Russia Asked A Teacher To Film Pro-War Propaganda. He Made An Oscar-winning Documentary Instead

The unlikely story of a Russian Oscar winner: At the request of Russia's Education Ministry, teacher Pavel Talankin helped film pro-war propaganda efforts at an elementary school in the town of Karabash. But ministry officials did not suspect he would turn his videos into a documentary about Russia's "patriotic education" campaign for schoolchildren. Talankin spoke with Current Time about the film, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, shortly after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. It went on to win the Oscar for best documentary on March 15.