The film follows the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s effort to control international dissent. Central to the documentary is the story of the Saudi activist and video blogger, Omar Abdulaziz. The Dissident 2020 full
According to Bryan Fogel, the movie’s aim is to look “deeply into Khashoggi’s murder and the ramifications of it.” While a CIA report released by the Biden administration implicated Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the death of Khashoggi, Fogel believes the prince will never face an Interpol arrest warrant or formal investigation considering the vast amount of wealth he owns.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. In September 2020, Briarcliff Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released in a limited release on December 25, 2020, followed by video on demand on January 8, 2021.
The film struggled to find a distributor for eight months and was not able to run on a large streaming platform like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. It is widely believed this was due to those platforms’ fear of offending the Saudi Arabian government and possibly losing subscribers.
Fogel showed disappointment at The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos’ decision to acquire U.A.E e-commerce site Souq.com shortly after he refused to release The Dissident on Prime Video.
The film follows the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s effort to control international dissent. Central to the documentary is the story of the Saudi activist and video blogger, Omar Abdulaziz.
According to Bryan Fogel, the movie’s aim is to look “deeply into Khashoggi’s murder and the ramifications of it.” While a CIA report released by the Biden administration implicated Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the death of Khashoggi, Fogel believes the prince will never face an Interpol arrest warrant or formal investigation considering the vast amount of wealth he owns.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020. In September 2020, Briarcliff Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film.