Kremlin propaganda is usually swift to hail Russian victories, from sporting achievements to progress on the battlefield in Ukraine. However, it was noticeably quiet about a film by a Russian director that won the Oscar for best documentary feature at this weekend’s ceremony in Hollywood.
Mr Nobody Against Putin, which was secretly filmed by Pavel Talankin, a former school videographer in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, depicted the indoctrination of children after the start of Moscow’s full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022.
The film showed how children at School No 1 in Karabash, an industrial town, were lied to by teachers who told them that Ukraine is a Nazi state, visited by members of the Wagner mercenary group and even taught how to throw grenades. Talankin left Russia in 2024 with the footage for the documentary and now lives in the Czech Republic.
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In their round-up of the Oscar winners, Interfax, Tass and Ria Novosti, the Russian state news agencies, listed 23 out of the 24 awards, but made no mention of Mr Nobody Against Putin. State television also ignored the film’s success.
In his Oscar acceptance speech, Talankin called for an end to all wars. “In the name of our future, in the name of all of our children, stop all of these wars now,” he said.
Mr Nobody against Putin was secretly filmed by Pavel Talankin, pictured here sawing off President Putin’s nose
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Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to comment on the film’s Oscar award, saying: “You need to at least understand what it’s about before commenting, so I’ll refrain from making any remarks for now.”
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Talankin was previously branded a “Judas” by pro-Kremlin media over the film, while the decision to show scenes involving children without the permission of their parents was also criticised. Nikita Mikhalkov, a Russian director who won an Oscar in 1994 for Burnt by The Sun, a feature film about Stalin’s purges, called Talankin “a traitor”.
The film follows the rising militarisation of children in Russian schools
MADMAN FILMS/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION/ALAMY
Talankin was a school videographer in Russia
MADMAN FILMS/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION
The Oscar award for Mr Nobody Against Putin was also criticised by some Ukrainians, who questioned the decision to honour a Russian filmmaker, despite Talankin’s clear opposition to the war.
Russian state media reported that Sean Penn, who won best supporting actor for his role in One Battle After Another, failed to attend the Oscars ceremony, but made no mention of the fact that his absence was because he was visiting Ukraine.
Penn met President Zelensky on Sunday in Kyiv. His trip had been kept a secret until his arrival by train in the Ukrainian capital.
“Now we can say it officially: Sean Penn chose Ukraine over the Oscars!” Ukraine’s state railway operator wrote. Penn has made several trips to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022. “Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is,” Zelensky said.
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Mr Nobody Against Putin was not the first Oscar-winning documentary to have been ignored by Russia. In 2023 state media failed to report that the film Navalny, about the opposition politician who later died in an Arctic prison, was awarded an Oscar, and in 2024 it made no mention of the success of 20 Days In Mariupol, the documentary that showed Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian port city.
Although Moscow once funded films that were critical of Russia under Putin, it withdrew support in 2014 after the release of Leviathan, an internationally acclaimed film about one man’s battle against corrupt officials, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev.
Vladimir Medinsky, who was the culture minister at the time, said Moscow would no longer fund “Russia is shitty” films, after Leviathan. Medinsky is a top negotiator in talks with Kyiv over the war in Ukraine.