It was written, directed, and narrated by Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian journalist and historian and a longtime friend and colleague of Nemtsov.
Nemtsov chronicles the life and career of Boris Nemtsov from his work as a scientist and his activism in opposition to a nuclear plant in Gorky in the late Soviet period to his meteoric political rise in post-Soviet Russia, when he was elected to Parliament, implemented market reforms as governor of Nizhny Novgorod, was invited to become Russia’s deputy prime minister, and was widely seen as a future successor to President Boris Yeltsin; as well as in his later years as a leader of the democratic opposition in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
It is about the life of a man who could have been president of Russia.”[2] The film was first shown at the Boris Nemtsov Forum in Berlin on October 9, 2016; the Russian premiere was held in Nizhny Novgorod on November 30, 2016.
"[7] Television commentator Arina Borodina noted that the authors have done "colossal archival work" and that the film depicts "a large, colorful, powerful, courageous life.
"[8] "The film shows that Boris Nemtsov was a politician with a large degree of openness and sincerity, and that such position is, historically speaking, a winning one," wrote political analyst Alexander Morozov.