The documentary follows Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, a modest primary-school teacher in the Ural mining town of Karabash, who unwittingly becomes a courageous chronicler of state propaganda. Amid Putin’s “patriotic education policy” and the invasion of Ukraine, Pasha’s class transforms under nationalist pressure: military drills, forced oaths and propaganda lessons take hold, silencing his students. Using his role as the school videographer, initially assigned to document mandated rituals, Pasha instead covertly captures the chilling spread of ideological warfare at grassroots level.

Through a combination of official footage, candid classroom moments and self-recorded confessions, the documentary reveals the emotional toll on children and the creeping normalisation of authoritarianism. Told with quiet humanity, humour and heartbreak, Mr Nobody Against Putin is a defiant tribute to free expression and a testament to one teacher’s small but powerful act of resistance.

Awards:

Sundance FF 2025 (World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award)