Official Trailer for ‘Mr Nobody Against Putin’ Doc Film About a Teacher
by Alex Billington
November 9, 2025
Source: YouTube
“I am these kids’ propagandist.” Crazy! Madman Films in Australia has unveiled an official trailer for the acclaimed, award-winning doc film called Mr Nobody Against Putin, made by director David Borenstein as his latest feature. This documentary premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where it won a Special Jury Prize. A brave and resilient primary school teacher secretly exposes Putin’s aggressive militarisation of Russia’s schools and their propaganda tactics in one of the great documentary sensations of the year. It has played at tons of other festivals including CPH:DOX, Docville, Zurich, DOC:NYC and others. Mr Nobody Against Putin was shot over a period of 2 years by Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, the videographer & events coordinator at Karabash Primary School #1. Talankin began seriously documenting his activities after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, when the government began requiring schools to hold regular “patriotic displays” and use a state-written curriculum to justify the invasion to students. Talankin secretly fled Russia during the summer of 2024, aided by his producers and director David Borenstein who worked to get him asylum in Europe, following evidence of police surveillance at his home. This doc looks excellent.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for David Borenstein’s film Mr Nobody Against Putin, via YouTube:
Pavel “Pasha” Talankin loves his job as a teacher in the small Russian town of Karabash – then Russia invades Ukraine. He is outraged by the new government propaganda in the curriculum, not to mention the school’s being used as a military recruitment ground. In class, Pasha finds ways to playfully protest the regime; more crucially, he becomes a whistleblower – secretly filming the alarming shifts under the guise of his work as school videographer. He risks his life to send the footage overseas to filmmaker David Borenstein – while also planning his own escape. Mr Nobody Against Putin is directed by international doc filmmaker David Borenstein, also director of the films Dream Empire and Can’t Feel Nothing, plus a few other series and short film. It’s produced by Helle Faber. This initially premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won a Special Jury Prize. No final release date is set yet – still playing at more festivals and beyond. Expected to open in early 2026 in US theaters. Anyone interested in watching?
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