Russia Names Videographer of Oscar-Winning Documentary a Foreign Agent

Pavel Talankin, the Russian videographer who secretly filmed the Oscar-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, has been designated as a ‌foreign agent by the country.

Pavel Talankin previously worked as a videographer at a secondary school in Karabash, a struggling industrial town in Russia’s Ural Mountains. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Vladimir Putin outlawed all public criticism of the national military. At the same time, Russian authorities ordered schools to replace regular lessons with patriotic displays, military drills, and a state-written curriculum designed to justify the invasion to students.

As these changes took hold, 34-year-old Talankin decided to document what was happening inside his school. He secretly filmed state propaganda and smuggled the footage out of the country. The videographer later used the footage to make the documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature earlier this month.

According to a report by Reuters, Russia has now designated Talankin as a ‌foreign agent. The videographer’s name appeared on Friday on the justice ministry’s online list of foreign agents — a term with connotations of spying ​that Moscow applies to people deemed to be ​engaged in foreign-backed anti-Russian activity. Reuters reports that people listed ⁠as foreign agents are subjected to onerous bureaucratic requirements and restrictions on their income ​in Russia. They are obliged to place the ​foreign ⁠agent label on social media posts or anything else they publish.

Around the same time, a Russian court also banned Mr Nobody Against Putin from several streaming platforms, alleging it promoted “negative attitudes” about the Russian government and the war in Ukraine.

The documentary has been controversial even among Russians who oppose Putin and the ​war, with some criticizing Talankin for filming colleagues and ​children without their consent for his clandestine project.

Talankin says the project came at a high personal cost. He has become a hate figure for pro-war supporters in Russia. The videographer was forced into exile in Europe following the film’s release, and left behind his family in Russia. But, despite the huge personal sacrifices, Talankin does not regret making the documentary. The videographer has defended the film as a record for posterity to show how “an entire generation became angry and aggressive.”

Mr Nobody Against Putin is being released by Kino Lorber in the U.S. The documentary is in theaters and available via streaming. Viewers in the U.K. can watch Mr Nobody Against Putin on BBC iPlayer.