OUR NEW PRESIDENT
Synopsis
It all begins with Hillary Clinton and the curse of the Siberian mummy princess… A trip down the rabbit hole of fake news, Our New President is a satire about the Russian media and its take on American politics. Moving between Kremlin-controlled network news and colorful reinterpretations of this news diet by average Russians, the film charts Trump's election using footage produced by Putin’s propaganda machine. Overseen by Dmitry Kiselyov, host of the most watched news program on Russian television, a media empire works overtime to sabotage Hillary Clinton while celebrating Donald Trump. Moving through Trump's first year in office, one piece of fake news at a time, the film compiles material produced by three channels: Russia-1, Russia Today, and the formerly independent network, NTV. A film about the news that is entirely devoid of true statements, this is a portrait of modern-day propaganda and its dissemination across the world. Brace yourself for the “true” story of OUR NEW PRESIDENT.
Connect
Learn more about OUR NEW PRESIDENT and connect on social media:
See the Film
The Filmmakers
Maxim Pozdorovkin Director and Producer
Maxim Pozdorovkin is the director of five documentaries and multiple shorts. His films include THE TRUTH ABOUT KILLER ROBOTS (2018, HBO), PUSSY RIOT: A PUNK PRAYER (Sundance 2013 Jury Prize) and THE NOTORIOUS MR. BOUT (Sundance 2014). His documentary CLINICA DE MIGRANTES (HBO) was nominated for a 2016 IDA Award. Maxim hold a PhD from Harvard University for a dissertation about early propaganda. Next, Maxim is directing HOW TO ROB BANKS FOR DUMMIES, a hybrid documentary about cult video artist Joe Gibbins.
Joe Bender Producer
Joe Bender is a producer and cinematographer whose award-winning films have screened in festivals around the world. He most recently shot and produced THE TRUTH ABOUT KILLER ROBOTS (HBO), which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, and produced OUR NEW PRESIDENT, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival where it won a Jury Award. His previous film as Director of Photography, CLINICA DE MIGRANTES (HBO), was nominated for an IDA Award in addition to winning multiple festival prizes. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Charlotte Cook
Charlotte Cook is a producer, curator, and writer from London, based in New York. Charlotte is a Co-Founder and Executive Producer of Field of Vision, a film unit that commissions filmmakers and artists to make short form, episodic and feature length creative visual journalism.
Festivals & Awards
Sundance Film Festival
2018
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing
Ever since a fateful visit to a mummy’s glass-encased tomb in 1997, Hillary Clinton has been plagued by fainting spells, drug use, and even allegations of sexual abuse and murder. Don’t believe it? Just ask the reporters at Vesti and NTV, two of the most-watched state-run news shows in Russia, where outlandish stories like these reach millions of viewers every night.
As more details of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election emerge, acclaimed filmmaker Maxim Pozdorovkin assembles a fever dream of Russian propaganda aimed at both Clinton and Trump from YouTube, RT, and other media platforms. Within this alternate universe of misinformation, we witness the seeds of the 2016 fake news cycle take root and successfully infiltrate the collective conscience of a Russian populace trained to distrust truth and objectivity.
The divisive stories peddled by these journalists, handpicked by Putin, range from sinister to absurd, but they all point to a coordinated effort to alter public opinion at home and abroad.
Reviews
“You may think you know about fake news, but nothing compares to the coverage of our election on Russian TV. It starts with Hillary Clinton's exposure to a cursed Siberian mummy princess and gets even more head-spinningly bizarre.”
“A Sundance filmmaker has made a movie about the Russian propaganda machine, and it is terrifying.”
“Revealing and impishly infuriating.”
“OUR NEW PRESIDENT is a treasure trove of strange finds…[A] wild documentary.”