F@ck This Job (AKA Tango With Putin)

The rise and fall of Russia's most rebellious TV channel

F@ck This Job (AKA Tango With Putin) Moscow, 2008. Meet Natasha Sindeeva, 35: a confident woman originally from Michurinsk and now the brand new wife of a successful banker. One day, she decides to launch an independent news TV station. F@ck This Job/Tango With Putin follows Natasha and Dozhd from the TV channel's birth to the days that perhaps foreshadowed its death. A remarkable account of Russia's most rebellious broadcaster.


 F@ck This Job
(2021) on IMDb

Reviews and More

★★★★ - The Guardian

"As a tribute to dogged journalism, the film would be welcome any time. Now it feels more urgent still." - The Financial Times


Laurel 37th Warsaw International Film Festival | Audience award
Laurel Doc NYC | top 10 | Official Selection
Laurel IDFA | Official Selection
Laurel DocPoint Helsinki
Laurel Movies That Matter | Official Selection
Laurel One world | Official Selection
Laurel Thessaloniki Film Festival | Official Selection
Laurel CPH:DOX | Official Selection
Laurel OSLO International Human Rights Film Festival | Official Selection
Laurel Riga Doc International Film Festival | Official Selection
Laurel Women Make Waves International Film Festival | Official Selection
Laurel DOCK Bulgaria Festival | Winner
Natasha decides to hire young and open-minded reporters without a track record in government-run media. Soon Dozhd's office becomes a magnet for new, unconventional media professionals, many of whom are part of Russia's LGBTQ community which has recently been outlawed by the Russian Parliament. From the very beginning, a bumpy road always lay ahead for Dozhd, and it quickly became the lone island of political and sexual freedom in Putin's Russia. F@ck This Job follows Natasha and Dozhd from its birth to what might perhaps soon be its death.
FULL SYNOPSIS

The Producers


Vera Krichevskaya - Director and Producer

Vera Krichevskaya is the co-Founder of TV Dozhd (TV Rain) Russia, the only independent private TV Channel in Russia.

She is also an award-winning TV Director, having worked for NTV Channel and 24DOC TV Channel in both senior producer and director roles.

Making The Film





Director’s Statement

Dozhd TV is the last and only independent news TV station in Russia that managed to survived Putin’s regime at least by now, December 2021.
I decided to make this film in May 2019 when the company, Dozhd TV, was in inch away from its death. I was the second person to join Dozhd' in 2008, full of optimism and naivety, as the person one – Natasha, the protagonist of the film. She managed to save her optimism up to 2019, I lost it completely during my journey. The death of the company, of our dream about an independent television in Russia, should have become the central story of the future film.

But as always with a documentary film you never know what the end of your story would be.

The story of “F@ck This Job” is a life journey – mine, [and] Natasha’s — the main protagonist of the film. It is a journey of all of us from this small but strong independent news TV station in Putin’s Russia. It’s also the journey of the country from a state of semi-freedom to full isolation.
For me, it is a story of journalists who have a sense of self-respect, an understanding of their profession, and faith that Russia will be free one day. “F@ck This Job” is a tapestry of our fates and lives, multiple failures, and restarts — both on and off the camera. I hope I could make a fairy-tale of independent journalism.

There were two big driving points that drew me deeper and deeper into the story. The first one is an arc of the country, Russia. In 2008, I found my characters full of optimism and plans for their future. They were the owners of their life. The change of the country and the change of Russia’s arc began to change the characters. Step by step, the people who had never voted in elections, who were extremely apolitical, started to understand that they were losing their lives, opportunities, plans, and dreams. In one moment, we meet our characters at a rally, and later behind bars. The change of the country shapes the change of the people, who in such a dark time, found themselves [anew], strong, and devoted.

I believe this film can strike the beauty of values and principles of this profession. The mission of journalism is to show injustice — I want the audience to get a sense of [that].

- Vera Krichevskaya, Director

This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. For more info see our Cookies Policy