Daniel Roher Explained
Daniel Roher [1] is a Canadian documentary film director from Toronto, Ontario.[2]
He is most noted for his 2019 film , which was the opening film of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival,[3] and his 2022 film Navalny, about the Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner Alexei Navalny, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.[4] [5]
Early life
Roher grew up in midtown Toronto, in a Jewish family. After graduating from Etobicoke School of the Arts, he studied for three semesters at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, USA.[6]
Career
His 2019 film was also screened at the 2019 Whistler Film Festival, where it was the winner of the Whistler Film Festival Documentary Award.[7] Roher and Eamonn O'Connor were Canadian Screen Award nominees for Best Editing in a Documentary at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020, and Canadian Cinema Editors award nominees for Best Editing in a Documentary in 2020.[8]
Roher previously directed the short documentaries Survivors Rowe,[9] which was a CSA nominee for Best Documentary Program at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards in 2017,[10] and Sourtoe: The Story of the Sorry Cannibal, which was a CSA nominee for Best Direction in a Web Program or Series at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018.
In 2025, Roher directed Tuner, his first narrative fiction film.[11] The thriller starred Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Jean Reno, Lior Raz, and Tovah Feldshuh, and premiered at Telluride Film Festival.[12]
In December 2025, it was announced that Roher would co-direct , a documentary feature film about the future of AI. The film, co-directed with Charlie Tyrell, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026.
Filmography
Notes and References
- Web site: Meet the Artist: Daniel Roher on "Navalny". Sundance Institute. January 26, 2022. April 23, 2022.
- Peter Howell, "'Five fragile young men': How Daniel Roher went from young fan of the Band to putting their story on film". Toronto Star, September 5, 2019.
- https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2019/07/18/tiff-2019-to-open-with-documentary-about-canadian-rock-legend-robbie-robertson.html "TIFF 2019 to open with documentary about Canadian rock legend Robbie Robertson"
- Web site: CNN FILMS And HBO MAX Announce Revealing Alexey Navalny Documentary Thriller NAVALNY By Director Daniel Roher. https://web.archive.org/web/20220113182941/https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2022/01/13/cnn-films-and-hbo-max-announce-revealing-alexey-navalny-documentary-thriller-navalny-by-director-daniel-roher/. dead. January 13, 2022. 2022-01-16. en-US.
- Web site: 2022-01-14. CNN Films, HBO Max Partner for Navalny Documentary. 2022-01-16. The Moscow Times. en.
- News: Sarner . Robert . 26-year-old Jewish-Canadian director to launch Toronto Film Festival . 2023-03-13 . . en-US . 0040-7909.
- Alyssa Noel, "Whistler Film Festival hands out awards". Pique Newsmagazine, December 14, 2019.
- Lauren Malyk, "Canadian Cinema Editors name 2020 nominees". Playback, April 8, 2020.
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/from-despair-to-redemption-the-remarkable-survivors-1.3058278 "From despair to redemption: The remarkable survivors"
- https://globalnews.ca/news/3186086/2017-canadian-screen-awards-nominees-revealed/ "2017 Canadian Screen Awards nominees revealed"
- Nicholas Sokic, "Daniel Roher rolling on first narrative feature Tuner". Playback, October 11, 2024.
- Web site: Gajewski . Ryan . 2025-12-10 . ‘The AI Doc’ From ‘Navalny’ Director Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell Lands 2026 Release (Exclusive) . 2025-12-11 . The Hollywood Reporter . en-US.
- Web site: Morfoot . Addie . 2024-10-04 . Oscar Winner Daniel Roher Talks Nat Geo Doc ‘Blink,’ About a Family Who Travels the World After Life-Altering News . 2025-08-29 . Variety . en-US.
- Web site: Tuner . 2025-08-29 . TIFF.
- Web site: Tracy . Andrew . In Brief: Daniel Roher’s Tuner to debut in Telluride . 2025-08-29.
