Daniel Roher (left), director of Navalny, with Alexey Navalny.Niki Waltl
Daniel Roher is the director of Navalny, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film in 2023.
My wife jostled me awake at 4 a.m. to tell me the news, news I thought I had readied myself for:
My friend, Alexey Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition, was killed in prison.
I spent two months with Alexey Navalny in the winter of 2020-21. We went running together, debated politics – including the state of Canadian fisheries, I kid you not – and made a documentary. The film covered Alexey’s recovery from chemical poisoning from a Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok, the incredible investigation into his would-be assassination, and his brave return to Russia to fight Vladimir Putin and lead the opposition from inside the country of his birth.
For anyone familiar with his story or who has seen the film, the news of Alexey’s death must not have come as a surprise. But in truth, I was shocked. I still am. How do you process that which cannot be processed? In my mind, Alexey’s story would continue. The Russian people would overthrow Mr. Putin. Alexey would be released from prison. And through a free and fair election, he would become the next Russian president. My dream was to visit Moscow, in this beautiful Russia of the future, and screen our film for Alexey – a film he never got to see.
I always imagined I would make this sequel.
Alexey Navalny troubled the Kremlin like no one else before him
Instead, the brutes finally did it. Alexey is now gone. I am devastated. Although the potential future I dreamed about seems more like a fantasy, I know this is not the end of Alexey Navalny’s story. His spirit will live on. The opposition movement he led and the organization he built will continue the fight for a Russia that is free of war, free of Vladimir Putin, free of corruption and democratic.
Though it won’t be Alexey starring in the sequel, I wonder who will take up the mantle and lead the Russian opposition into this future? It seems impossible, but Alexey repeatedly defied what was possible and encouraged us to do the same.
Through a cloud of grief, I find solace in his spirit and in the fact that up until the very end he was cracking jokes, writing Valentine’s Day messages to his wife, Yulia, and galvanizing the Russian people to vote in their coming election for anyone except Vladimir Putin. Alexey had an indomitable spirit and inspired all of us, no matter how hard the circumstances, to not let our humanity be taken away from us.
As the tides of nationalism and authoritarianism continue to roll into our own countries around the world, we must all stand up for our democratic values. We can’t let anti-democratic factions come to power and we can’t allow the silencing of the strong democratic movement that continues to exist in Russia.
If Alexey were still with us, he would roll his eyes at all the crying, tell us to raise a shot of vodka and get back to work. Democracy is fragile and the fight continues.