When the filmmaker Daniel Roher won an Oscar last year for his feature documentary “Navalny,” about the Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny, it signified a high note for CNN Films. The division had chosen to finance and release the damning chronicle of Russia’s attack on the country’s foremost critic when most of its peers would not.

Yet that moment of triumph was met with a harsh reality: Months earlier, CNN announced that it would cut way back on the production of original documentary series and films as part of a companywide cost-reducing measure. The news was devastating to the documentary community, and a harbinger of further retrenchment in the industry.

“By the time ‘Navalny’ hit the awards circuit, we were canceled,” said Amy Entelis, who oversees CNN’s documentary division and the network’s talent.

Yet fast forward 18 months and the division is showing signs of life under the new chief executive at CNN.

Beginning this week, CNN Films returns with the first of three movies it has acquired in partnership with other players. The company is also reviving the arm that produces documentary series.