By AFP and Kontur | 2026-03-17

Tributes to "Mr Nobody" poured in Monday after Pavel Talankin, a videographer from a small-town Russian school, won an Oscar for his anti-Kremlin documentary.

"If you had told me two years ago that things would be like this, I would have laughed in your face," Talankin, 35, told AFP. "It's unreal -- things like this just don't happen."

"Mr Nobody Against Putin," which took home the Academy Award for best documentary feature Sunday, is based on hours of footage Talankin smuggled out of Russia after teaming up with US filmmaker David Borenstein.

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, authorities instructed Talankin to film patriotic lessons and morning drills at his secondary school in the industrial Ural town of Karabash. Instead, he turned his camera into a record of the propaganda and indoctrination playing out around him.

Cooperating with foreigners carried the risk of treason charges. In the summer of 2024, Talankin fled Russia with hard drives containing what would become a 90-minute documentary, leaving behind his mother, brothers and sisters.

In his acceptance speech, he addressed the war directly.

"For four years we have looked at the sky for shooting stars to make a very important wish," he said in Russian. "But there are countries where instead of shooting stars, they have shooting bombs and shooting drones. In the name of our future, in the name of all our children, stop all these wars. Now."

The Kremlin offered no response.

"I did not watch this film," Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday.

A Hollywood story

The win came as a surprise even to those who admired the film. Netflix documentary "The Perfect Neighbour" had been widely tipped to take the prize. But Vitaly Mansky, one of Russia's most prominent documentary filmmakers and an Academy member, said Talankin's sincerity proved decisive.

"I think that the figure of Pavel Talankin played a very big role in the Academy members' decision," Mansky told AFP. "They were moved to vote for the film. It truly is a Hollywood story."

Ukrainian-born Mansky added that the film's power lies in its ground-level approach.

"It shows at the very grassroots level -- and not with the help of political scientists or experts -- how this whole fog of deception is manufactured," he said.

Film critic Anton Dolin agreed.

"The film stands out, just like its protagonist," he said.

The road to the Oscars had already produced some surreal moments. The film won a BAFTA in London last month for best documentary -- Monica Bellucci read out the winning title while Prince William watched from the front row -- and Talankin had been making the rounds of pre-Oscar events, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty he had never expected to meet.

At the nominees' luncheon, he found himself positioned in the center of the class photo next to Benicio Del Toro. Stepping outside for a smoke, he came face to face with Leonardo DiCaprio.

"I was a bit stunned," he said, "because never in my life had I imagined a scenario where I'd go to the smoking room and Leonardo DiCaprio would be coming straight at me."

He had even dusted off a shelf in anticipation.

"I've already got a spot ready for it," he joked to AFP in January -- a spot that is now occupied.

Polarizing at home

The film's reception has been more complicated within Russian circles. While it drew positive reviews in the West, Russian state media launched a smear campaign against Talankin. Some anti-Kremlin Russians also pushed back, criticizing the footage's raw, unpolished quality and raising concerns that children were filmed without parental consent.

Talankin was unapologetic.

"Sometimes filming this way is the only way to get information," he said. "Especially in a country like Russia, where absolutely everything is closed off."

Producer Radovan Sibrt said the pressure on Talankin has been significant, but that he has handled it with composure.

"Pasha seems to be handling it fine so far. With ease and nobleness," Sibrt said, using the informal form of his name. "His voice is getting stronger and stronger."

For Russian journalist and filmmaker Leonid Parfenov, the documentary's importance transcends its international recognition.

"For us Russians this is a crucial document of our era -- one that compels us to look closely at what is happening to the country, to its people, and to the young generation," he said.

Talankin, who has been learning English while shuttling between the US and Europe to promote the film, said he sometimes feels nostalgic about his old job and still sees the Karabash school in his dreams. What comes next is unclear, though Sibrt said a theatre adaptation and a book may be in the works.

"There are already some options coming up," the producer said. "He might surprise us again."