The film "Putin's Games," which narrated the corruption behind the 2014 Sochi Olympics, screened "at two sold-out theater screenings and will air on television," according to Nick Holdsworth of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. A "controversial documentary about rampant corruption" behind the scenes of Russia's Winter Olympics that the Kremlin wanted silenced screened "at a heavily policed premiere in Moscow on Friday, followed by a repeat showing on Saturday." The two screenings of "Putin's Games" at Moscow's 600-seat Khudozhestvenniy cinema "have both sold out." The film's producer, SIMONE BAUMANN, said, "The head of police for Moscow city center interrogated cinema managers and ArtDoc Fest Managing Director NATALIA MANSKAYA and said that due to the numbers of people attending there would be a heavy police presence. There are no legal ways to stop the screening; the only thing they could do is turn off the electricity." "Putin's Games" sparked a "political and media storm in Russia" after its world premiere Nov. 24 at Amsterdam's IDFA documentary festival. Revelations that the Kremlin had approached Baumann through intermediaries with offers of nearly $1M to buy all rights -- effectively keeping the film from the public -- "highlighted the levels of official anxiety." Kremlin officials, Minister of Culture VLADIMIR MEDINKSY and Moscow city government figures "all tried to have the film pulled from the program." The film "features a building contractor who was threatened that he would be 'drowned in blood' if he did not pay kickbacks of up to 50 of multi-million dollar contracts." The man, VALERY MOROZOV, "went public with his complaints about corruption by Kremlin officials before fleeing to the west with his wife and family" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 12/6).
