Alexander Rodnyansky on escaping Russia, supporting Ukrainian talent and why he feels responsible for “honest filmmakers” in both countries

When Alexander Rodnyansky starred in Deadline’s “International Disruptors” column in 2021, the media mogul said he’s “had five lifetimes” as he looks back on a prolific media career that spanned documentaries and became the first indie TV network has established Ukraine 1+1. runs the Russian media company CTC and produces indie films.

But now, a year and a half after that interview, the Kiev-born super-producer has started a different life, but this time far away from the country where he built his career. Last year, a week after Russia invaded Ukraine, Rodnyansky fled his Moscow home, which he left 20 years ago, with his wife and a suitcase. After making no secret of his opposition to the war, the producer got wind that he had raised the suspicions of Russian leaders and decided to cut ties with the country.

“We left the house and everything and I haven’t been to Russia since,” Rodnyansky told Deadline. “I no longer have business with Russia and no longer own the company behind all my recent films, NonStop Productions.”

Shortly after his escape, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu urged the country to ban all of Rodnyansky’s work, and now he is not only considered persona non grata in Russia, but his name has been on the credits ever since removed for projects he worked on. worked, remove An. , like a television show The babysittera major flagship program for local commercial TV station CTC, in which his name faded.

“I don’t really care because, frankly, it’s not important in this war,” he says. “But what worries me is when I hear from my friends who stayed in Russia and are still there that they have been harassed by the authorities and many of them have been questioned about their previous work with me.”

The manager is one of the most respected Russian producers and has spent the last decade of his career developing and producing international content and global content from Russia. He was also behind the Odessa Film Festival in Ukraine. “I never thought that the separation from Russia would happen so dramatically and suddenly,” he says. “Starting life again when you’ve lost everything, your business, the festival you managed, your house you’ve lived in for 20 years and a happy family life – it’s not easy, but I think it’s okay.” This is a new beginning.”

But Rodnyansky continues to fight the good fight. He has long been known for his collaborations with Russian grassroots filmmakers such as Leviathan And loveless Leader Andrey Zvyaginstev, while also championing the country’s emerging voices such as Kira Kovalenko, who won Un Certain Regard 2021 in Cannes The fists relax and, he says, will continue to do so whenever possible.

He currently splits his time between Los Angeles and Kyiv and has a number of projects in development from both Russian and Ukrainian talent via his AR content banner.

He has projects in development with some Russian directors with whom he used to work, but who left the country after the war. The producer is working with him again Leviathan And loveless Director Andrey Zvagintsev, who is writing a Russian-language project in Paris that began filming this year, which Rodnyansky says “goes in the same direction” as the director’s previous projects, exploring the “psychological mood” of Russian society.

He also works with The fists relax Director Kira Kovalenko and her partner director Kantemir Balagov, who both moved to LA with Rodnyansky’s help after the war started last year. Kovalenko’s project is mentioned Holy fools and is “an intense drama and family story” set in a small town in the United States

“It is very emotional and a very personal, very contemporary story about a strong female character,” he says.

The producer is also developing Balagov’s next project called butterfly jamIt is an American version of what was originally intended to be called a Russian project Monica. That project has turned and is now set in New Jersey, in what he describes as a very “interesting and nuanced” story about “the complex relationship between a father and son.”

“It’s about a 13-year-old boy and his relationship with his father, whom he adores, but he has qualities that his father doesn’t,” he says. “It’s very delicate and has elements of a coming-of-age story.” The project was co-written by Balagov and the Russian writer Marina Stepnova.

Additionally, Rodnyansky is working with American documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy on a documentary about an unknown refugee crisis in which a transatlantic line of Jews came to Germany just before the outbreak of World War II, only to be rejected by the U.S. become Cuba and forced to return to Europe. Many of his passengers eventually died in the Holocaust. “It’s an epic documentary about refugees and now we’re going to include the Ukrainian point of view as well.”

Rodnyansky also claimed the experimental title Neowww, which he produced with Steven Soderberg. Directed by Godfrey Reggio, the 40-minute title explores a new culture in a world threatened by ecological collapse and unprecedented technological change. He is also still working on his limited series Chairman’s discussion based on the book of the same name by John Nixon, in which former CIA analyst Nixon recounts his experiences as the first American to identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein after his arrest in 2003. Joel Kinnaman will star as Nixon.

But the support of Ukrainian filmmakers is essential for Rodnyansky at this point, and he is currently working on it The dissident, a Cold War drama that follows a former Ukrainian resistance fighter who tries to rebuild his life after being released from a Soviet prison camp. The project is the debut feature of Ukrainian film critic Andriy Alferov, and music and advertising executive Stas Gurenko and Rodnyansky will produce alongside Oleksandr Omelyanov.

The producer is also working on a new feature by Ukrainian Hlemer Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, who directed the 2014 Cannes Critics’ Week. The tension. The new project is based on the Atlantic article “We Can Only Be Enemies” written by Soviet dissident Peter Peomerantsev last year. Slaboshpytski is currently writing the screenplay, which is about a Ukrainian family living under Russian occupation. Anonymous content should also be produced on board.

“It’s a true story based on real events and a real family,” says Rodnyansky. “We are in contact with the family and it is a very intense and dramatic story. It was important that we had a Ukrainian director for this project and Miroslav is perfect for it. I try to work with the most talented people from both markets and both territories to create international and universal stories that can cross borders. This is an authentic story written in Ukrainian.”

As the war in Ukraine rages on, calls for a boycott of Russian art and culture continue. Rodnyansky points to the many Russian intellectuals, filmmakers, writers, journalists and creatives who openly oppose the war, and says it is useless to judge them “in the same way as Russians do”.

“On the one hand, I fully share the pain and anger of Ukrainians,” he says. “I have spoken to so many Ukrainian filmmakers and I understand where this anger comes from. It is very clear. If you are fighting Russia’s bloody aggression against Ukraine, it is not a good position to defend Russian culture.”

But he adds: “Personally, I think people should not be judged by their passport or where they were born, but by what they do in their lives. You can’t control your hometown, but you can influence things by what you do.”

He emphasizes that Russia “can only be changed from within” and therefore Russian culture can “be very effective in this process”.

“Russian culture has played a very important role throughout the years of Russian history. It was anti-war and very humane, and the voices of many filmmakers or musicians tried to stop many people from turning into barbarians.

“Collective responsibility, everyone living in Russia must feel it. It is something we all share together. In many ways, what happened in the country happened not only because there are very few villains running the country, but also because of the apathy of many others and the lack of passionate energy to stop these processes in the country. to protect. So I think Russian culture is very important to talk to these people to make them change.”

He adds: “I don’t think it is possible to do the films I did in Russia today. I think they have a lot of censorship and they have a lot of suppression of open-minded people, all of them people who don’t agree with what’s going on in Russia. And so I feel completely privileged to continue working and doing what I’m trying to do. I also feel very responsible for the honest filmmakers, the wonderful people who love the country and want to work for themselves. I am very dedicated to helping them turn their stories into films. Everything else is very complicated for them.”