Kathrine Frich
The documentary reveals how children are turned into instruments of messaging.
The documentary reveals how children are turned into instruments of messaging.
A teacher turns filmmaker in Putin’s Russia
A Russian school teacher filmed the state propaganda drive inside his own school after the invasion of Ukraine.
His footage formed the basis of a new documentary, Mr Nobody vs. Putin.
The film shows how a regular teacher became a quiet challenger to the regime.
Film premieres in major festivals
Mr Nobody vs. Putin, directed by David Borenstein with co‑director Pavel Talankin, premiered at Sundance this year and won the Special Jury Prize.
In Romania, it will be screened at the Arad and Astra festivals in October.
The film is now Denmark’s candidate for the Oscars’ foreign film category.
Teaching as resistance in a militarised school
The film portrays how ordinary classroom life was disrupted after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Schools were transformed into sites for “new patriotic education,” with children asked to put on uniformed activities, march, and repeat state messaging.
Pasha, the teacher, was ordered to film these events and upload them to state systems.
A teacher inside the propaganda machine
While working inside School No. 1 in Karabash, Talankin — called “Pasha” — documented everything he witnessed.
The result is a first‑person narrative of how the school slowly becomes a tool of state propaganda.
“It’s like living in a room whose walls are getting tighter and tighter … You know that you can’t change anything … I don’t want to be a pawn of the regime,” he tells the camera.
Escape with critical footage
In summer 2024, after the school year ended, Pasha fled to the Czech Republic carrying with him raw footage shot over more than two years.
This escape was orchestrated with help from friends and collaborators who had already begun assembling the film outside Russia.
Filmmaking under threat
When assembling the film, Borenstein and Talankin worked with BBC and other broadcasters to remove anything that could endanger those captured on-screen. Pasha himself had already left Russia.
The editing process navigated censorship, state risk, and the fear of exposure by authorities.
Innocence and power in classroom dynamics
The film juxtaposes children’s lives with harsh political forces. In one sequence, a history teacher announces:
“We will destroy Ukraine in a few days.”
The students react silently — the film leaves you wondering whether they believe it or brace themselves for indoctrination.
Subtle breaks in uniform compliance
Pasha uses small acts of resistance: before a teacher reads a state script, he warns students that it was forced. He asks them to blink if they were coerced.
The teacher blinks, and students murmur, “Let’s save the teacher.”
Such moments show how even within the system people fight back.
From classroom to frontlines
Some of Pasha’s former students became soldiers or were affected by mobilization orders.
One young man, Vania, is forced into service. Pasha’s relationship with his students reflects his larger mission — to show how war and propaganda reach every level of life.
Documentary as lived confession
The film is raw and personal. It uses voiceover and on-the-ground images to trace how a regime co-opts education.
Pasha’s own home, filled with a puppy, a parrot, and sparse objects, becomes part of the narrative, showing how personal space is also politicised.
Propaganda shaped from a young age
The documentary reveals how children are turned into instruments of messaging.
They march in khaki berets, perform drills, attend patriotic ceremonies.
The film frames this as a long-term strategy: saturate minds from their earliest years.
This article is made and published by Kathrine Frich, which may have used AI in the preparation
