''Citizen K'' is a 2019 documentary film about

Mikhail Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman, Russian oligarchs, oligarch, and Russian opposition, opposition activist, now residing in London. In 2003, Khodork ...

, written and directed by

Alex Gibney Philip Alexander Gibney (; born October 23, 1953) is an American documentary film director and producer. In 2010, ''Esquire'' magazine said Gibney "is becoming the most important documentarian of our time." Gibney's works as director include ''T ...

. It is a film about

post-Soviet Russia The modern history of Russia began with the Russian SFSR, a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, gaining more political and economical autonomy amidst the imminent dissolution of the USSR during 1988–1991, proclaiming its sovereignty ...

featuring Khodorkovsky, Anton Drel, Maria Logan,

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...

, Tatyana Lysova,

Leonid Nevzlin Leonid Borisovich Nevzlin (; ; born 21 September 1959) is a Russian-born Israeli businessman, investor, philanthropist, and Russian oligarch. Nevzlin occupied various high-ranking positions at Group Menatep and its subsidiary, the Yukos Oil ...

, Igor Malashenko and

Derk Sauer Derk Sauer is a Dutch media magnate and the founder of ''The Moscow Times''. Biography Sauer, a native of Amsterdam, has considered himself a Maoist in the past, having participated in Dutch left wing politics since his youth. He claims tha ...

. ''Citizen K'' was financed by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. It had its world premiere at

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

and was part of the official selection at Venice Film Festival,

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. , of the reviews compiled on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

are positive, with an average score of . The website's critics consensus reads: "''Citizen K'' sees documentarian Alex Gibney training his sights on post-Soviet Russia, with engrossing -- and unsettling -- results."

Awards

Gibney received a nomination at the

72nd Writers Guild of America Awards The 72nd Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best writing in film, television and radio of 2019. Nominees for television and radio were announced on December 5, 2019, while nominees for film were announced on January 6, 2020. Winners wer ...

for Best Documentary Screenplay, losing the award to his own film '' The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley''.

References

External links

* * * 2019 films 2019 documentary films Documentary films about Russia Films directed by Alex Gibney American documentary films Mikhail Khodorkovsky 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films {{2010s-US-film-stub