LOS ANGELES — In a striking moment of cinematic triumph and political statement, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” claimed the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony. The film offers a courageous examination of how Russia’s youth are being indoctrinated with pro-war propaganda following the invasion of Ukraine.
Accepting the award through a translator, the film’s protagonist and co-director Pavel Talankin delivered an impassioned plea in Russian: “In the name of our future, in the name of all of our children, stop all of these wars now.” Talankin, a former teacher and activities director from a small Russian town, secretly documented his students’ lessons, chants, and songs promoting the Ukraine conflict. He risked his safety by smuggling hard drives out of the country to collaborate with American director David Borenstein, who is based in Copenhagen.
The acceptance speeches provided some of the evening’s most overtly political moments. Backstage, Talankin revealed his students had helped craft his speech. Borenstein addressed the broader theme of nations descending into totalitarianism, drawing clear parallels between his own country and Talankin’s.
“‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ is about how you lose your country,” Borenstein stated. “You lose it through countless small little acts of complicity.” The director received growing applause as he elaborated that countries are lost when citizens remain silent as governments kill people in the streets and oligarchs consolidate media control.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the award, stating he had not seen the documentary.
Distributed by Apple TV, the film premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Its tone blends light, almost mischievous comedy with serious political commentary, with Talankin occasionally channeling the style of fellow documentary Oscar winner Michael Moore. The victory marked an upset over frontrunner “The Perfect Neighbor,” a Netflix production constructed primarily from police body camera footage.
The Ukraine conflict has consistently featured prominently in recent Oscar documentary categories. This follows last year’s win by The Associated Press’ “20 Days in Mariupol” and the nomination this year of “Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud,” about an American journalist killed in the war.
In the documentary short category, “All the Empty Rooms” prevailed, chronicling efforts to memorialize the bedrooms of children killed in mass shootings. The filmmakers yielded their acceptance time to Gloria Cazares, mother of 9-year-old Jackie who died in the Uvalde shooting, who made an emotional appeal for gun reform.