The film, available on-demand this week, was one of the most anticipated of last January's Sundance. Fogel’s previous film, “Icarus,” about Russian doping in the
At the screening, Fogel implored media companies not to be scared off. “In my dream of dreams, distributors will stand up to Saudi Arabia,” he said. Riding in an SUV to the film’s Sundance after-party, an upbeat Fogel said he was hopeful that
But the rough road ahead for “The Dissident” had already been signaled. None of the streamers — many of whom bought up Sundance’s top films — had asked for an advance look at “The Dissident” before the festival -- something that could be expected for such a high-profile documentary from a filmmaker coming off an Oscar win.
“Many of the major streamers were actually there that day. Not their heads of content. Their CEOs. I would have hoped that would have led to: ‘We’re going to get behind this film.’ But it didn’t,” said Fogel speaking by Zoom from
“The Dissident,” set in a ruthlessly real political realm, will finally debut on-demand Friday. It was eventually acquired last spring, in a deal announced in September, by
But the cool reception from larger media companies to “The Dissident” — not because it wasn’t good (it has a 97% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating from critics and a 99% rating from audiences ) or important but because it openly challenges the Saudi regime’s crackdown on free speech — raises questions about the future of political films on ever-larger and potentially increasingly risk-averse streaming services.
“When there’s huge money at stake — business interest, shareholder accountability, what is going to make us vanilla and not cause us stress — is winning over,” Fogel says. “As these companies become bigger and bigger, we’re seeing the choices they make, including content, become less and less risky.”
For Fogel, the experience of “The Dissident” mirrors the silencing of Khashoggi. The film, financed by the
“The Dissident” includes interviews with Cengiz, Turkish authorities and
“I hope this film will keep alive Jamal’s name and Jamal’s life and his values,” says Cengiz, speaking by phone from
President
She has also carried on Khashoggi’s mission. “It wasn’t my choice but it’s my life,” she says. That American movie companies may have been scared away from “The Dissident,” she says, is “disappointing.”
“I could not imagine that they will not buy this film because this film is talking about a very important crime in history,” Cengiz says. “This film talks about someone who fought for some very important values. That’s why they killed him. So that’s why we’re fighting.”
In particular,
But Fogel is also clear-eyed about the potential dangers associated with distributing “The Dissident,” musing about the possibility of Saudi hacking or a
“Ultimately, those risk assessments took the place of whether or not their couple hundred million subscribers would like to see this film,” Fogel says. “It wasn’t just
Ortenberg, on the other hand, was comfortable with any headaches “The Dissident” might bring. “The movie speaks for itself,” Ortenberg says, speaking by phone from
“It’s too bad,” Ortenberg says of other studios’ apprehension. “I always saw the entertainment movie studios as leading the charge on important topics and not shying away from controversy but actually embracing challenges, and embracing the challenge of making movies about important subjects and treating them respectfully.”
Fogel sees a lack of international and corporate will to respond to human rights abuses that’s only growing worse, in
“I do believe that people in positions of power like that, with wealth and resources, if they’re not willing to stand up for human rights abuses like this, for what I consider the greater good of the planet, it becomes an increasingly scary place for us to live," Fogel says. "We all become less safe.”
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