Putin’s Witnesses

Svideteli Putina, directed by Vitaly Mansky, LV, 95 min., ru + cz subtitles

On the 31th of December 1999 Boris Jeľcin announced his resignation and Vladimír Putin took his place. Filmmaker Vitaly Mansky was tasked to make a film about president Putin on commission. Thanks to this order he was granted an unimaginable access to the president that he used to the fullest. Eighteen years later Mansky re-edited the material and created a fascinating portrait of a politician on a rise, a documentary political triller about three men dividing the country and the millions of witnesses that looked on quietly.