As part of the tenth edition of MIA | Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, the panel Odessa Rae: Unveiling Truth And Inspiring Change, featuring Oscar-winning producer Odessa Rae, has just concluded today, 17 October.
Rae talked about her most acclaimed work: Daniel Roher’s Navalny, an Oscar, Sundance and Bafta winner, is the documentary about the Russian dissident who led the resistance until his death in a Siberian prison. His wife Yulia took his place at the head of the movement. “We told him (Alexei Navalny) that we wanted to make the documentary. Trust was built day by day. On the first day he wanted to make sure we were not spies and checked our bank account.”
This is how the director describes the key steps to penetrate the initial distrust of the protagonists: “The narrative relies on different points of view to reconstruct the story and reveal hidden truths: We started calling the assassins, until one answered and started chatting, for more than half an hour, confessing the plot to kill him.”
HOLLYWOODGATE is a frontrunner for this year’s Oscars, the producer recounts its plot: the occupation of the Hollywood Gate complex, a former CIA base in Kabul, by the Taliban. Rae elaborates on the plot and objectives of the documentary, which aims to tell the story while leaving the audience free to form their own opinion: “I’m not here to make a propaganda film, but I want to film you so that people themselves can decide and make a decision […] I hope this documentary can make a difference in how we act and how our government can act differently from now on.”
