Double Bill: Our Newspaper & Putin's Kiss

Putin's Progress
A Day of Documentaries and Discussion
On the Eve of the Russian Elections

Book Day Pass or Book Double Bill

With protesters gathering in Red Square, accusations of vote-rigging and Vladimir Putin poised to return to the Kremlin, all eyes are on Russia in the coming month.

On the eve of the presidential election, DocHouse presents a day of documentaries and discussion about Russia in the 21st Century, since Putin came to power.

Double Bill

UK Premiere
18.00pm (58 mins)
Our Newspaper (dir. Eline Flipse, Netherlands, 2010)
An independent journalist struggles to keep his paper afloat in rural central Russia.

800km east of Moscow, journalist Anrej Shkolni drives across the icy plains of rural Russia, chasing local news stories for the independent paper he has set up, fiercely struggling to maintain his journalistic integrity free from political pressure and government intervention.

Our Newspaper takes us out of Moscow and into the heart of rural Russia - a quiet portrait that speaks volumes about freedom of speech, state control and the media.

On stage panel discussion (ends 7.45pm)

Special Preview
20.30pm (85 mins)
Putin's Kiss (dir. Lise Birk Pedersen, Denmark, 2011)
Moscow’s Youth Movement NASHI and its battle with Putin’s ‘enemies’.

To Masha Drokova, pro-Putin youth movement NASHI is the bright, antifascist future of Russia; to liberal journalist Oleg, NASHI is a ‘bunch of hooligans’ and much like the Hitler Youth. Masha’s dedication to NASHI has seen her rise through its ranks, but her faith in its ideology begins to crumble as the darker side of Putin’s power breeds devastating consequences for new friend Oleg.

Part of Putin's Progress Festival. The earlier Double Bill commences at 12pm. A full day pass can also be purchased.

The festival's panelists include:

• German filmmaker Cyril Tuschi spent five years researching his documentary Khodorkovsky, gathering 180 hours of interviews in Moscow, Tel Aviv, London, New York, Siberia and Berlin.
• Series Director of the BBC's recent four-part 'Putin, Russia and the West', Emmy Award-winning director Paul Mitchell has worked extensively on films about post-Soviet Russia including 2002's 'Greetings From Grozny'.
• Edward Lucas is International Editor of The Economist, having formerly been its Moscow Bureau Chief (1998 - 2002) and writing on Central/Eastern Europe for more than 20 years. His forthcoming book 'Deception is published in March.
• Federico Varese is Professor of Criminology at Oxford University. He is an internationally respected expert on organised crime and his book ‘The Russian Mafia’ won the Ed Hewitt Prize in 2002.
• Dutch director Eline Flipse has been directing documentaries since 1982, founding production company Elifli Film in 2005.  'Our Newspaper' won Best Mid-Length Documentary at Hot Docs 2011.