International documentary sales, distribution and production company Dogwoof has acquired international sales rights to The Face of Power, directed by Emmy and Grierson Award-winning filmmaker James Jones. The director’s credits include “Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes,” “Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn,” “The Antidote,” and “Fukushima.”
The Face of Power, currently in development, was selected for the IDFA Forum and the project will be pitched by Dogwoof this month.
The film, produced by BAFTA winner Sasha Odinova, is the third collaboration between Dogwoof and Jones, following the BIFA and Grierson-nominated Antidote and Dogwoof’s upcoming film Fukushima next year.
Told through rare archival footage, “Face of Power” is a “chilling and immersive” portrait of President Vladimir Putin from his obscurity to his dictatorship. This is a psychological study of how one man “weaponized television to control a nation, deceive the world and lead Russia to war,” Dogwoof said.
The newly revealed footage will be woven through the “hypnotic flow of state media,” along with audio testimonies from those who witnessed his rise and lived under his rule, including journalists, insiders, dissidents and ordinary citizens. Their voices “pierce through the spectacle, bringing moments of reflection, grief, resistance, and warning.”
“Face of Power” is not just a story of the Putin regime. It’s a story of how he was viewed — “misunderstood, mythologised, enabled,” Dogwoof said. “This is both a reckoning with the past and a warning of what’s to come.”
Oli Harbottle, chief content officer at Dogwoof, said: “Following the success of Antidote earlier this year, it’s great to be collaborating with James again on Fukushima, which will be released early next year. “The Face of Power” We are excited about his creative vision for the project and are confident that he will provide a unique and insightful perspective on the ever-relevant topic of media manipulation used to consolidate political power.”
Jones and Odinova go on to say, “Putin has rewritten the modern strongman’s playbook to master the manipulation of truth and the crushing of dissent, yet, strangely, Putin remains unknown. In this epic, cinematic investigative film, we dismantle the myth. “We aim to peel back and reveal the forces that shaped one of the world’s most dangerous dictators. The fact that Putin personally targeted my friend and colleague Kristo Grozev further strengthened my determination to do this.” movie. ”
