by Vitaly Mansky
"If Putin is elected, media freedom will be guaranteed!", Russian President Boris Yeltsin is radiantly and free of irony proclaiming on election night in 1999. As head of documentary for a state broadcaster, director Vitaly Mansky, who, like millions of other Russians was looking forward to a future of democracy, gained almost unrestricted access to Putin and the inner circles of the Russian leadership. Twenty years of Putin later, he is sitting in exile in Latvia, disillusioned. He delves into his film archive to provide a unique, previously unseen, thoroughly personal insight into the events surrounding Putin's takeover. Never before have we been able to get so close to the inscrutable Kremlin leader.