About the Oscar, from the guy who always finds out everything last. The radio in my cell, as usual, switched on at five in the morning. At six came the first news bulletin: a detailed rundown of all the winners from the ceremony, except for documentary film. A good sign, I thought. Closer to noon, they took me to court. I was appearing by video link, and my lawyer held up a sheet of paper to my camera. “I can’t see anything,” I said. After poking that sheet of paper at the camera for a while longer, my lawyer finally lost patience and said: “Your film won an Oscar.” You feel veeeery strange in that moment. Those words almost seem like they don’t belong to this world at all, but on the other hand, everything here is so strange and insane that it feels like this world is the only place they could belong. Of course, I’m incredibly happy, and even in my excitement I’m trying not to forget that it wasn’t actually me who won the Oscar 🙂 These were quite gripping and at times dramatic events, but it took a brilliant team to tell them in a way worthy of an Academy Award: Daniel Roher @daniel_roher, Odessa Rae @odxssarae, Diane Becker @dibecka, Melanie Miller @melanie.d.miller, Shane Boris @shane.boris, and many others who worked on the film. Guys, congratulations from the bottom of my heart. Christo Grozev (hugging you, man—you are the true star of this film) and Maria Pevchikh @maria_pevchikh—without you, none of this would have existed even as an idea. Yulia @yulia_navalnaya, thank you for taking part, for your support, and for stopping me a couple of times from killing the film crew. Friends and colleagues from ACF (the Anti-Corruption Foundation)—as usual, you did all the work, and I just provided the face. And finally. Let me repeat: the film is not mine, the Oscar did not go to me, and I’m not in a position to dedicate this award to anyone. But I dedicate my own contribution to the honest and courageous people, wherever they may live, who find the strength day after day to stand up to the monster of dictatorship and its constant companion—war.