The Oscar-nominated documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” exposes how a Russian school teacher secretly filmed the Kremlin’s propaganda curriculum, risking everything to show the world how children are being indoctrinated—and why his film is a warning for the future.
As the Academy Awards approach, a breathtaking story of moral courage has emerged from the shadows of Putin’s Russia. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”, a documentary nominated for Best Documentary Feature, offers an unprecedented, ground-level view of how the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine was systematically turned into a weapon of indoctrination within Russian schools. The film’s hero is Pasha Talankin, a mild-mannered videographer at Karabash Elementary who became a one-man truth commission, risking life in prison to secretly document the state’s “patriotic curriculum” for a global audience.
The film’s genesis traces directly to the moments after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion. Like schools nationwide, Talankin’s institution received orders to implement a mandatory “patriotic curriculum” designed to frame the war as a noble “de-Nazification” mission. Assigned to film this propaganda for Kremlin auditors, Talankin faced an impossible choice. “I love my job, but I don’t want to be a pawn of the regime,” he confesses in the film. His revulsion deepened as he witnessed colleagues parrot the party line, forcing him to make a fateful decision: he would record everything—not just the mandated material for Russian officials, but a complete, unvarnished archive for history and for the world.
Talankin’s secret project required a transatlantic partnership. He connected online with American filmmaker David Borenstein, who directed remotely from Europe. For two years, Talankin operated under the radar, his camera capturing a chilling inside view: pro-war student assemblies orchestrated by teachers, paramilitary members of Putin’s Wagner
