Mr. Nobody Against Putin co-director Pavel Tarankin’s Oscar statuette has gone missing after the TSA at New York’s JFK Airport confiscated the prize. Earlier this year, Tarankin won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
In a social media post, Tarankin’s co-director David Borenstein appealed for help in finding it. Borenstein said, “Yesterday, he arrived at JFK Airport with Oscar in his carry-on luggage, preparing to fly back to Europe. This is where I took the first photo of him on his way out.” A TSA officer stopped him at the airport, and Oscar said it could be used as a weapon. She wouldn’t allow Oscar on the plane. Robin from our EP got on the phone and tried to convince her, but it didn’t work.
Tarankin didn’t have checked baggage to put the trophy in, so TSA put Oscar in a box and checked it into the cargo hold. However, when Tarankin landed in Frankfurt, Germany, his statue was nowhere to be found.
“I’ve looked into it, and I can’t find a single other example of someone being forced to check the Oscars. Would Pavel have been treated the same way if he had been a famous actor? Or if he had been a fluent English speaker?” Borenstein wrote.
Good news for Tarakin, even if his statue doesn’t appear, sources say a living Oscar winner can request a replacement statue in the rare case of significant damage or loss.
Variety has reached out to Lufthansa for comment.
