“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” star Pavel “Pasha” Tarankin is bracing for more negative feedback from Russia as his Oscar campaign continues. Denmark selected the acclaimed documentary as an entry for Best International Feature Film.
The film follows Tarankin, a teacher in the small town of Karabash, who secretly photographs the tragic transformation of his school after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He co-directed the film with American-born, Copenhagen-based David Borenstein.
“When this movie first came out, there was a wave of hate in the official media. One guy spent six minutes of prime time arguing that it was ‘boring’ and not worth watching. If it was so boring, why spend six minutes talking about this movie? Now, in the wake of the Oscar campaign, there will be a second wave of hate. I already warned my mother, because it’s coming soon,” Tarankin said. But that doesn’t stop him from keeping his fingers crossed.
“When Denmark decided to submit this film, I got a call from the kids I was teaching. They said, ‘Imagine if the Best Actor award goes to our teacher!'”
Mr. Tarankin was received at Jihlava International Airport. The documentary festival received a standing ovation and “one of the most emotional applause ever,” according to festival director Marek Hovorka. But hating Tarankin is not unusual. He fled Russia in 2024.
“One of the Calabash wrote to me and said, ‘Just wait. One day you’ll come back and we’re going to bring you to our knees.’ I thought, ‘Well, that’s great.’ Actually, someone is waiting for me to come home,” he deadpans.
Some, fearing for their safety, treat him as if he never existed.
“There are online forums in Calabash, where people discuss all sorts of things, including whose geese are walking freely around town. Nothing about me, nothing at all,” he admitted. “I said to David, ‘If this gets out there, people are going to call me Judas.’ But some people said it was eye-opening. They knew about the ‘propaganda class,’ but they didn’t know about what the kids were being told.”
After the invasion of Ukraine, schools began receiving instructions from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, and teachers were expected to spread propaganda. Tarankin decided to document the process.
“Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were once brothers, but we needed to make sure that these people were also held accountable for saying, ‘Ukraine has become a Nazi country and it is our duty to liberate it.'”
“I was born in Russia, I grew up in Russia, I grew up with my eyes open. I knew what was going on. There was never a moment when I realized that I was against it, because everything that comes out of Putin’s mouth on TV is a lie. It’s always a lie.”
“I’m really looking forward to taking them to the International Criminal Court.”
This led him to Borenstein, who was impressed by Tarankin’s “fervent belief in students’ rights to freedom of expression and freedom of thought.”
“I was very interested in what kind of person Pasha was and what it meant for him to be isolated at school. At first I didn’t know what to do. Then I realized that Pasha was also a good filmmaker.” Soon, Tarankin began sending him “the craziest footage.”
“He would send me hours of footage of him just walking around. I know where to go from his house to his mother’s house and from his house to school. And then one morning I would see things that were mind-blowing, like a history teacher saying that the French would soon be like musketeers and riding horses (because of gas prices), or Soldier Wagner teaching kids how to use hand grenades.”
After working remotely, they completed the film together after Tarankin managed to escape.
“It was probably the worst time of my life. I was very scared,” he recalls. “I pretended to go on a seven-day vacation to Turkey. My bag was packed with my laptop, hard drive, memory cards and everything. But I didn’t have swimming trunks. I was scared of what would happen if they opened my bag.”
Czech producer Radovan Syburt remembers receiving a call from Denmark’s Helle Faber, concerned about Tarankin’s safety.
“Pasha could not remain in Russia, they did not know how to get him out. We met in Poland, but everything was done very secretly. The goal was to place him somewhere within the European Union,” he said. “We didn’t know anything about this movie and didn’t really care at the time. We wanted to help at least one person escape the system. It wasn’t until later that we realized how great it actually was.”
Now Tarankin feels safe in Europe. With one exception: “The only place where Pasha is not safe is Prague. Three days after he arrived in the Czech Republic, he was trying to find our office. He went door to door, checking all the names, and soon after that his picture was posted online: ‘Watch out for this Russian thief! He’s trying to break into your house!'” Syburut laughed.
Tarankin added: “I can speak and be heard, but that would not be possible in Russia. For any change to happen, we need to talk more, talk, talk more. But over there, if you raise your voice, they will silence you, put you in jail or just kick you out.”
“I like watching this movie with the audience, hearing their laughter and watching them slide into their seats as if all the air was sucked out of the room. In my country, that’s exactly what it is. In Russia, I don’t want to laugh anymore.”
Having adapted to his new life, Tarankin plans to write about Tolstoy’s wife.
“Tolstoy was a very abusive man and his handwriting was so bad that his wife copied everything he wrote. He beat her and she kept having children endlessly. At the end of his life, he dropped a note on the table and said goodbye. For me, she is a true example of female courage, bravery and love,” he said. There may also be other surprising projects on the horizon.
“I met a director who wants to stage a musical based on Mr. Nobody Against Putin in London. I don’t know how they’ll do it, but I’d love to invite you all.”
