Alexander Rodnyansky On Fleeing Russia, Supporting Ukraine Talent & Why He Feels “Responsible For Honest Filmmakers” In Both Countries

deadline.com:

When Deadline featured Alexander Rodnyansky for its International Disruptors column back in 2021, the media mogul said he’d “had five lives” when looking back at his prolific media career which spanned documentary filmmaking, founding Ukraine’s first indie TV network 1+1, managing Russian media company CTC and producing indie films.

But now, one and a half years after that interview, the Kyiv-born super producer has embarked on yet another life, but this time far away from the country in which he built his career.

Last year, one week after Russia invaded Ukraine, Rodnyansky fled his Moscow home of two decades with his wife and one suitcase.

Having made no secret of his opposition to the war, the producer got wind that he was rousing suspicion within Russia’s top government heads and decided to sever ties with the country. “We left the house and everything and since that moment I have not been back to Russia,” Rodnyansky tells Deadline. “I no longer have any business with Russia and no longer own the company behind all of my recent films, NonStop Productions.” Shortly after he fled, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu called for the country to ban all of Rodnyansky’s work and now, not only is he considered persona non grata in Russia but his name has since been taken off the credits in Russia of projects he’s worked on, such as TV show The Nanny, a huge flagship show for local commercial TV station CTC, where his name was blurred. “I don’t really care about that as it’s not important, speaking frankly, during this war,” he says. “But what makes me worried is when I hear from my friends who stayed in Russia and are still there, is that they have been harassed by the authorities and many of them have been interrogated