Pavel Talankin, a teacher at a small town in the Ural Mountains, found himself in an extraordinary situation when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to the militarization of his school. He began filming his life and the changes around him, and that footage became the basis for Mr. Nobody Against Putin. Mr. Nobody Against Putin will premiere as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition. Talankin, the film’s co-director and cinematographer, sheds some light on what spurred him to begin filming below. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The making of our film is a story as epic as the film itself. From my perspective, it’s filled with unforgettable moments: the first time I connected with Pasha in Russia, the trust-building conversations we shared over the phone and the nerve-wracking security incidents that kept us awake through long, tense nights. The most […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025Pasha is a nonconformist and a teacher in a small town in the Ural Mountains who finds his world turned upside down when Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Director David Borenstein’s documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, follows Pasha, himself the cinematographer and credited co-director, as he watches his institution transform into a militarized indoctrination center for nationalist ideology. Mr. Nobody Against Putin screens as part of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition. Below, editor Nicolaj Monberg explains how he balanced the desire for an entertaining film about contemporary Russian politics with the gravity of its subject matter. See […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025David Borenstein’s Sundance-premiering Mr. Nobody Against Putin stars Pavel “Pasha” Talankin (also credited as co-director), an “unlikely hero” in an even more unlikely collaboration. A jokey primary school teacher in his Ural Mountains hometown of Karabash (which has the dubious distinction of being one of the most polluted cities on the planet), Pasha spends many days mentoring the kids who use the thirty-something’s open door office as a hangout/safe haven. That is, when he’s not documenting their young lives as the school’s videographer. Which is why things get rather complicated for this pro-democracy, but non-activist, educator. For once Putin decides […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jan 25, 2025