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Pavel Talankin

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Pavel Talankin
Павел Таланкин
Talankin at ArtDocFest Paris in 2025
Born (1991-03-11) March 11, 1991 (age 35)
Karabash, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Soviet Union
Occupations
  • Teacher
  • documentary filmmaker
  • cinematographer
  • videographer[1][2]
Years active2022–present[3][4]
Notable workMr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)[3]
AwardsBAFTA Film Award (Documentary) for Mr. Nobody Against Putin[5] 98th Academy Awards Documentary Feature Film for Mr. Nobody Against Putin '[6]

Pavel Talankin (Russian: Павел Ильич Таланкин; born 11 March 1991)[7] is a Russian teacher and documentary filmmaker who worked as a teacher-organizer and school videographer at Karabash Primary School No. 1 in Karabash, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia.[4][8] He is credited as co-director, cinematographer, and narrator of the anti-war opposition documentary feature Mr Nobody Against Putin (2025).[3][9]

Mr. Nobody Against Putin premiered in the World Cinema Documentary program at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award.[3][10] The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 98th Academy Awards.[5][11] Talankin left Russia in 2024 and emigrated to Prague (Czech Republic).[12][4][1]

Early life and education

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Talankin grew up in Karabash, an industrial town in Chelyabinsk Oblast.[8] He attended Karabash Primary School No. 1 as a child and later returned to work there.[3][13] His mother worked at the same school as a librarian.[8]

Published accounts describe Talankin as working with children since his student years, including at the Orlyonok camp near Lake Uvildy and later in a children’s home and a library in Karabash.[8][4][14][1][3]

Career

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At Karabash Primary School No. 1, Talankin organized extracurricular activities and filmed school events such as assemblies and ceremonies as part of his job as the school videographer.[4][8] He taught children practical video production skills, including shooting and editing.[2][15] In public reporting, Talankin’s pre-film community work in Karabash included activities with students connected to media and youth programming, including a 2021 project building a detailed Minecraft model of Karabash with students.[8][16]

Talankin collaborated with filmmaker David Borenstein on Mr. Nobody Against Putin using footage recorded inside his school over a two-year period following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and he left Russia in June 2024 carrying recorded material on seven hard drives.[3][4] The Sundance film listing credits Talankin as co-director and cinematographer and identifies the film as a Denmark/Czech Republic production with a 90-minute runtime in Russian.[3] International festival programs in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary scheduled screenings of the film, listing Talankin as co-director and identifying him as a teacher associated with the school where the film was shot.[13][17][15] The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2026 Oscars.[18]

Style and themes

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Talankin’s credited filmmaking work centers on first-person documentary narration and observational footage recorded within a Russian primary school setting in which he worked officially as a videographer.[3][19] Reviews have described the film’s approach as combining on-the-ground school footage with diary-like narration to depict the integration of ideological messaging into everyday school routines.[19][20]

Reception

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Coverage of Talankin in Russian-language reporting has emphasized his former role inside Karabash Primary School No. 1 and the risks associated with removing filmed school material from Russia after the start of the full scale invasion in 2022.[4][8] Reviews in European and North American outlets discussed Talankin’s footage as a rare inside-school record of how war-related messaging and rituals appeared in day-to-day educational life during the period when he was filming.[19][20]

At the 98th Academy Awards

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The documentary is based on footage from a school in the city of Karabash, showing the process of ideological indoctrination of children. The film Mr. Nobody Against Putin became a sensation and caused a mixed reaction in Russia.[21] When presented with the award, Talankin made a call to stop wars, mentioning children.

[edit]

A Chelyabinsk court banned the documentary from streaming platforms – VK Video, Yandex, and Motion Video – on the grounds that it "propagates extremism and terrorism."[22] The court cited the use of the White-blue-white flag and associated it with the Freedom of Russia Legion.[23]

On March 27, 2026 the Russian Ministry of Justice added Talankin to its list of foreign agents.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Pavel Talankin". MDOC – Festival Internacional de Documentário de Melgaço. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  2. 1 2 "Pavel Talankin". Mountainfilm Festival. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Mr. Nobody Against Putin". Sundance Film Festival (Festival Player). Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "«Говорят, что я подонок». Учитель из Челябинской области снимал школу во время войны — и показал свой фильм на фестивале «Сандэнс»" ["They say I'm a scumbag." A teacher from the Chelyabinsk region filmed a school during the war and showed his film at the Sundance Film Festival.]. Медиазона (in Russian). 2025-01-30. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  5. 1 2 "Film / Documentary (2026)". BAFTA. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  6. ↑ "Film / Documentary(2026)". Oscar. Retrieved 2026-03-16.
  7. ↑ Razzall, Katie (16 March 2026). "From Mr Nobody to Oscar winner: How one man took on Putin". BBC News. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "«С чьих слов я предатель Родины? Со слов Владимира Путина?» Уральский учитель тайно снял документальный фильм о пропаганде в школе" ["Who said I was a traitor to the Motherland? Vladimir Putin said I was?" A Ural teacher secretly filmed a documentary about propaganda in schools.]. Meduza (in Russian). 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  9. ↑ "Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025)". IMDb. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  10. ↑ "2025 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners Announced". Sundance Institute. 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  11. ↑ "The 98th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  12. ↑ Александров, Алексей; Время, Настоящее (2026-04-04). "Павел Таланкин: "Режим падет, и нам надо будет вернуться"". Радио Свобода (in Russian). Retrieved 2026-04-19.
  13. 1 2 "MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN". Sofia DocuMENTAL. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  14. ↑ "Pavel Talankin". IMDb. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  15. 1 2 "Mr. Nobody Against Putin (BIDF listing)". BIDF – Budapesti Nemzetközi Dokumentumfilm Fesztivál (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  16. ↑ "«Никто от него не ожидал»: учитель тайно снимал школьников в Челябинской области для антироссийского фильма" ["Nobody expected this from him": A teacher secretly filmed schoolchildren in the Chelyabinsk region for an anti-Russian film.]. 74.ru (in Russian). 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  17. ↑ "Gospodin Niko protiv Putina" [Mr. Nobody vs. Putin]. Beldocs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  18. ↑ "'Hollywood story': Russia's Mr Nobody makes history with Oscar win". France 24. Retrieved 2026-03-16.
  19. 1 2 3 "Review: Mr. Nobody Against Putin". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  20. 1 2 "'Mr Nobody Against Putin': Sundance Review". Screen Daily. 2025-01-30. Retrieved 2026-02-24.
  21. ↑ "Фильм «Господин Никто против Путина» получил «Оскар»". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). 2026-03-16. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
  22. ↑ Gozzi, Laura (2026-03-27). "Mr Nobody Against Putin: Oscar-winning film banned in Russia". BBC News. Retrieved 2026-03-27.
  23. ↑ "«Господин Никто против Путина»: подробности". Mediazona (in Russian). 2026-03-26. Retrieved 2026-03-27.
  24. ↑ "Новый «иноагент»: Павел Таланкин". Meduza (in Russian). 2026-03-27. Retrieved 2026-03-27.
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