CNN Honored with First Academy Award®
NAVALNY WINS ACADEMY AWARD® FOR DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
FIRST OSCAR® FOR CNN FILMS IN ITS 10-YEAR AWARD WINNING HISTORY
LOS ANGELES, CA (Sunday, March 12) – CNN celebrated its first Oscar® win in its nearly 43-year history at the 95th Academy Awards Ceremony Sunday night in Los Angeles, where NAVALNY won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature Film.
“NAVALNY, first and foremost, is about the passion, drive, and inspiring heroism of Alexey Navalny, who even as we celebrate this award continues to languish in a penal colony,” said Amy Entelis, Executive Vice President, Talent and Content Development for CNN Worldwide. “An extraordinary group of people were dedicated to keeping Alexey’s story in front of the world, from our indefatigable film team led by visionary director Daniel Roher to our partners at Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max, and of course our friends at Bellingcat and CNN’s Clarissa Ward.” Entelis added, “behind each project in CNN Films’ 10-year history is an incredible group of people who I know are beaming with pride today. This is a monumental win to have the global storytelling of CNN honored with an Academy Award and a testament to the lasting impact of CNN Films.”
NAVALNY is presented by CNN Films and HBO Max and explores the attempted assassination of enigmatic Russian anti-corruption campaigner and former presidential candidate, Alexey Navalny. In a riveting account that unwinds like a real-life thriller, director Daniel Roher methodically documents the careful research and analysis that unmasked Navalny’s would-be killers, and why they sought to kill the man Vladimir Putin apparently considers a serious threat to his power. Roher interweaves interviews with Navalny, Navalny’s family, and contemporaneous eyewitnesses to key events, with other records. The film follows the investigation into the assassination plot, and includes reporting from the investigative news organization, Bellingcat, and CNN.
NAVALNY is directed and produced by Roher and produced by Odessa Rae of RaeFilm Studios, Diane Becker and Melanie Miller of Fishbowl Films, and Shane Boris of Cottage M. Amy Entelis and Courtney Sexton of CNN Films, and Maria Pevchikh of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, are executive producers of the documentary. The film was edited by Langdon Page and Maya Daisy Hawke, with cinematography by Niki Waltl. Alexandra Hannibal serves as a supervising producer. Christo Grozev is the executive director for Bellingcat, whose work is featured in the film.
The acclaimed documentary premiered at 2022 Sundance Film Festival where it received the U.S. Documentary Audience and Festival Favorite Awards. The film was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures and is available to stream on HBO Max. NAVALNY has been honored with a BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, a PGA Award for Outstanding Producers of Documentary Motion Picture, a duPont-Columbia Award, two Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Production and the Audience Choice Prize, along with a Critics’ Choice Documentary Award for Best Political Documentary.
NAVALNY marked CNN Films’ first win and second Academy Award® nomination for Documentary Feature Film, following the 2019 nomination of RBG.
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About CNN Films
The CNN Films group develops and produces nonfiction feature and short films for television, streaming, theatrical distribution, and festival exhibition. Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and content development, oversees CNN Original Series and CNN Films for CNN Worldwide. Alexandra Hannibal, vice president of CNN Films, supervises production of CNN Films. Since 2012, the team has produced over 60 feature-length and shorts for CNN Films, including Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher, about the attempted assassination of Russian opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, which won the Audience Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival; The Last Movie Stars, directed by Ethan Hawke about the lives and careers of actors and humanitarians Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, which is available on HBO Max; Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, directed by Emmy® Award winners Julie Cohen and Betsy West; Emmy® Award-winner Dreamland: The Burning Of Black Wall Street, directed by Salima Koroma; Three Identical Strangers, directed by Tim Wardle, nominated for an Emmy® Award and a BAFTA; Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice, which won Best Music Film at the 63rd Annual Grammy® Awards; the Primetime Emmy® Award-winning RBG which was also nominated for an Academy Award® and a BAFTA; and Apollo 11, directed by Todd Douglas Miller and nominated for five Primetime Emmy® Awards; and many others. CNN Films can be found on CNN, the CNN Originals hub on discovery+, HBO Max, and for pay TV subscription via CNN.com, CNN apps and cable operator platforms. For more information about CNN Films, please follow @CNNFilms via Twitter, and join Keep Watching, an exclusive, members-only community that enables fans to stay engaged with their favorite CNN Original Series & Films https://cnn.it/3qOXGNz.
About HBO Max
HBO Max® is WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer platform, offering best in class quality entertainment. HBO Max features the greatest array of storytelling for all audiences from the iconic brands of HBO, Warner Bros., DC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and much more. The streaming platform launched in the United States in May 2020 and introduced an advertising-supported subscription tier in June 2021. HBO Max recently began its global roll out launching in 39 markets across Latin America and the Caribbean, and will be followed by the replacement of HBO-branded streaming services in Europe later this year.
About Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is a part of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which also includes New Line Cinema, Warner Animation Group and DC-based film production. Warner Bros. partners with the world’s most inspiring storytellers to create extraordinary entertainment on every screen for global audiences. Warner Bros. Pictures Group has been at the forefront of the motion picture industry since its inception, and continues to be a leading creative force in feature entertainment, delivering the broadest slate of worldwide theatrical releases and streaming premieres exclusively on HBO Max.
About Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film, and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products including: Discovery Channel, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HBO Max, HGTV, Food Network, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, WB Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV, and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com.