Mr. Nobody Against Putin

In Karabakh, a small industrial town in the Urals plagued by severe pollution, Pavel (or “Pasha”) Talankin thrives as the coordinator of educational activities at the school where he grew up. That is, until the launch of the “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which was accompanied by the rollout of a new government-sponsored war program. On the agenda: reciting patriotic poems, creating a nationalist youth movement, writing letters to soldiers, military parades, and weapons training… While all schools in the country are required to demonstrate their loyalty to the directives through videos submitted to a government platform, Pasha, tasked with filming the operations, decides—after considering quitting—to use his assignment to document this relentless propaganda campaign. But as former students are mobilized and the war gradually plunges the families of both the children and the teaching staff into mourning, the young man—an outspoken opponent of Putin—finds himself increasingly isolated. In the summer of 2024, after the annual graduation ceremony, he resolves to flee Russia, secretly taking with him the videos that form the raw material of this documentary…

Academy Award Winner — Best Documentary Feature