Special Screening: Biopic of killed Putin critic has Kalamazoo connections

“Words of War” won’t be released until next year, but we’ll get a special preview in Kalamazoo next week thanks to the Kalamazoo Film Society. The feature film follows the true story of an American-born journalist suspiciously killed in Moscow.

By Ben Hoger.

Telling the truth can be a dangerous profession.

In total numbers, journalists aren’t dying at the same rate as loggers and roofers, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says are the deadliest occupations. But more than 1,800 journalists and media workers were killed between 1992 and 2024, according to the international press freedom group, Committee to Protect Journalists.

“That’s just a staggering number and it’s not something that people talk about,” says Mark Maxey, producer of the upcoming film “Words of War.” “I think if 1,800 taxi drivers in Chicago had been killed, people would be talking about it.”

Anna Politkovskaya, born to diplomats representing the Soviet Union at the United Nations, was an American citizen who wrote articles and books about human rights abuses she publicly attributed to Vladimir Putin. Following her reporting about Russian atrocities in Chechnya, she was killed in the elevator of her Moscow apartment in 2006.

“It’s our hope that this isn’t just a film that’s an entertaining and interesting story,” he says, “but also one that raises awareness of the dangers and the importance of journalists and draws attention to the fact they are increasingly in danger and putting their lives at risk doing what they do.”

Maxey said he never considered the danger the journalists face around the world before this screenplay was brought to him, and how close to home it can hit.

“Words of War” Producer Mark Maxey. Photo courtesy of Rolling Pictures.

“Anna, although she was a Russian journalist based in Moscow, she was born in New York – she was an American citizen by birth so this is an American citizen who was killed in Moscow for truthfully reporting what was happening,” he says in a phone interview from his office in Washington, D.C. “This isn’t a problem that’s happening to someone else somewhere else, this is happening to Americans as well as our friends and neighbors around the world. It’s not a regional or local problem, it’s a global problem which is again why we hope that this film resonates and finds an audience and raises awareness and starts some conversations.”

The fact that violence against journalists is happening anywhere in the 21st Century – especially right here at home – was eye-opening for Maxey.

“We see it domestically with political candidates that declare journalists or the free press to be the enemy of the people,” he says. “We see that certainly with autocrats and dictators around the world in other countries.”

Politkovskaya was not the only journalist at the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta to have been killed. Since 2000, seven journalists from the Novaya Gazeta have been killed “just for doing their job and reporting truthfully what’s happening in the world,” Maxey says.

“That’s the kind of thing I think we should draw attention to,” he adds. “I’ve said journalists should have the right to report what’s happening without fear of death or reprisal, and I think that should be true for anyone in any profession, but certainly journalists. We need journalists.”

The film stars Maxine Peake, Jason Isaacs, Ciarán Hinds, Ellie Bamber, Harry Lawtey, and Naomi Battrick, and is due in theaters in March of 2025. But since Maxey and two other executive producers – David Bell and Alexandra (Plemmons) Bell – have personal ties to Southwest Michigan, there will be a special screening at 7 p.m. on Oct. 23 at Celebration Cinema Crossroads. A discussion with Maxey and NowKalamazoo journalists will take place afterwards.

The Bells, who were unavailable for an interview due to being in Budapest, are from the Kalamazoo/Portage area and also got to be extras in the film during a scene with the main character and primary antagonist. Since the movie was filmed in Latvia rather than Russia for safety reasons, it was relatively easy for the couple to be on set since they weren’t too far away.

And though he grew up in Kansas, Maxey has family throughout Michigan, including in Kalamazoo, and spent summers at a lake house in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area.

“Michigan is a special place for me and our family,” he says. “And I have family that live there – all in Kalamazoo and Portage. The best man in my wedding is from there; my wife and I both have family all over Michigan.”

That made the decision for the location of a special screening fairly easy for him when he was asked about hosting one.

“When I was approached by the Kalamazoo Film Society about making this available, given those connections, it made sense and I’m happy to do it,” Maxey says. “And for me, because the film won’t be out until March, it’s been a good experience for me to see how people respond to the film and see what kind of questions come out of them watching it.”

The film is finished so there will be no changes or edits made from the response, but Maxey hopes this will build momentum for when the film is released in early 2025.

“We want people to see this, I don’t want this to be a sleeper that no one discovers,” he says. “I’d like it to be a conversation starter that is widely talked about – just because I think the issue is important.”

The film has only been screened a couple other times, including a private screening for journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Maxey got the ultimate confirmation when he was approached by a former bureau chief in Moscow who knew Politkovskaya personally and told Maxey he “had goosebumps from seeing his friend brought back to life.”

Maxey says screenplay writer Eric Poppen researched Politkovskaya’s story thoroughly by reading her articles, and consulting with her family and others who knew her to make sure the film was as true to the subject matter as possible despite being a dramatization.

“People that have seen the film who knew her said that they had goosebumps because it was such an authentic recreation of her and her world and her voice,” Maxey says. “Our lead actress Maxine Peake, who plays Anna, bears a remarkable resemblance to her as well. And visually it’s just a very immersive experience where you really feel that you’re on this journey with this character.”

But it’s not just the main character who gets to shine. The now former editor-in-chief and co-founder of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov (portrayed by Ciarán Hinds), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October of 2021 for his work in safeguarding freedom of expression.

When Russia began another invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Muratov auctioned off his recently won Nobel Prize and used the $103.5 million to aid Ukrainian children who had been displaced or affected by the invasion.

“I think this represents the caliber and character of the people that our film is portraying,” Maxey says. “If this is what Anna’s boss did, and Anna herself gave up her life in pursuit of the truth, these are just remarkable people, which makes this film all the more important so that people should see.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also how another Hollywood heavyweight became attached to the film.

Sean Penn, who is an executive producer on the film, was embedded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine on the day that Russia invaded.

“He was there making a film about this comedian who became president not realizing that Russia was about to invade,” Maxey says. “Then all of the sudden, Russia invades and the film becomes a documentary about this president at war with his neighbor.”

The documentary is titled “Superpower” and debuted for free on YouTube in 2023, and is currently available on various streaming services.

“So Sean Penn saw up close a personal Russian aggression and its impact on the citizens of Ukraine. And so when he heard about Anna’s story and found out that we were making this film, he wanted to attach as an executive producer to help us draw attention to it and he’s been just a great advocate for the film and for Anna’s story and this issue at large.”

Maxey says his overall hope for the film is that it shines a spotlight on the dangers that journalists face and the importance of the work they do.

As a final sobering tribute, the ending credits of “Words of War” includes a montage of faces of journalists who have been killed since the beginning of the century.

“Some names are names that we know, but so many of them are names that we don’t know, and their stories aren’t being told,” Maxey says. “And yet they shouldn’t be forgotten because they made the ultimate sacrifice in support of finding and reporting the truth of what was happening in the world around them. And that’s just a remarkable thing.”

View this article on NowKalamazoo here.