Mr. Nobody vs Putin: The Danish-produced, BAFTA-winning documentary following a teacher's fight against Russian propaganda
He called himself "Mr. Nobody". Just an ordinary school teacher from one of the world's most polluted mining towns, deep in Russia's Ural Mountains. But when the war in Ukraine broke out and the Kremlin began turning classrooms into recruitment centres, Pavel Talankin stopped being ordinary. With a hidden camera, he started filming what no one was supposed to see: how children are taught to hate, and how teachers are forced to lie. The result is the documentary Mr. Nobody vs Putin, produced by Denmark's Helle Faber and directed by Copenhagen-based American David Borenstein.
A teacher's secret double life
Pasha, as he's known, was originally just the school's video guy. He filmed Christmas shows, leaving parties and concerts. But after 24 February 2022, his job changed radically. The school was forced to send proof to the education ministry that it was following the new, patriotic line. "I became a kind of monitor over the teachers," Pasha has said. "They knew I was filming, so they said exactly what the government demanded."
But Pasha didn't just send the footage to Moscow. Via encrypted servers, he began sending it to David Borenstein in Copenhagen. For two and a half years he lived a double life: by day a loyal official, by night a whistle-blower risking 15 years in prison. In the summer of 2024 he had to flee with seven hard drives hidden in his luggage, leaving his mother and siblings behind in Karabash.
From Sundance to the Oscars race
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025, where it won a Special Jury Award. Since then it has garnered award after award: the audience award at Ji.hlava, and recently the BAFTA for Best Documentary. Now it's Oscar-nominated, and Pasha turned 35 just days before the gala in Los Angeles – complete with pink balloons he bought himself.
This is Pasha's first time outside Russia. He doesn't speak English, but his dry, sarcastic humour transcends all language barriers. "I'm just curious how much that Oscar statuette actually weighs," he said deadpan when an international media outlet met him on Santa Monica Pier. "All the shops sell fake plastic versions that weigh nothing." (The answer is 3.86 kilograms, in case you were wondering).
The impossible choice: stay or flee
What makes Mr. Nobody vs Putin so hauntingly powerful is precisely its everyday perspective. We don't see war up close, but we see its shadow fall over children. We see Wagner soldiers showing students how to throw grenades. We see the history teacher telling pupils that Europeans will soon have to ride horses like musketeers because petrol will be too expensive. And we hear the audio recording of a mother sobbing at her son's grave – Pasha didn't dare film the funeral, but he recorded the sound.
David Borenstein, who edited it all together in Copenhagen, explains that he deliberately avoided overwhelming viewers with darkness. "Pasha sent so much material, including about the nuclear threat (Karabash is close to the Mayak nuclear facility). But we didn't want to drown people in negativity. The film also had to show the human side of Pasha – his warmth, his care for his students, his silly antics like taking down the Russian flag and blasting Lady Gaga's version of the American national anthem over the speakers."
"It's just normal"
When asked if he is brave, Pasha shakes his head. "No, it's just normal." But the reality is different. His colleagues were forbidden from contacting him. His mother, who works in the school library, is distraught. To war supporters in Russia, he has become a hated figure. Yet he regrets nothing. "I would do it all again."
Right now, the film feels relevant in an particularly unsettling way. As a joke circulating in Eastern Europe goes: Belarusians and Russians are watching the same TV series – it's just that Russia is a few episodes behind. Pasha himself said in an interview with a foreign media outlet: "I'm sorry to say it, but America has started watching that series now too."
What the documentary teaches us
For us in the UK, where the film has been acclaimed internationally, the story is also a reminder of what happens when power is allowed to redefine reality. As Borenstein says: "We were really scared during production. Not for ourselves, but for Pasha. We read about teachers getting long prison sentences just for 'desecrating' the Russian flag. Pasha was the only one who wasn't afraid."
During our meeting in Los Angeles, Pasha received a painful message. One of his former students, 19-year-old Nikita, had been killed at the front. "I know him. He was a nice guy. He would never have gone without the propaganda," Pasha said quietly.
Awards and recognition
Mr. Nobody vs Putin is not just a film about Russia. It's a film about how ordinary people are drawn into the war machine – or choose to resist. It shows that no one is born a soldier. You are made into one. In one of the film's final scenes, an 11-year-old boy sits with a rifle in his hands. At first he holds it wrong. Then he adjusts his grip, aims at the camera – at Pasha – and this time the shot is perfectly framed. Then the film cuts to a bombed-out Ukrainian landscape. Two sides of the same story.
The film has already been called "a unicorn in the war documentary genre." It won the BAFTA in February and is nominated for an Oscar. If it wins, the acceptance speech will be written by Pasha's former students. They're already working on it, he says.
- Directors: David Borenstein (DK/US) and Pavel Talankin
- Producer: Helle Faber (Denmark)
- Awards: BAFTA (Best Documentary 2026), Sundance Special Jury Award (2025), Ji.hlava Audience Award (2025)
- Runtime: 90 minutes
- UK Streaming: Available on various platforms
In a few days, we'll know whether Mr. Nobody becomes Mr. Oscar. But whatever the outcome, Pasha has already won the most important battle: the fight against indifference. Because as his producer in the film says as he crosses the border: "Just believe in yourself. What you've done will make a difference."