‘Hollywood story’: Russia’s Mr Nobody makes history with Oscar win

PARIS: Tributes to “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” poured in on Monday after Pavel Talankin, a videographer from a small-town Russian school, won an Oscar for his anti-Kremlin film and cemented his place in Hollywood history.

Netflix documentary “The Perfect Neighbour” had been widely tipped to win the top prize for best documentary feature.

But 35-year-old Talankin’s film — based on hours of footage he had smuggled out of Russia — beat the odds and took home the statuette on Sunday.

Some said it was a story worthy of a Hollywood script.

After the start of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, Talankin was instructed by school authorities to film patriotic lessons and morning drills at his secondary school in the Russian industrial town of Karabash.

Seeking to resist the intensity of pro-war propaganda at his school, Talankin eventually teamed up with US filmmaker David Borenstein and fled Russia in 2024, leaving behind his mother, brothers and sisters.

Vitaly Mansky, one of Russia’s top documentary makers, called Mr Nobody a “strong” film, though its win still came as a surprise.

“I think that the figure of Pavel Talankin played a very big role in the Academy members’ decision to vote for this film,” Ukrainian-born Mansky told AFP. “It truly is a Hollywood story.”

Mansky, a member of the Academy, said Talankin’s sincerity won people over.

“They were moved to vote for the film,” he added.

Speaking to AFP in the lead-up to the Oscars, Talankin said he and Borenstein were up against strong competitors.

“Netflix, they are giants,” Talankin, who lives in Europe, said this month.

But he also joked he was ready for the fight.