**Lantos Foundation Supports Man of the Year Documentary, Exposing Dark Truth Behind Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s Propaganda**

October 4, 2021 – The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice today announced its financial support for a forthcoming documentary in the early stages of production – Man of the Year, a first-of-its-kind film that will take a deep and unfiltered look at the truth behind the lies of Rwanda’s brutal dictatorship.

For more than two decades since Rwanda’s tragic genocide, President Paul Kagame has manipulated and bent the world’s most powerful people and organizations to his will, successfully getting them to adopt his false narrative and simultaneously turn a blind eye to his ruthless repression. Man of the Year follows survivors of the genocide and activists who courageously risk their lives to expose the deadly workings of the Rwandan regime and the disinformation campaign orchestrated by Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

“Paul Kagame is a complex figure who has had some notable achievements, but his descent into brutal dictatorship has been ignored for too long,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation. “The time has come to expose the dark side of the ‘darling dictator’, and Man of the Year promises to do just that. I am so pleased that the Lantos Foundation can play a part in supporting this worthy project, as I truly believe it has the potential to break through Kagame’s propaganda machine and make it impossible for the world to continue to ignore his regime’s human rights abuses.”

Man of the Year is poised to be a tour-de-force, combining the best elements of investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking. With never-before-seen footage from inside Rwanda, including of Rwandan human rights activists shortly before their arrests, and exclusive access to former ruling RPF officials and United Nations documents, the filmmakers expose the machine that turned a one-sided narrative into official dogma. They demonstrate how journalists, academics, and well-meaning global philanthropists became accidental propagandists for Kagame’s regime, and they show the devastating consequences for those who dared to speak out – and have been silenced.

Man of the Year is directed by Benedict Moran and executive produced by Anjan Sundaram. Moran is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed, reported and produced for major global broadcasters and publications in dozens of countries. Sundaram is the author of Bad News, a book about the destruction of Rwanda’s free press, and one of the most incisive mainstream commentators on Rwanda’s dictatorship.

As part of the Lantos Foundation’s support, Man of the Year received financial assistance through the Front Line Fund grant program, which was created to assist brave individuals and organizations in their fight against injustices around the world. The Foundation’s Front Line Fund has made more than 150 small grants to individuals and organizations located across the globe, from the United States to Canada, Germany, India, China, Bangladesh, the Middle East and more. In keeping with the Foundation’s focus on “Activist Artists”, the Foundation supports select film and book projects through the Front Line Fund, as well as other human rights-related art initiatives that aim to shine a spotlight on major human rights challenges and expose human rights abusers.

For more information about Man of the Year, please visit: manoftheyear.film

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About the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice: The Lantos Foundation was established in 2008 to carry forward the legacy of Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a leading human rights champion. The Foundation works with a range of partners and often in cooperation with the U.S. Government on issues that span the globe. The Foundation’s key areas of focus include human rights issues related to religious freedom, rule of law, internet freedom and activist art. The Foundation also administers the Lantos Congressional Fellows Program, supports human rights advocates, activists and artists through its Front Line Fund grant program, and awards the annual Lantos Human Rights Prize to honor and bring attention to heroes of the human rights movement. Past recipients of the Prize include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Elie Wiesel, the real-life hero of Hotel Rwanda Paul Rusesabagina, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Iraqi Parliamentarian Vian Dakhil, Hong Kong Democracy activist Joshua Wong, Bill Browder, the driving force behind the global Magnitsky movement, among others.

The Lantos Foundation is proud to announce the release of a compelling mini-documentary about Russia’s most prominent political prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. We hope you'll take the time to read this email, and share it with your social media contacts.

"The Man Who Believed He Could Change Russia”, is an engaging personal drama, and a powerful narrative about Russia’s retreat from democracy during Putin’s reign. Given recent events, this story is deeply relevant for all those who share Mikhail’s vision of a truly free Russia.

The mockery of justice and rule of law in Russia we have long highlighted in conjunction with the Khodorkovsky case was again on display this past week. Shockingly, Russian Interior Ministry officials announced plans to posthumously prosecute whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in detention under suspicious circumstances over two years ago after he uncovered massive tax fraud on the part of Russian government officials.

This abysmal “legal nihilism” and absence of rule of law is at the heart of what ails Russia. Along with recent blatant electoral fraud, it is one of the reasons that hundreds of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets in opposition to Putin’s regime.

It is our hope that the people of Russia will have the courage and determination to bring about real reform in their country, and we owe them our encouragement and support. May we suggest something simple you can do? Please share this important message with friends and colleagues, by forwarding this email or posting to your social media sites.

If we work together, we can increase pressure on what Alexey Navalny has called the gang of “crooks and thieves” that currently rules the Kremlin. At the very least, we must try to shame them into dropping the outrageous and bizarre trial of the late young hero Magnitsky and grant freedom to Khodorkovsky, a man whose only real crime was daring to challenge Putin’s authority.

Lantos Foundation Supports "Man of the Year" Documentary

**Lantos Foundation Supports Man of the Year Documentary, Exposing Dark Truth Behind Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s Propaganda**

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