The Central Court of Chelyabinsk has banned the screening of the documentary “Mr. Nobody against Putin” across Russian territory, citing its opposition to the war in Ukraine and its portrayal of a battalion of Russians fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.
Russia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office denounced the film—winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Documentary—for allegedly expressing “a negative attitude toward the Russian military operation in Ukraine and the current government,” according to independent outlet Mediazona.
Russian authorities also accused the film’s director, Pavel Talankin, of displaying the white-blue-white flag, a symbol associated with the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of anti-Kremlin Russian fighters aligned with Ukraine.
The prosecution classified the documentary as “propaganda of extremism and terrorism” and further criticized it for including images of minors without proper parental consent.
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The film is based on footage recorded over two years by Talankin, a schoolteacher from the village of Karabash in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, about 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow. He later left the country, taking the material with him.
Under the direction of American documentarian David Borenstein, the film captures daily life in a Russian school, including assemblies, meetings, and classes.
The documentary premiered on January 25, 2025, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize. It was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary in mid-March and went on to win the award, as confirmed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during this month’s Oscars ceremony.
Several Russian media outlets and pro-government bloggers have accused Talankin of treason.
