![\"Pavel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01a8f0cd-9b3a-4fe3-bad7-d8264ad752f2.jpg.webp.webp\")
Image source, Getty Images<\/p>\nFrom Mr Nobody to Oscar winner: How one man took on Putinpublished at 01:52 GMT<\/p>\n
01:52 GMT<\/p>\n
Image source, Getty Images<\/p>\n
Pavel Talankin had never been outside Russia before he went into exile in summer 2024, leaving his home in the Ural mountains for his own safety after he quietly stood up to President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.<\/p>\n
In less than two years, Pasha, as he’s known, transformed from an events coordinator and videographer at a primary school in Karabash, one of the most polluted places on earth, to an Oscar winner.<\/p>\n
His film, Mr Nobody Against Putin, just won the award for documentary feature.<\/p>\n
The BBC documentary charts the story of what happened after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and how Pasha was reluctantly drawn into Putin’s propaganda machine.<\/p>\n
His role at the school was to film student music videos, performances and graduation ceremonies.<\/p>\n
He realised it made him “a kind of monitor of the teachers, to make them understand, ‘Look, I’m here, I’ve got a camera, I’m filming, so you will say everything you are supposed to say, you will speak as instructed, you will use the material provided by the government’.”<\/p>\n
He rebelled, at great risk to himself, deciding to become a filmmaking whistleblower.<\/p>\n
Now, his story is being heard around the world. <\/p>\n