On Saturday, March 28, Nicolas Herbeaux welcomes a special guest: Pavel Talankin, a Russian pedagogue and filmmaker who has just received the Oscar for Best Documentary for his film “Mister Nobody Against Putin,” in which he plays the lead role alongside American filmmaker David Borenstein.
“In my opinion, the essential thing was to show the indoctrination at work in Russian schools,” said Talankin.
As Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russian schools became tools for ideological indoctrination. In this context, Talankin, who was then coordinating events at a school in Karabash, a town of 10,000 inhabitants in Russia, was instructed by the Ministry of Education to film patriotic classes given to students.
“I realized that what I was filming couldn’t just stay with the Ministry of Education: everyone must see it. Because it answers a crucial question: what kind of Russian society are we preparing for the next ten or fifteen years? What kind of generation are we forming today?” said Pavel Talankin.
To counter the surveillance orchestrated by the Russian regime, Talankin collaborated with American filmmaker David Borenstein to document the reality of these practices from the inside. Their work led to the award-winning film “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” which serves as a historical testimony and an act of resistance aiming to break the isolation of dissenters in Russia.
In Russia, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” was officially banned on March 26, 2026, although it had not been released in the country. Despite this, some residents of Karabach, Talankin’s hometown, watched the film clandestinely.
Receiving the Oscar for Best Documentary during the prestigious American ceremony surprised Moscow and intensified the ban. Pavel Talankin, described by his counterpart David Borenstein as a whistleblower, is now considered a political opponent of Vladimir Putin.
Released in January 2025, this documentary is still available in theaters and on the Arte.tv platform.
