Posted Tuesday 15 Nov 2011
A powerful documentary chronicling the life and career of slain investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, "A Bitter Taste of Freedom," is screening in the US this week. (No info yet whether this will become available in NZ, but we hope so). The International Women's Media Foundation, in partnership with Georgetown University's Film and Media Studies Program and the Doyle Initiative, will present the screening, followed by a question-answer session with acclaimed Russian filmmaker Marina Goldovskaya.
In a poignant homage to her long-time friend, Goldovskaya traces Politkovskaya's transformation from a stay-at-home mother in the early 1990s to an intrepid reporter covering Moscow's war in Chechnya until her death five years ago. Politkovskaya remained determined to continue reporting despite the threats and beatings she received as a result.
Politkovskaya, the winner of IWMF's 2002 Courage in Journalism Award, spent her career exposing corruption and abuse of power as a reporter for Novaya Gazeta.
Russia's turbulent history is the backdrop for "A Bitter Taste of Freedom," which captures Politkovskaya's personal side as a doting mother of two young children who became devoted to probing injustice as her marriage unravelled.
"She got stronger and stronger as a person and as a journalist," said Goldovskaya, who heads the documentary program at UCLA's School of Theater, Film & Television. "This is about the Anna few people know. Some people called her a lunatic who was too emotional, all the time writing about negative things. After her death she became a symbol of the iron woman. But she was more than that - she was tender, warm, honest, charming. A woman of integrity."
For additional information about the documentary, please contact IWMF's Director of Programs Nadine Hoffman at nhoffman@iwmf.org