Putin's Mr. Nobody: How a humble teacher's secret footage became a BAFTA-winning documentary
He called himself "Mr. Nobody." Just an ordinary schoolteacher 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 recruiting 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 filmmaker David Borenstein.
A teacher's secret double life
Pasha, as he's known, was essentially just the school's video guy. He filmed Christmas events, graduation parties, and concerts. But after February 24, 2022, his job changed drastically. The school was forced to send documentation to the education ministry to prove they were following the new, patriotic line. "I became a kind of supervisor 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 whistleblower 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 most recently the BAFTA for Best Documentary. Now it's Oscar-nominated, and Pasha turned 35 just days before the Los Angeles gala – 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 with a deadpan face when an international media outlet met him on the Santa Monica Pier. "Every shop sells fake plastic ones that weigh nothing." (For the record, it's 3.86 kilos).
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 the shadow of war fall over children. We see Wagner soldiers showing students how to throw grenades. We see the history teacher telling students that Europeans will soon have to ride horses like musketeers because petrol is getting 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 captured the sound.
David Borenstein, who edited it all together in Copenhagen, explains that he deliberately avoided drowning viewers in 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 through 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 heartbroken. To pro-war Russians, he has become a hated figure. Yet he regrets nothing. "I would do it all again."
Right now, the film feels relevant in an uncomfortably timely 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 India, as for audiences worldwide, the story also serves as a stark 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 some painful news. One of his former students, 19-year-old Nikita, had been killed at the front. "I knew him. He was a nice guy. He never would have gone if not for 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 dead on. The film then cuts to a bombed-out Ukrainian landscape. Two sides of the same coin.
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
- Streaming: Available on DRTV in Denmark
In a few days, we'll know if Mr. Nobody becomes Mr. Oscar. But regardless of the outcome, Pasha has already won the most important fight: the battle 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."