The Danish Oscar Committee has selected David Borenstein’s documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin as Denmark’s official Oscar® submission in the International Feature Film Award category. The film now enters the race against films from around the world to be shortlisted for the Academy Awards, which will take place on March 15, 2026.
The film is co-directed by Pasha Talankin, and produced by Helle Faber for Made in Copenhagen, with support from the Danish Film Institute. International sales are handled by DR Sales.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award, and its Danish premiere at CPH:DOX in March 2025. Since its world premiere, the film has been screened at numerous international film festivals, including 19 in the U.S., and has so far received 10 festival awards.
Tine Fischer, Director of the Danish Film Institute and Chair of the Danish Oscar Committee, says of Mr. Nobody Against Putin. “It is a courageous film that dares to approach one of the most complex and conflict-filled issues of our time—without losing sight of the human dimension. It balances humor, absurdity, and seriousness with great precision, and testifies to what documentary film can achieve when it insists on both form and content. It is a film that does not offer easy answers, but asks important questions—and precisely for that reason, we believe it has international potential.”
Mr. Nobody Against Putin synopsis
In the film we follow Pasha, an ordinary teacher in a small Russian town. He is known as the school’s funny, creative, and unconventional adult, loved by his students. But everyday life at the school changes drastically when Putin introduces propaganda and war lessons into the curriculum following his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Instead of teaching students to think independently, Pasha is now forced to film and document children reciting meaningless texts and teachers reading incomprehensible slogans to their classes. In protest—and in complete secrecy—Pasha begins smuggling the videos out of Russia. At the same time, he starts filming how propaganda and war affect the society he lives in. Pasha’s footage reveals the transformation of Russian society, Putin’s iron grip on the population, and the heart-breaking moments when former students are sent to the front.
Through Pasha’s personal story, audiences gain a rare, intimate, and contemporary insight into Putin’s Russia. The film serves as a reminder that courage can take many forms when everything seems lost.
