Manon Loizeau conducted a thorough and filigree investigation trying to get to the truth. She attempted to throw light on state crimes perpetrated during eight years after the day when Vladimir Putin, the former KGB officer, became president. Among the most famous victims of the regime are Alexander Litvinenko and Anna Politkovskaya. And, besides these two cases, the film tells about many other people who were systematically persecuted and murdered for trying to investigate the circumstances of Vladimir Putin’s came to power, and attempts to expose corruption in the FSB and its links to organized crime. The audience learns how secret service penetrates all spheres.
Manon Loizeau was 24 years old when she decided to settle in Moscow after having done internships in the most famous French newspaper, “Le Nouvel observateur” and “Liberation”. Later she worked for “Le Monde” and BBC. From writing she slowly shifted to shooting. “At the beginning I wanted more cultural topics, about theatre for instance”, she said. She inherited from a French and British family, her father is journalist for “Le matin” and her mother is artist. But she will be deeply moved by the explosion of the war in Chechnya and the disease of Eltsine. In 2003, in a clandestine way, she shot the film “Grozny, Chronic of an Oblivion”. The film will be truly applauded and recognised by being several times awarded. Her last film and “Serial Murders in Putin’s Land” with success go on her way as a humanist witness.
