The film "Mr. Nobody against Putin" was nominated for an Oscar.

Today, January 22, the American Film Academy announced the nominees for the 2026 Oscars. The film "Mr. Nobody against Putin" was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category. 

This is a video from a Chelyabinsk teacher. Paul Talankina and an American documentary filmmaker David Borenstein about modern Russia has become one of the most sensational films in recent global documentary history. The film is edited from videos Pavel shot at his school in Karabash over two years, saved on seven hard drives, and secretly smuggled abroad. He left Russia in June 2024.

"[Because of the film], I've received both words of support and curses. On the one hand, the teacher is an educated person, works with children, knows the system—how these letters [from management] arrive and how you're simply obligated to do so. She looks up at the ceiling and sees that our Children's Art Center is in critical condition. If something falls on the children there, no one would be surprised. Things are that bad there. And you think, but she's definitely got her head on straight and wouldn't write anything that bad about you. She writes to me: 'What a scumbag you are!'" I told Talankin in an interview with Ochevidtsy. 

The shortlist also included a film Alexandra Molochnikova о Sachet Skochilenko "The Extremist," but it was not nominated for the award. 

Besides Talankin, there is another one from Russia nominee The animated short film "Three Sisters" by director Konstantin Bronzit has been nominated for an Oscar. This is his third Oscar nomination.