Jewish filmmakers David Borenstein and Lucie Kon have scooped this year’s best documentary Bafta for their film Mr Nobody Against Putin.
The 2025 documentary, co-directed by Borenstein and Pavel Talankin – an event coordinator at a primary school in a small Russian mining town – chronicles documents Talankin’s quiet resistance against Russian state propaganda following the invasion of Ukraine.
Over two years, Talankin covertly filmed how state-ordered patriotic lessons and military drills begin replacing regular classes in his school.
Borenstein and Kon – who commissioned the project for BBC Storyville, the broadcaster’s documentary strand, and served as its executive producer – were recognised with their colleagues at the awards ceremony in central London on Sunday. The event took place two days before the four-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was marked today.
Praising Talankin’s bravery, US director Borenstein said during his acceptance speech: "I want to extend my greatest thanks to ‘Mr Nobody’ himself, Pavel Talankin. Two years ago he was a teacher – now he’s standing here as a Bafta winner.
“When a treason law threatened him with imprisonment, he kept filming. When a police car started monitoring him outside his house, he kept filming and when he had to sacrifice his entire life in Russia to smuggle out this footage, he didn't hesitate.
"Thank you, Pavel for showing me that no matter how dark things get, whether it's in Russia or the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice.”
Jewish best actor nominee Timothée Chalamet, who attended the Baftas with his partner Kylie Jenner and was up for the award for his star turn in Marty Supreme went home empty handed as Britain’s Robert Aramayo, a relative unknown, won the prize for his performance in I Swear.
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