and this feels like this,” because that’s where you can add narrative that you haven’t filmed yourself. I offered them cinema verite, for television, and they agreed. And then the relatively liberal atmosphere in which we were working started to change, so I quit to start working with the CBC.
In this film, we don’t see any of the devastation caused by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. There are no Ukrainian voices. Why limit the perspective?
Because I had no access to the Ukrainian side. There are few journalists able to work in both countries. For me to go to Ukraine as a Russian, I would be branded a spy or attacked. The fact that I used to work for RTD doesn’t help. I wouldn’t have been able to cover both sides of the front.
The Russian soldiers onscreen start off mostly convinced that they’re on the right side of history, with one repeating the Putin lie about how they’re there to fight Nazism. And yet there’s never any pushback from you. Why not provide context?
I had no idea I would be able to film this world. It was nothing short of a miracle, because I was missing this human portrait from the war on the Russian side. Anything they said, I was there to listen, not to preach about what I know about the war. They were completely shrouded from the rest of the world. The Nazism, we hear a lot about that in Russian media. But it’s their reality. When making documentaries, we want to show the reality of people and their motivations – what they believe. But you see, I ask him again later in the film why he’s still fighting, and he says he doesn’t even know.
There is a lot of conjecture online about whether or not the film received Russian approval or funding.
One-hundred per cent, no. I’m trying to be calm, but I want to ask how the hell does anyone think the state would pay me to go to places where Russian state media is not even allowed? There’s a lot of criticism online because I worked for RT. We also have to understand that Russia is the world’s biggest country and RT is Russia’s biggest broadcaster. If you can make the stories that you’re not ashamed of, then you go for it.
Other reporting
https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/sep/07/documentary-russians-at-war-accused-of-false-picture-soldiers-invading-ukraine
https://nypost.com/2024/09/07/world-news/critics-cry-propaganda-over-film-portraying-russian-soldiers-as-victims/
https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/09/06/sympathetic-view-of-russian-soldiers-creates-controversy-at-venice-film-festival
https://kyivindependent.com/documentary-humanizing-russian-soldiers-fighting-in-ukraine-sparks-outrage-at-venice-film-festival/ 
https://myrotvorets.news/na-venetsiiskomu-kinofestyvali-huma/ 👀
The Russian soldiers onscreen start off mostly convinced that they’re on the right side of history, with one repeating the Putin lie about how they’re there to fight Nazism. And yet there’s never any pushback from you. Why not provide context?
Just stating as fact in a question that the fighting Naziism is a lie. I’ve seen people say that here too, and to be honest I’ve seen enough Naziism on the Ukraine side and enough gloating about dead Nazis from the Russian side that I’m willing to say it’s definitely a real reason, even if it’s not the only one.
If nothing else it’s an important part of how they sold this war to Russian troops, and I think that’s an important distinction. Putin may not actually care about fighting Naziism, but a large portion of the Russian army who’s fighting Nazis definitely does.
Working at the (state-owned media) CBC is fine and raises no questions, but working for the (state-owned media) RT naturally casts a propagandistic shadow. Care to comment?
Yesterday CBC's warmonger-in-residence "journalist" Murray Brewster had a full sweep of the entire CBC website front page above the fold: like six stories he's written the past few months about how Canada needs to massively increase its spending on armaments, we are letting our NATO allies down, Canada is a military embarrassment, red tape is delaying military procurement, China and Russia are going to zoom across the ocean and get us, etc. It was fucking disgusting.
Yeah they're definitely going to want invade Canada
In 2022, China exported $62.1B to Canada. The main products exported from China to Canada were Broadcasting Equipment ($2.94B), Computers ($2.49B), and Office Machine Parts ($1.74B). During the last 5 years the exports of China to Canada have increased at an annualized rate of 6.86%, from $44.6B in 2017 to $62.1B in 2022.
In 2017, Canada exported $25.4B to China. The main products exported from Canada to China were Coal Briquettes ($2.69B), Crude Petroleum ($2.29B), and Rapeseed ($1.68B). During the last 5 years the exports of Canada to China have increased at an annualized rate of 6.68%, from $18.4B in 2022 to $25.4B in 2017.
During the last 5 years the exports of Canada to China have increased at an annualized rate of 6.68%, from $18.4B in 2022 to $25.4B in 2017.
And they just stopped importing rapeseed/canola because we tarrifed EVs lol
your movie suggests Russians do in fact possess consciousness. Due to your Russian background, I must ask, is this a trick? Are you a spy?
you went to Russia and did not spend every waking second accusing and lecturing every Russian you came across of being evil brainwashed monsters, curious, you must have been personally paid by Putin himselfInterviewer for state-owned canadian broadcasting interrogates an orc spy with intrinsic duplicitous nature after they suggest that orcs might actually be conscious humans with their own motivations. Interviewer corrects the orc spy and reminds them that there is only one permitted and state approved version of events.
Pjotr Sauer, the hero that interrogated this filthy orc spy, worked previously for "The Moscow Times", which is forbidden from operating in Russia due to "foreign agent laws", after he completed his degree in Russian and Asiatic Horde Studies.
Truly a man without an agenda or masters.
That must be incredibly frustrating. Being interogated with accusations of doing state propaganda by someone openly taking a check to do state propaganda.
Western media put in a ton of effort to humanize Azov Nazis. I don't fucking want to hear them whining about Russian soldiers.
"hey i get that you're saying you were in a place you shouldn't be, around soldiers and stuff but how come you didn't challenge their worldviews at every turn?"
Like as if anyone asking her why she didn't push back on putler's lies would have had the nerve to even go where she's been
Yet Canadians gobble up propaganda that shows US soldiers in a sympathetic light
American troops volunteer to join an illegal war and commit crimes against humanity: "How dare you not wipe the toops' assholes with your tongue!"
Some Russian conscripts think it's a good thing if they get to kill a few nazis: "wtf gommunist propaganda ban it now!"
"Not enough orcs!" ~ Liberall1399SlavaUkrania comment from rottentomatoes dot com.
i think it looks good shame we'll have to wait for it to run the whole festival circuit, if distributors will even touch it after a media campaign against it
you'd be surprised a lot of festival entries are hard to acquire for a long time because they want to run a whole circuit to hype before negotiating distribution
time travel
I fucking hate it here
copy somewhere.