Putin’s Games
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia was the first ever to be held in a subtropical resort. The most expensive games ever have broken all records when it comes to corruption and megalomania.
For example, the 45-kilometer (28-mile) road to the Olympic Village was so expensive that it might as well have been paved with gold or black caviar. Director Alexander Gentelev got to speak to many key figures, from the mayor of Sochi and corrupt contractors, senators and lobbyists, to the president of the Russian National Olympic Committee, to show that to a large extent the story of these environmentally unfriendly Olympic Games is one of threats and enormous misappropriations of money.
Alexander Gentelev was born in 1959 in Russia. He has Master’s degrees in Philosophy and Psychology (St. Petersburg University) and in Film, Theater and Music Studies (St. Petersburg Film Academy). He emigrated to Israel in 1993. During 1999-2014 he directed 14 films, including documentaries devoted to controversial problems of Russian politics and everyday life.
(Selected): The rise and fall of the Russian oligarchs (2005), Yolki Palki (2007), Just like home (2009), Thieves by law (Ganavim Ba Hok) (2010), Violinists (2011), Putin’s Games (2013)
