Bryan Fogel’s ‘The Dissident’ wins Aspen FIlmfest Audience Award

Documentary “The Dissident,” from the Boulder-based Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel, won the Aspen Filmfest’s Audience Award, the festival announced on Friday.

The film investigates the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Its in-person screening at the Isis Theatre in Aspen was its first presentation since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

“It speaks volumes that our community feels as passionately about Bryan Fogel’s insightful and investigative, historical documentary as we do,” Aspen Film executive and artistic director Susan Wrubel said in the announcement.

The film was among 16 titles at the hybrid festival, which ran Oct. 15 to 21 and included virtual screenings, in-person presentations with limited audiences at the Isis and a drive-in presentation of Spike Lee and David Byrne’s “American Utopia.” Audiences voted for their favorite with the traditional Filmfest paper ballots at in-person screenings and in an online poll for the virtual festival.

“As a Colorado native, receiving this honor is especially gratifying,” Fogel said. “It was so important to us to handle this real-life story with the emotion and urgency that Jamal and his fiancée Hatice deserve. Thank you to the Aspen Film Festival audiences for recognizing ‘The Dissident.’ Your honor helps us immensely in enshrining Jamal’s memory and achieving our ultimate goal of getting justice for his murder.”