Odessa Detectives

Meet Robert, Ukraine's 'best private detective', as he drives you round the beautiful Black Sea port of Odessa.

This documentary, broadcast in February 2009 on Al Jazeera's Witness strand, offers a unique view on daily life in post-Soviet Ukraine.

It is a long and tricky process making a documentary. In 2006, whilst taking a Russian course in Odessa, director Raj Yagnik met Robert Papinyan and thought he'd make a good subject for an observational documentary.
 
The following year Grigory Rudko was sent out from Moscow to film Robert and the following trailer was cut - as a way of selling the film to a broadcaster.
 

The film was commissioned by Al Jazeera the following year. You can watch it all here: