From his base in Latvia, Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky hopes to break the state media spell that has gripped post-Soviet audiences. The documentary filmmaker is president of Russia’s biggest and most controversial documentary film festival Artdocfest. Sitting in his office last fall, Mansky cut a figure that is half media mogul, half political operative. Earlier in the day Artdocfest’s e-mail addresses that are hosted on Russian servers appeared to be have been compromised, causing the festival team to scramble to set new passwords. As Mansky’s technical staff pored over their computers their boss fielded questions about Russia-Ukraine relations from a reporter at radio station Echo of Moscow via Skype.

“Maybe don’t post any more photos with Khodorkovsky,” Mansky’s camerawoman suggested when Mansky finished the interview. A recent picture of Mansky with the oil tycoon turned opposition financier on Facebook had drawn unwanted attention, she explained.

Vladimir Putin’s clampdown on dissent has turned Latvia into an important center for Russian media and culture with many organizations moving to Riga. Mansky joined the exiles in 2014 after pressure from the authorities made it difficult for him to continue operating from Moscow. “In a situation of total lies, the more documentaries, and the more outlets, the better.”

From Riga Mansky still pursues the broad release of his films in Russia and Artdocfest screens its films in several Russian cities. In a country where state media has a monopoly on public discourse and lies have come to dominate the official narrative, Mansky believes that independent documentaries have a new and important role to play.