In ‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ One Small-Town Teacher Takes on the Russian War Machine

Before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Karabash was famous for being one of the most polluted cities in the world. And Pavel “Pasha” Talankin was just a school videographer and events coordinator. But when the war started, everything changed. Talankin and David Borenstein’s documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin charts how Pasha became a one-man resistance movement simply by turning his camera on. He turned his state-mandated footage into an eye-opening exposé on pro-war propaganda at the school level, making Karabash a window into Putin’s insidious militarization tactics. Ultimately, the film—which has been nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature—is about the power of one. 

Tucked in the Ural Mountains, Karabash is a small Russian town of roughly 10,000. It’s been named the most toxic place on earth by UNESCO due to the pollution from the local copper smelting plant. The life expectancy is 38. Most people might describe it as depressing. But Pasha can’t imagine living anywhere else. As a former pupil and now faculty member of Karabash Primary School No. 1, the town is his whole world, a place where he could be himself. In turn, he created a safe space for his students to do the same. 

For the majority of his tenure, his camera documented choir practice, Christmas parties, dances—just kids being kids. Then Putin launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine in February of 2022, and Pasha’s lens served an entirely different purpose. He was now tasked with providing proof to the government that teachers were implementing the new state-written curriculum, which consisted of patriotic recitals and displays, rewritten history, and other lessons that justified Russia’s invasion. But what started out as propaganda took an even darker turn. Flag waving gave way to grenade throwing. False history lessons were paused for explosives demonstrations by mercenaries from the Wagner Group. Karabash Primary School No. 1 had become a training ground for Putin’s war. 

What was once a source of joy for Pasha now filled him with dread. As he watched his beloved students get indoctrinated, he began committing small acts of protest, like blasting Lady Gaga’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” replacing pro-war “Z” symbols in the windows with anti-war “X” symbols, and hanging the democracy flag in his office. But after a brief resignation from his job, Pasha decided to stay and keep his camera on. He realized that his documentation could become a much bigger act of resistance.  

The second-biggest turning point in the film, after Putin’s military launch, is when Pasha comes across an open casting call for a reality TV show searching for folks whose jobs had been affected by the war. Desperately needing to vent, he answered the call with a long, unfiltered email about how his world had been turned upside down by these new state-mandated measures at school. One thing led to another and his email ended up in the hands of Borenstein. Over the next two years, the two orchestrated a clandestine documentary collaboration from across the world, turning Pasha’s daily footage into a powerful whistleblow. 

At the end of the film, with the help of the BBC, Borenstein helps Pasha leave Russia and seek asylum in the EU, smuggling hard drives of footage with him. But before this daring escape,  Pasha attends the school’s annual graduation ceremony, where he gives an emotional farewell speech. Ostensibly bidding adieu to just another year, it was actually a veiled goodbye to the students, colleagues, and school that he loves more than himself. His decision to leave and to sacrifice his life there, his entire world, is proof of just that.

Stream Mr. Nobody Against Putin now on Kino Film Collection.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2026)