Primary school teacher Pavel Talankin’s record of the indoctrination of his pupils to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine beats contenders
We don't know whether Putin watches the Oscars. But if he does, he got a rude jolt when the award for best documentary was announced.
Mr Nobody Against Putin, a primary school teacher’s record of the indoctrination of his pupils to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has won the Oscar for best documentary. Pavel Talankin, who is now in exile in Europe, picked up the award alongside the film’s US co-director, David Borenstein. [ ... ] This is the third time this decade that a film critical of the Russian government has won the prize, following Navalny in 2023 and 20 Days in Mariupol in 2024. The Oscar last year was won by No Other Land, an Israeli-Palestinian co-production about the destruction of a Palestinian community on the West Bank.
Many people in Russia may still not know that a school in a provincial town in their country is the star of the best documentary in this year's Oscars.
There have been what seem like intentional severe interruptions in internet service in Russia by the Putin régime. Irish journalist Caolan Robertson in Ukraine reports on the peculiar internet outages next door. He speculates that Putin may be fearing a coup and may be trying to make it difficult for real or imagined conspirators to plot.
Caolan's conversation with anti-Putin financier and author Bill Browder takes up the bulk of this video. They talk about how Putin is navigating a series of losses in Syria, Venezuela, and Iran.
Speaking of Iran, they also talk about the impacts of Trump's war there.
This vid was recorded prior to Mr Nobody Against Putin being awarded an Oscar.
