‘F@ck This Job’ Director Vera Krichevskaya: ‘There Is No Space’ for Free Speech Under Putin
variety.comChristopher Vourlias A fortnight ago, documentary filmmaker Vera Krichevskaya was anticipating the Russia release of her latest feature, “F@ck This Job,” a spirited, behind-the-scenes portrait of the country’s last independent broadcaster, TV Rain.
But just days before the film’s Moscow premiere, Russian military forces invaded Ukraine. On March 3, TV Rain bowed to political pressure and said it would suspend operations indefinitely.Amid the turmoil, Karo, Russia’s largest cinema chain, dropped the film; a splashy, red-carpet premiere was cancelled in the wake of a bomb threat.
Krichevskaya, who arrived in Russia on the eve of the screening, fled the country.Since then, she’s been working frenetically from Tel Aviv, assisting former colleagues at a station she helped launch to safely make it out of Russia. “It is a completely new reality,” the director told Variety. “When I opened my eyes [after the invasion], I thought it was a dream.” “F@ck This Job” charts the rise and fall of TV Rain (“Dozhd” in Russian), the rambunctious, free-spirited broadcaster that until last week was one of the last holdouts of an independent Russian media.
Told through the story of its founder, the champagne- and tango-loving socialite Natasha Sindeyeva, it follows the remarkable growth of the station during a turbulent decade when Russian President Vladimir Putin was determined to snuff out independent voices.The film, whose festival run has included the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and DOC NYC, was released in the U.K.
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