What It’s About
Pavel “Pasha” Talankin is a dedicated teacher at the school he once attended in the blighted Russian town of Karabash, where his mother still serves as librarian. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the school changes overnight, as the regime orders changes to curriculum and procedures, integrating pro-war propaganda, training and drills. As the school’s videographer, Talankin captures the school’s frightening transformation from within, while recording his own disillusionment. Sasha soon becomes vulnerable in a society that crushes dissent.
Why WE Love It
Talankin’s anti-war stance eventually necessitated his sudden departure from Russia, when he smuggled out the shocking footage he’d shot over his final year at the school. From that raw material, co-director Borenstein crafts a potent expose of how the authoritarian Russian state uses disinformation to glorify war and keep even its youngest citizens in line. This revealing, unnerving film won both the Oscar and the BAFTA for Best Documentary, along with the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. “Mr. Nobody” is actually somebody, and you should meet him.