Russian film on Litvinenko added to Cannes festival at last minute

CANNES, France - In a surprise move, the Cannes film festival on Wednesday announced it would screen a Russian documentary about the poisoning death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

"Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case", which will be shown at special screenings Saturday, on the eve of the close of the 12-day filmfest, was shot by Andrei Nekrasov and Olga Konskaya.

Nekrasov was close to Litvinenko, who died in London on November 23 last year.

The documentary film-maker, who spent two years working on the movie, shot footage right up until Litvinenko's last days in hospital.

The widow of the dead agent, Marina Litvinenko, is flying into Cannes for the special screenings, said the distributors of the film, Rezo.

The almost two-hour long movie contains interviews with former KGB agents and is highly critical of the Russian authorities, a Rezo official told AFP.

A fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Litvinenko was poisoned with the radioactive isotope polonium 210 early last November in London and died within three weeks.

He accused Moscow of being behind his poisoning in a letter released after his death.

The ex-agent, who had been granted political asylum in Britain and formally became a British citizen last year, was administered large doses of polonium 210.

Britain has asked Russia to extradite ex-KGB man Andrei Lugovoi to charge him with murder in the case.

Cannes festival art director Thierry Fremaux said the documentary will be released officially late Saturday with screenings earlier for the media.