Oscars 2026: ‘Mr Nobody Against Putin’ director warns: “You lose your country through countless small acts of complicity”
Mr Nobody Against Putin co-director David Borenstein made an impassioned political speech when picking up the award for ‘Best Documentary Feature Film’ at the 98th incarnation of the Oscars.
Directed by Borenstein and Russian teacher and filmmaker Pavel Talankin, 2025’s Mr Nobody Against Putin follows Talankin across two years as an education professional at Karabash Primary School near the Ural Mountains during the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War.
Amid the conflict, mandated “patriotic displays” and state-controlled curricula justifying Russia’s invasion were demanded by the government, backed up with recorded footage to prove adherence, and providing Talankin cover to film meetings and lessons without suspicion.
Such top-down control and stranglehold of free information was touched on by Borenstein for an Oscar acceptance speech, prompting speculation as to the target of his political warning.
“Mr Nobody against Putin is about how you lose your country, and what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless small, little acts of complicity,” Borenstein stated.
He added, “When we act complicit, when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don’t say anything, when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume. We all face a moral choice. But even a nobody is more powerful than you think.”
Borenstein clarified his political allusions when speaking to the press backstage, “One interesting thing about working with a team of Russians throughout this process has been my desire as an American to constantly compare the situation in America to Russia.”
Mr Nobody Against Putin beat category favourites The Perfect Neighbour, along with The Alabama Solution, Come See Me in the Good Light, and Cutting Through Rocks, the third documentary feature this decade critical of the Russian state to win an Academy Award.
This follows previous wins on the subject by 2023’s Navalny and Mariupol the following year, highlighting the global importance of the crisis and the bravery of the filmmaking surrounding it.
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