A four-hour long series that brings an extraordinary story of Russian President Vladimir Putin titled "The Putin Interviews" by director Oliver Stone today opened the "Tribute to" Program, which in this year’s edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival is dedicated to this prominent film director who yesterday received and the Honorary Hear of Sarajevo Award at the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) for his outstanding contribution to the art of film.

The several-time winner of Oscar, the US Film Academy's annual award, Oliver Stone said today that the interviews were filmed in a period of two years, very spontaneously and everything was actually made as a film and therefore it is important to see all four episodes that deliver a complete story.

He recalled how he came to make the series, He said that he went to Russia to gather all the facts while filming his film on Edward Snowden and that he accidentally encountered Putin in a theater and asked him for his opinion about this most famous American whistleblower.

Putin gave him the answer, which is also in the film, and thus offered a completely different picture of Snowden in contrast of what the world and especially the United States thought of him.

After filming the last scene for ‘Snowden’, Stone asked if he could do an interview with Putin and the Russian President agreed.

He went to Russia several times, and he specifically stressed that he would certainly not be invited to return to Russia if President Putin did not like with what he has been doing.

“Everything was spontaneous. We used to wait for six hours to start filming, but I was allowed to ask different questions. That is why it is important to see this film that brings a completely different image of Putin. We can talk about whether we agree with his attitudes or not, but these are the stories he told me while intervening him,” Stone explained.

This extraordinary four-part documentary provides a profound insight into Putin's personal and professional life, and it also touches on Putin's growing up in the ear of communism, his rise to power, the relationship with four US presidents, and his surprising positions on current US-Russian relations.