Pavel Talankin — known to everyone simply as Pasha — lives and works in Karabash, a small town in Russia’s Ural Mountains with a reputation as one of the most toxic and polluted places on earth. As the local primary school’s events coordinator and videographer, he’s a beloved figure: a mentor whose office doubles as a safe haven for students. But when Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine reaches the classroom, replacing education and self-expression with ideology and military cosplay, Pasha finds himself reluctantly pressed into service as a cog in the state propaganda machine.
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His quiet act of resistance — covertly filming what he witnessed over two years and smuggling the footage out of Russia — is the subject of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, co-directed by Pasha and David Borenstein. The film documents the rise of militarized children’s groups in Russian schools, the spread of fervent nationalism, and the recruitment of graduating students to fight in Ukraine — all captured by a man who, when he realized his own life was at risk, was forced to plan a dangerous escape from his homeland. Putin won the World Cinema documentary special jury prize at Sundance 2025 and the BAFTA for best documentary, and is one of the five 2026 best documentary Oscar nominees.
Kino Lorber holds North American rights to the film, produced by Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen, with Czech co-producer PINK. DR Sales is handling international sales.
Ahead of the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, Borenstein and Talankin — who now lives in Czechia and spoke via a translator — discussed with The Hollywood Reporter the risks they took to bring the film to screens, the reaction back home in Russia, how it is a mix of 1984 and School of Rock, and why they’re hoping Lady Gaga will see it.
Watch a trailer for Mr. Nobody Against Putin here.
How was the experience of having to make the film and bring it out of Russia under all sorts of secrecy? And have you managed to enjoy the ride a bit since then, including with the BAFTA win?
BORENSTEIN It was extremely difficult making the film for a very simple reason: We didn’t know if it would ever see the light of day. Pasha was filming without any idea if this footage would actually come out. I was constructing the film and working on the edit and also organizing some more filming. We were putting so much energy into it, but we knew it would only work if we were able to get Pasha out of Russia, which was really, really difficult. So the whole film was a big risk.
The pressure of making the film transitioned into the pressure of Pasha leaving. And then the pressure became: “What if he leaves Russia for nothing, and no festival takes the film, and no one sees it?” So we felt a huge amount of pressure. But yeah, this last year has been a process of exhaling, because we realized that the sacrifice that Pasha made is coming to something. People are seeing the film, and it is getting recognized. It was a big roll of the dice, because the distribution situation is so tough right now. But I’m just really glad that the sacrifice Pasha made came to something.
Pasha, was it strange to hear from David, a filmmaker abroad, when he first made contact? What was your reaction to that and to being the face of your film?
TALANKIN Yes, it was a little bit strange, and I was unsure of how to handle it. Just the idea that your story about things that happen in a school in deepest Russia could be interesting to somebody else was new to me. So, yes, it was unexpected.
BORENSTEIN Pasha was a whistleblower. [Turns to Talankin] Your goal was to show the world what was happening in Russian schools. And then my job was more about turning that footage into a story with Pasha at the center of it.
Was he happy to take the spotlight, and what did that mean to your collaboration on Mr. Nobody Against Putin?
BORENSTEIN Pasha didn’t necessarily want to be the center of the story. There was constant back and forth, with me being like: “Why don’t you film yourself?” What’s great about this co-directorship is that Pasha was very much focused on the politics and showing what’s happening in Russia, which is really important, because that’s his home, and he has something to say about Russia. And then my job was more about the story of Pasha and finding a way to universalize it and focus on the universal themes.
TALANKIN One time, David wrote to me and said, “Hey, you have such an interesting way of shooting. I love how you’re shooting from the first-person perspective all the time. There are some really interesting documentary films that have been made in that way in the past. Let me send you a list of some films.” But I actually didn’t watch any of them because I was afraid that if I started watching other people’s films, it might inspire me to start copying them. And I didn’t want to risk copying anybody else.
BORENSTEIN Yes, Pasha and I agree to disagree on how one learns how to be a filmmaker.
TALANKIN Yes, David and I disagree a little bit on this. For me, Johann Sebastian Bach is the real example when it comes to the method of learning. He’d never been formally trained in music. He was only supposed to play piano with four fingers. But he was [one of] the first to play with five. I was ignorant and didn’t know, but I admire that kind of philosophy.
BORENSTEIN I agree with Pasha on that. There is this amazing quality to the footage that he made. It was not like he was studying film and trying to make a film. It just came out of elements of his personality. It came out of his emotions. He picked up the camera because he felt trapped, and he felt like he was lost in this Kafkaesque system. It was a way of changing his identity, because he needed to, because he felt guilt. He picked up that camera so as not to feel trapped. And so there was a lot of emotional weight around the act of filming that made the footage remarkable.
What was the conversation and approach you two chose to keep the people Pasha had to leave behind at home safe?
BORENSTEIN The conversation was much bigger than just us two. The BBC [via its Storyville documentary strand] came in very early, and they have in-house teams on editorial policy and security consultants. Having them involved from the very beginning informed the decision to really focus on Pasha as a singular character and not branch out to other characters with much depth. And at the end of the whole process, they went frame by frame, checking what every single person in the film, other than Pasha, said. That was all part of the security.
And there was also much more security about how Pasha and I collaborated, how we exchanged footage, how we communicated. It was a really intense process that actually made communicating quite hard.
TALANKIN The biggest censor was probably me. In a rough cut, we had [one girl] talking and picking at a pimple. And I said no way we will [show] that.
BORENSTEIN These are all his neighbors, right? So, Pasha knew all of these little things that they would care about. And he was really careful about protecting these teenagers, these girls. It was very sweet.
On that note, I felt a lot of love radiating from Pasha as the center of the film, while so much is bleak and scary around him. How did you guys approach that balance of positivity, hope, love and caring versus all the darkness and all those 1984 vibes?
BORENSTEIN A lot of it is who we are. I’m definitely a very gentle filmmaker. We were just talking with another director in a Q&A, and I had this thought pop into my head. Our film is as if the Come See Me in the Good Light team made 2000 Meters to Andriivka. This is a war film, but Pasha and I have our own take. We are more gentle and are not going to make a super hard-hitting, extremely intense film. Rather, we’re going for a more full range of emotions.
This also mimics how I experienced the project. I met Pasha as a whistleblower who wanted to show the world what was happening in these schools. And part of me thought this was going to be a very intense project, something like Citizenfour. And then his footage started coming in, and it was filled with love and art projects they were doing in his room, laughter, a loving community of students, and rap music videos that he was making. And I was like: “This footage doesn’t feel like Citizenfour. This is a very different thing.”
The footage felt like from School of Rock or from Mr. Holland’s Opus. That gave us so much opportunity in the edit to find the unique tone that already really suits my personality and also his positive personality. It was like fate brought us together. We were a really good match.
This film is about the loss of Pasha’s classroom, about the community that he created in this school. It’s about the loss of freedom in Russia as shown through this school. And in order to understand the full weight of that loss, you need to love it as Pasha does, and you need to experience the joy as he did. You need to experience the laughter and lightness.
Have you heard any feedback from the people back home and do you know how Russian authorities reacted?
TALANKIN There are different reactions. After the film was at Sundance last year, the [Russian security agency and KGB successor, the Federal Security Service] FSB came to Karabash and gathered the directors of all the educational institutions of the whole city into one room and said, “Listen up and remember this and spread the word to all of your colleagues. This person [Pasha Talankin] doesn’t exist and didn’t exist, and you will not be in any contact with him. This film doesn’t exist and didn’t exist, and you will not comment on it.”
And local and regional newspapers started to write literal lies about my mom [who is in the film]. They wrote that she had to quit her job out of shame and embarrassment over me and this film. And she
called me and said: “I’m sitting here at work, learning from the paper that I no longer work here.” It was just a lie. Everything is fine!
But I also remember how I was invited to Radio Free Europe in Prague. I called a taxi and didn’t enter the address correctly. I had a Ukrainian cab driver, who asked me where I was going and why. And when I told him, he said, “Oh, you’re the one who made that film. So instead of giving children bread in Russia, they’re giving them hand grenades and weapons? I’m going to get you where you need to go really, really fast.”
Mr. Nobody Against Putin mentions stars and characters we know from Hollywood and beyond, including Harry Potter’s Severus Snape and Lady Gaga. You actually play her singing the U.S. anthem in the film. Has Lady Gaga seen the film?
BORENSTEIN If you want to mention that, we’d [love] Gaga to see the film. Let’s do a hashtag! We’d
love her to see the film.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
BORENSTEIN I’d just like to universalize the message and how this film is not just about Russia and how we all face a moral choice. We can all learn from Pasha. There’s no political action without risk. We don’t all need to be as extreme as him. Pasha is my Michael Jordan of political risk.
TALANKIN After the BAFTAs, the school in Karabash was really split into two camps. Half of the school went up to my mom in the library and said congratulations and asked her to pass on how happy they were.
