This documentary is a provocative account of the final days of ex-Federal Security Service officer, Russian dissident and writer Aleksandr Litvinenko as well as an engrossing look into the tense political situation in Russia. In November 2006 the world was shocked by photographs of a weakened and bald Litvinenko fighting for his life in a UK hospital. Despite a rigorous investigation, it wasn’t until after his death on the 24th of November 2006, that results revealed that Litvinenko, a former secret service operative granted political asylum in the UK, was the rare victim of polonium-210 poisoning.
Jos de Putter
Jos de Putter was born in Terneuzen, the Netherlands in 1959. He studied political science and literature, and worked several years as a film critic, before he made his first documentary in 1993. ‘It Has Been a Lovely Day’. Many more followed.
Masja Novikova
Masja Novikova was born in Moscow in 1956. She studied pedagogy at the Moscow University. Immediately before the Fall of Berlin Wall, she came to Netherlands and has been living in Amsterdam since. She started working for Dutch television as a producer. At the same time, she studied camera, script-writing and directing. She started filming her own life in 2000 and working as a cinematographer on a few documentaries. Her first film is Fallen Angel (2005). On the last year’s ZagrebDox, we saw her film Drie Kameraden/Three Friends.
General sponsor
IN MEMORIAM Alexander Litvinenko
Netherlands
2007, 55', color, video
Directed by:
Jos de Putter, Masja Novikova
Cinematography:
Erik van Empel, Adri Schrover, Maarten Kramer
Edited by:
Patrick Minks
Music:
Paul Delput
Producer:
Miriam Bos
Produced by:
Backlight for VPRO Television
