Pavel Talankin
Павел Таланкин
Pavel Talankin ArtDocFest Paris 2025
Born (1991-03-11) March 11, 1991 (age 35)
Karabash, Chelyabinsk Oblast, USSR
Occupations
  • Teacher
  • documentary filmmaker
  • cinematographer
  • videographer[1][2]
Years active 2022–present[3][4]
Notable work Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)[3]
Awards BAFTA Film Award (Documentary) for Mr. Nobody Against Putin[5] 98th Academy Awards DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM for Mr. Nobody Against Putin '[6]

Pavel Talankin (Russian: Павел Ильич Таланкин; born 11 March 1991)[7] is a Russian teacher and documentary filmmaker who worked as a teacher-organizer and school videographer at Karabash Primary School No. 1 in Karabash, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia.[4][8] He is credited as co-director, cinematographer, and narrator of the anti-war opposition documentary feature Mr Nobody Against Putin (2025).[3][9]

Mr. Nobody Against Putin premiered in the World Cinema Documentary program at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award.[3][10] The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 98th Academy Awards.[5][11] Talankin left Russia in 2024 and emigrated to Prague (Czech Republic).[12][4][1]

Early life and education

Talankin grew up in Karabash, an industrial town in Chelyabinsk Oblast.[8] He attended Karabash Primary School No. 1 as a child and later returned to work there.[3][13] His mother worked at the same school as a librarian.[8]

Published accounts describe Talankin as working with children since his student years, including at the Orlyonok camp near Lake Uvildy and later in a children’s home and a library in Karabash.[8][4][14][1][3]

Career

At Karabash Primary School No. 1, Talankin organized extracurricular activities and filmed school events such as assemblies and ceremonies as part of his job as the school videographer.[4][8] He taught children practical video production skills, including shooting and editing.[2][15] In public reporting, Talankin’s pre-film community work in Karabash included activities with students connected to media and youth programming, including a 2021 project building a detailed Minecraft model of Karabash with students.[8][16]

Talankin collaborated with filmmaker David Borenstein on Mr. Nobody Against Putin using footage recorded inside his school over a two-year period following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and he left Russia in June 2024 carrying recorded material on seven hard drives.[3][4] The Sundance film listing credits Talankin as co-director and cinematographer and identifies the film as a Denmark/Czech Republic production with a 90-minute runtime in Russian.[3] International festival programs in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary scheduled screenings of the film, listing Talankin as co-director and identifying him as a teacher associated with the school where the film was shot.[13][17][15] The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars.[18]

Style and themes

Talankin’s credited filmmaking work centers on first-person documentary narration and observational footage recorded within a Russian primary school setting in which he worked officially as a videographer.[3][19] Reviews have described the film’s approach as combining on-the-ground school footage with diary-like narration to depict the integration of ideological messaging into everyday school routines.[19][20]

Reception

Coverage of Talankin in Russian-language reporting has emphasized his former role inside Karabash Primary School No. 1 and the risks associated with removing filmed school material from Russia after the start of the full scale invasion in 2022.[4][8] Reviews in European and North American outlets discussed Talankin’s footage as a rare inside-school record of how war-related messaging and rituals appeared in day-to-day educational life during the period when he was filming.[19][20]

At the 98th Academy Awards

The documentary is based on footage from a school in the city of Karabash, showing the process of ideological indoctrination of children. The film "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" became a sensation and caused a mixed reaction in Russia.[21] When presented with the award, Talankin made a call to stop wars, mentioning children.

Oscar gone missing

On 1st May 2026, the BBC reported that the statuette had gone missing when Talankin was forced by security staff to hand it when checking in at John F Kennedy Airport. However, then the flight landed in Germany, the Oscar was missing. A spokesperson for the airline concerned, Lufthansa, said "We deeply regret this situation. Our team is treating this matter with the utmost care and urgency, and we are conducting a comprehensive internal search to ensure the Oscar is found and returned as quickly as possible."[22]

A Chelyabinsk court banned the documentary from streaming platforms - VK Video, Yandex, and Motion Video - on the grounds that it "propagates extremism and terrorism."[23] The court cited the use of the White-blue-white flag and associated it with the Freedom of Russia Legion.[24]

On March 27, 2026 the Russian Ministry of Justice added Talankin to its list of foreign agents.[25]

See also

  • List of Russian Academy Award winners and nominees

References

  1. ^ a b c "Pavel Talankin". MDOC – Festival Internacional de Documentário de Melgaço. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  2. ^ a b "Pavel Talankin". Mountainfilm Festival. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mr. Nobody Against Putin". Sundance Film Festival (Festival Player). Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "«Говорят, что я подонок». Учитель из Челябинской области снимал школу во время войны — и показал свой фильм на фестивале «Сандэнс»" ["They say I'm a scumbag." A teacher from the Chelyabinsk region filmed a school during the war and showed his film at the Sundance Film Festival.]. Медиазона (in Russian). 2025-01-30. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  5. ^ a b "Film / Documentary (2026)". BAFTA. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  6. ^ "Film / Documentary(2026)". Oscar. Retrieved 2026-03-16.
  7. ^ Razzall, Katie (16 March 2026). "From Mr Nobody to Oscar winner: How one man took on Putin". BBC News. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "«С чьих слов я предатель Родины? Со слов Владимира Путина?» Уральский учитель тайно снял документальный фильм о пропаганде в школе" ["Who said I was a traitor to the Motherland? Vladimir Putin said I was?" A Ural teacher secretly filmed a documentary about propaganda in schools.]. Meduza (in Russian). 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  9. ^ "Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)". IMDb. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  10. ^ "2025 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners Announced". Sundance Institute. 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  11. ^ "The 98th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  12. ^ Александров, Алексей; Время, Настоящее (2026-04-04). "Павел Таланкин: "Режим падет, и нам надо будет вернуться"". Радио Свобода (in Russian). Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  13. ^ a b "MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN". Sofia DocuMENTAL. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  14. ^ "Pavel Talankin". IMDb. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  15. ^ a b "Mr. Nobody Against Putin (BIDF listing)". BIDF – Budapesti Nemzetközi Dokumentumfilm Fesztivál (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  16. ^ "«Никто от него не ожидал»: учитель тайно снимал школьников в Челябинской области для антироссийского фильма" ["Nobody expected this from him": A teacher secretly filmed schoolchildren in the Chelyabinsk region for an anti-Russian film.]. 74.ru (in Russian). 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  17. ^ "Gospodin Niko protiv Putina" [Mr. Nobody vs. Putin]. Beldocs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  18. ^ "'Hollywood story': Russia's Mr Nobody makes history with Oscar win". France 24. Retrieved 2026-03-16.
  19. ^ a b c "Review: Mr. Nobody Against Putin". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  20. ^ a b "'Mr Nobody Against Putin': Sundance Review". Screen Daily. 2025-01-30. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  21. ^ "Фильм «Господин Никто против Путина» получил «Оскар»". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). 2026-03-16. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
  22. ^ "Pavel Talankin's Oscar for Mr Nobody Against Putin goes missing on NY flight". BBC News. 2026-05-01. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
  23. ^ Gozzi, Laura (2026-03-27). "Mr Nobody Against Putin: Oscar-winning film banned in Russia". BBC News. Retrieved 2026-03-27.
  24. ^ "«Господин Никто против Путина»: подробности". Mediazona (in Russian). 2026-03-26. Retrieved 2026-03-27.
  25. ^ "Новый «иноагент»: Павел Таланкин". Meduza (in Russian). 2026-03-27. Retrieved 2026-03-27.