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“What I saw in front of me was a documentary with the gravest stakes, gigantic geopolitical consequences, and most importantly for a film director, a beginning, a middle, and a natural end. And this is what documentary dreams are made of. And so it was up to us to just not fuck it up.” 

—Director Daniel Roher

The 2023 duPont-winning documentary “Navalny” brings you deep into the world of Russia’s most prominent opposition leader. After Alexei Navalny survives an assassination attempt, he decides to investigate his own poisoning.

With each shocking discovery that Navalny’s team makes, Director Daniel Roher is there filming. But first, Roher had to convince Navalny to let him in. How do you persuade a man guarding critically sensitive information to give you both the access and the final say on what to include and what to cut?

In this episode of the On Assignment Podcast, director Daniel Roher goes behind the scenes with June Cross, director and founder of Columbia Journalism School’s documentary program.

Watch “Navalny” on HBO Max.