Interview With "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" Directors David Borenstein & Pavel Talankin

The Next Best Picture Podcast

Tv & Film

4.2 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Mr. Nobody Against Putin" is a documentary film directed by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin. It follows Talankin in his job at a school in Karabash, a poor mining town near the Ural Mountains. While recording his students, Talankin also documents the Putin administration's movements to control public perception during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. The film had its world premiere at the World Cinema Documentary section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award. It was selected as the Danish entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, but it was not shortlisted for a nomination. However, it was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. Borenstein and Talankin were both kind enough to spend some time talking with us about their work and experience making the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which is now playing in select theaters from Kino Lorber. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:45.8	You are listening to The Next Best Picture Podcast, and this is Dengel Howitz interview with the directors for Mr. Nobody Against Putin, David Borenstein and Pasha Talankton.
0:55.8	I.
0:58.3	I work pedagogu, organizer, in Karabash's obforsesophagement school number one,
1:03.8	and also, in the same formstitiveness school video op.
1:07.1	We'll give us a camera.
1:10.2	This cabinet about democracy plot of democracy.
1:12.6	Or just to just
1:14.6	to create a process of
1:15.6	to be a lot of
1:16.6	the time.
	...

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