The Oscar-winning documentary-maker was instrumental in the historic US-Russian prisoner swap, but she says, the one person missing from the deal was her friend Alexei Navalny. She talks about her last conversation with him, her new film about the Taliban and her next project in Ukraine
Is Odessa Rae being eavesdropped on? The answer may depend how long the Kremlin holds a grudge. In 2022, the Canadian American producer helped make Navalny, the Oscar-winning documentary about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. This February, after Vladimir Putin’s former rival died in prison, Rae actually felt attention increase. “I’ve definitely been followed this year,” she says. “I’ve left meals in Europe pretty certain the [Russian secret service] FSB have been at the next table.”
On one trip outside the US, her hotel room was broken into. Returning home to New York, she learned an attempt had been made to physically hack her laptop.
