Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Through candid classroom recordings, a Russian teacher risks everything to expose how his government turns schools into propaganda factories. In Karabash – the Russian copper-smelting city that UNESCO once called the most polluted place on earth – Pavel ‘Pasha’ Talankin is the cheerful, baby-faced ‘cool teacher’ at Primary School #1. As the school’s event coordinator and videographer, it’s his job to upload jubilant footage of lessons, marching drills and patriotic songs to a government website in order to prove that the school is abiding by President Vladimir Putin’s Federal Patriotic Education Policy. Talankin’s unease grows as he documents the Russian education system’s slide into military recruitment, complete with grenade-throwing contests and assemblies hosted by Wagner Group mercenaries. Secretly sharing his footage with Copenhagen-based American documentarian David Borenstein, Talankin puts his safety on the line, his modest everyday resistance to xenophobic warmongering pitting him against hardline colleagues and beloved students alike. A powerful exposé on how Putin’s propaganda grooms the troops of the future, Talankin and Borenstein’s unique collaboration is as poignant and personal as it’s shocking. Winning the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award at Sundance 2025, Mr. Nobody Against Putin is a David-and-Goliath battle for Russia’s soul. “Delightfully brave, yet utterly relatable … this terrifying, revelatory and poignant exposé offers an unseen human angle on an ongoing conflict.” – Variety